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Clergy in Crisis: When Human Power Isn’t Enough
from Muse, S. When Hearts Become Flame: (Orthodox Research Institute: Rollingsford,
NH, 2011, St. Tikhon’s Monastery Press, 2nd edition revised, 2015)
(edited from article published in Vol. 61(3), Fall 2007 – Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling)
Stephen Muse, Ph.D
Director of Pastoral Counselor Training and Clinical Services
D.A. & ElizabethTurnerMinistryResourceCenter
Pastoral Institute, Inc.
2022 15th Ave.
Columbus, Georgia 31901
Cites current research and more than a decade of clinical work with hundredsofclergy from a variety of denominations to suggest an approach for empowerment and renewal by addressing thetension between thecall to ministry and theneed for self-validation.Describes a short-term,multi-counselor, intensive intervention for clergy in crisis and offerstwo heuristic modelsdesigned to facilitate integration of the domains of clinicaldiagnosis and spiritual discernment.
All life is meeting.
--Martin Buber
The Self is hid with Christ in God.
--Apostle Paul
The Chinese character representing “crisis” means both danger and opportunity. Conflict in ministry is inevitable, but burnout doesn’t have to be. Jesus endured conflictin order to bring redemption through it and predicted it for all those who followed his path. Without conflict there is no growth. For many clergy, conflict exposes the attempt to succeed in ministry on
human power alone, fueled by unconscious attempts to carve out a self in the process which threatens the development of both and if undiscovered, leads to burnout. Finding the path that leads through conflict rather than avoiding it or caving in to it and losing the integrity of your ministry in the process, is one of the key issues facing clergy today and central to an authentic response to the Gospel.
Epidemiological considerations related to persons leaving pastoral ministry
Among Protestant evangelical churches, research suggests that more than 1500 pastors leave their positions in ministry every month. Half of these leave ministry altogether within their first five years (1).While the reasons given are varied, conflict of one sort or another is always central, which often leads clergy to question the validity of their call to ministry and takes a toll on their personal sense of self-worth and family well-being.Conflicts contributing to clergy leaving ministry include lack of support and/or conflict with their denomination officials (26%); conflict with conflicting demands leading to burnout (12%); conflict between church demands and the needs of family and children (11%); conflict with church members (9%);conflict with senior pastors (8%) and conflict among church staff(2).
The term “burnout syndrome” was first used in the early 1970’s by psychoanalyst Herbert Freudenberger (3) to refer to a cluster of symptoms indicative of mental and physical exhaustion essentially caused by long-term overwork. Significantly it occurs most often in the persons who are highly motivated and extremely competent and who tend to identify their value and their life increasingly with their work, to the neglect of meeting legitimate human needs for relaxation, intimacy and play. Gradually becoming exhausted, cynical, losing joy and fulfillment in the work itself, they begin to question their self-worth, all the while attempting to work even longer hours as a way of compensating.
Research conducted by the Pastoral Institute, Inc. in partnership with FloridaStateUniversity(n=427 clergy families) found that the wellbeing and long-term viability of clergy in parish ministry is related primarily to what might be considered the two main resources for sustainment of persons in ministry. For clergy, the quality of spiritual resources was identified as most significant, while for clergy spouses, the key predictor of wellbeing was the quality of family life(4).This is particularly significant in that ninety-four percent of clergy say they feel pressure to have an "ideal" family, while eighty percent say their ministries have actually had a negative impact on their families(5).
A large scale study (n = 324,000) of clergy and 6900 congregations in Australiafrom both Protestant and Roman Catholic denominations suggests levels of burnout(6)among clergy are much higher.Nineteen percent of clergy in this study were in the severe range and another56% identified themselves as being at “borderline burnout.” Only 21% indicated burnout was not an issue for them. Analysis of these findings revealed vulnerability toburnout was significantly related to three variables:personhood, parish environment and leadership style. Among the protective values for clergy was the quality of marriage and family life, physical health, friendships preventing social isolation, a strong sense of call to ministry and relative freedom from financial problems.
In terms of parish environment, the factors preventative of burnout included clergy being able to see some good in modern life teamed up with congregations who value active involvement with the broader community.The more insular self-absorbed parishes that feared outside contact with the community are similar to clergy who inwardly split by inveighing against an “evil” world while identifying only with the “good” aspects of the conscious ego. This increases the likelihood of walled-off, denied parts of eachbeing projected onto the world and other people. Small churches were seen to be more stressful than large ones frequently because of concerns over viability and the overwork of a few persons. Pastors were less likely to burnout in churches where members were growing in their faith.
