The Banner has a subscription to republish articles from Religion News Service. This story by Genevieve Charles was published Oct 11, 2024 on religionnews.com. It has been edited for length and Banner style. The final paragraph, with context for the Christian Reformed Church, has been added.
“I’m Exhausted All the Time,” the title of a 2024 report from the Hartford Institute for Research, captures the sentiment of what American pastors are feeling in the aftermath of a worldwide pandemic, the decline of organized religion, increasing political polarization, and facing the burden of caring for their congregation’s soul. About half of clergy responding to Hartford’s research have thought about leaving their congregation—or the ministry altogether—in recent years.
“This is a challenging time for all congregations. They’re getting smaller, they’re getting older, they’re not as vital as they once were, and then the pandemic traumas of closing and opening,” said Scott Thumma, director of the Hartford Institute and leader of the five-year study of how COVID-19 has affected congregations.
While burnout and poor mental health for clergy might often be gradual, the recovery process requires a lot more intentionality, said Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell, director of the Duke Clergy Health Initiative at Duke University.
That’s why it’s important for clergy to monitor feelings of being overwhelmed so they can be addressed before becoming a larger issue, she said.
Making plans for incorporating intentional practices can help clergy decrease stress and regain spiritual well-being. During the pandemic, the Duke Clergy Health Initiative partnered with the United Methodist Church for a study on mindfulness practices.
Clergy took eight classes on mindfulness techniques. They participated, on average, for 28 minutes a day for six months. They saw a reduction in stress and an improvement in their heart rate variability—the heart’s ability to recover.
Proeschold-Bell recommended that clergy try a practice called the Daily Examen, which has been practiced by Catholics and other contemplative Christians.
“There’s a little bit of gratitude. And then review the last 24 hours of the day with gratitude, but also to notice what emotions came up for them during that review,” said Proeschold-Bell. “Pray on that with God, and if they felt like they needed forgiveness for anything, to ask for forgiveness from God. And if they needed guidance, pray for that guidance. And then they closed it out with, again, gratitude for the day.”
Other intentional practices include exercise, taking time to eat nourishing foods and getting enough sleep. The most important thing is taking time away from work and its stressors so clergy can connect and meet their physical and psychological needs, experts say.
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Therapy can also help, said Gary Gunderson, professor of faith and the health of the public at the Wake Forest School of Divinity. Therapists can be great resources for clergy to talk about the issues they are facing without judgment for struggling.
“Pastors and priests, people in ministry, people in caring professions, they carry a lot of suffering,” said Dr. Mary Beth Werdel, director of the Pastoral Mental Health Counseling program at Fordham University.
“It becomes heavy, and we can’t hold that alone. Having a person or community to talk to is really important,” said Werdel.
Thumma said that clergy who were experiencing poor mental health often overlooked spiritual practices such as making time for prayer.
“Rather than run to God or to spiritual practices, they retreated from them,” he said.
It’s important to have time away from work and invite play into your life, said Werdel.
The Christian Reformed Church’s Thrive ministry supplies resources for churches and pastors to care for mental wellbeing. In 2022 ministry consultant Sean Baker published two versions (one U.S. and one Canadian) of a clergy mental health crisis guide on the CRC’s Network.
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