Being a pastor isn’t easy.
National studies show that while ministers often feel a sense of satisfaction from their work, they also feel the pressure of having too much to do, too little money, ambiguous expectations placed on them, and conflicted relationships in their congregations.
So some presbyteries, conscious of the difficulties of pastoral work, are trying different models of both providing pastoral support and of challenging ministers to do the best and most ambitious work possible.
In Pittsburgh Presbytery, Jim Mead’s title is “pastor to presbytery” — but that should not be interpreted as primarily a therapeutic or counseling role, Mead said in an interview. Instead, his emphasis is intentionally missional: encouraging pastors to be bold in mission, to take risks, to follow where God is calling them to go.
“The pastor to the presbytery’s number one job is walking with pastors while they try to help their congregations walk with God in what God is doing,” Mead said, or “asking pastors to do difficult things and to pay the price that comes with change.”
And then the presbytery staff will “bind up their wounds. You can’t lead that kind of change without either causing wounds or conflict in the church, and the pastors of this presbytery understand that. …We back pastors who are under attack, and we expect pastors to suck it up and be brave, and to get their churches to engage in the mission or at least work their heads off at it.”
When Mead or his staff preach to congregations, “we never go out and talk to them about eleven new ways you can support your presbytery,” he said.
Instead, they say, “thank you for your bravery.”
Recently, Mead preached at a small congregation — a mostly white church in a neighborhood that was changing, where the people living nearby were often single parents of color, “people working two and three jobs just to be poor,” Mead said. The session made the decision not to move to the suburbs — to stay put. One elder said, “God has put us here for a reason. Let’s stay and see what God is doing,” Mead recalled.
So he preached about David, and all that David managed to do. “You’re just a little church, but you’re healthy and you’re re-engaging your community,” he told them. “I know there are ‘pew parents’ who are here every Sunday to sit with children that you send out a van every Sunday to pick up.”
Mead thanked them for taking a risk.
He also said Pittsburgh Presbytery sets its priorities on the basis of fruitful mission.
“We put our money and our time — staff time, presbytery time, volunteer time — into the places most likely to bear fruit, as opposed to the crankiest, most likely to blow up, most needy,” Mead said.
In other places, presbyteries are pushing ministers to take steps to buffer themselves from burnout.
Spiritual needs
Lehigh Presbytery, for example, is encouraging pastors to pay attention to their own spiritual needs. It’s offering the Lord’s Supper at every presbytery meeting — giving pastors an opportunity to participate in receiving communion without being responsible for it.
Every other month, when the presbytery doesn’t have a regular meeting, it schedules a gathering called “oasis.” No attendance required, no business to conduct. Just worship led some of the time by ministers working in validated positions where they are not regularly called upon to plan worship for a congregation.
Steve Shussett, whose title as head of Lehigh Presbytery is “teaching pastor,” also is planning a pastors’ retreat, to give ministers a chance to reflect, to rest, to refresh their spirits.
“We need to tell pastors they need to stop,” Shussett said. “They shouldn’t be penalized for that. It shouldn’t be seen as something extra.” When it’s appropriate, congregations and sessions should be saying to their ministers: “You haven’t had any vacation in a while. … I think you’ve been working too hard. I called at 8 o’clock this morning and you were here. It’s 9 o’clock at night and you’re here.”
Maybe it’s time to go home.
A Pulpit & Pew study, conducted at Duke University in North Carolina with funding from the Lilly Endowment, discovered that many ministers like their jobs. Six out of 10 never doubted that God had called them to ministry; seven in 10 said they never thought of leaving.
But there also are signs that ministers do feel stress related to their jobs and often don’t do a good job taking care of themselves.
A 2002 study on clergy burnout by Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary found that while pastors viewed Bible study and prayer as essential for effective ministry, fewer than half made Bible study and prayer regular practices.
The study was based on a survey mailed to 272 Austin alumni, 161 of whom responded, as well as on a focus group of 15 pastors.
It also found that 74 percent of pastors responding to the survey reported their greatest source of stress was having too many demands on their time, and that many ministers in the focus group said they had trouble setting priorities from among all the conflicting demands on their time.
What can parishioners do to help?
Shussett suggests some simple things.
In scheduling a meeting, consider whether the minister really needs to come — or whether the work can be done just as well by others.
Offer to baby sit.
Bake some banana bread, drop by a meal.
Pray for the pastor.
Write a note of thanks.
Make a point to stop by and ask how your minister is doing.
Then listen.