Pastoral leadership style analysis revealed that clergy who inspire and empower parishioners were less likely to burnoutthan those who suffer from a familiar syndrome which Parker Palmer insightfully refers to as functional atheism:“the unconscious unexamined conviction that if anything decent is going to happen here, we are the ones who must make it happen—a conviction held even by people who talk a good game about God” (7). This unwillingness and/or inability to delegate authority and empower laity is also a syndrome that is frequently tied to the clergy’s unmet childhood needs which reappear in the form of unconscious posturingin the“parish family” seeking to maintain a precarious equilibrium as the “favorite child” who becomes exhausted and frequently loses both the joy and the prophetic integrity of the pastorate by striving to meet everyone’s needs, legitimate or not, in the process(8). Not surprisingly, the Australian study revealed that clergy who are able to delegate responsibilities fare better than those tending to “do all the jobs themselves.” Clergy who are flexible and do not need to be “kept on a pedestal” by parishioners and who are skillful in their ability to handle parishioners suffering from personality disorders(9)(which includes about 10 percent of the average congregation)also had greater longevity in their parishes.
One study conducted among Orthodox Christian priests (n = 49)found a strong link between measures of burnout, over work and emotional isolation. Twenty percent of priests in this study indicated a high degree of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, lack of sense of personal accomplishment) and another 18% experienced moderate levels. Fifty percent of these priests indicated they consistently worked 50-99 hours a week. Fifteen percent of those surveyed indicated that they were isolated and had noone with whom to share their emotional life.Particularly significant was the finding that priests with spiritual confessors and mentors were a full standard deviation above the others in protection against burnout and satisfaction in ministry (10).
These trends take on increased urgency considering that among the population at large, research consistently indicates that persons who are emotionally isolated have a two to three-fold increased risk of death from both heart disease and other causes as compared to persons who experience greater emotional connection to others(11).Significantly, such results appear to be independent of other cardiac risks factors such as cholesterol level, blood pressure, genetics and so on (12). Failure to emotionally confide in others is stressful and associated with long-term health problemsby putting chronic stress on the heart and on the immune system(13). Clergy, though surrounded by persons socially, are frequently extremelyemotionally isolated. Seventy percent of the clergy surveyed at one gathering (n=30) said they did not have a single close friend (14).
While the spiritual importance of the mentoring relationship may be seen as primary, the secondary benefits of emotional empathy and understanding in human relationships should not be underestimated or devalued.Obviously such studies have implications for clergy health insurers, judicatories and poorly served parishes who end up paying the price of poor health and frequent illness among clergy. These studiessuggest that greater attention needs to be given to clergy wellness programs as well as the need to include thorough assessments and follow-up plans for physical health and well-being in crisis intervention.
History of the program and typology of intervention
Taken as a whole, these findings are confirmedby the trends found in working with hundreds of clergy through the D.A. and ElizabethTurnerMinistryResourceCenter’s national Clergyin Crisis program.Ministerstravel to Columbus,Georgia for a week of intensive dialogue with a team of pastoral psychotherapists, suggested readings are provided between sessions, alongwith ample time for rest and recreation. Participants stay in the tranquil natural settings of CallawayGardens or along Columbus’s beautiful riverfront with 16 miles of hiking and historical attractions.
Initially begun as a crisis intervention program, the week has come to be used not only as a resource for judicatories when clergy are at conflict points with their congregations or in their personal lives, but also for those who are seeking a mini-sabbatical for purposes of discernment and spiritual refreshment. Three main areas are addressed during the week by a team of pastoral counselors, each one meeting individually for dialogue with the pastor and in some cases his/her spouse. The basic areas addressed are those which have been consistently identified by research and found by our team as most significantly bearing on clergy wellness and effectivenessin ministry. Following the categories noted above, three important dimensions areaddressed.
Personhoodincludes psyche (body/mind/soul) and spirit. It is inclusive of spiritual resources available to and used by the pastor as well as his/her physical and emotional wellbeing, personal and professional boundaries, relationship skills, and awareness ofthe impact of unfinished areas of growth stemming from trauma and family of origin issues.Not only have many pastors neglected having a pastor-mentor for themselves, but they have had little or no psychotherapy to better understand their own issues. Consequently, “the log in their own eyes” which Jesus insisted was critical to effective relationships with others remains largely unexamined. Attempting to offer care and mentor others without receiving this for one’s self is questionable to say the least, if not a kind of malpractice that puts both the clergyperson and parishioners at risk.
Environmentincludes both the type of ministry and/or the parish setting, its politics, socio-economic, gender and class privilege, history and systemic configuration, as well as the smaller oikonomia of the clergyperson’s home where the wellbeing and quality of his/her family life has been identified as a critical and often overlooked factor in successful ministry.
Leadership stylehas to do with the pastor’sability to draw on awareness of personal style, skills and growing edges in conjunction with motivations stemming from the sense of call in order to accomplish the tasks of ministry. This involves a delicate and often elusive, but crucial balance between meeting legitimate human needs whileresponding to the Divine Energies of Grace to selflessly serve others unencumbered, as much as possible, by compulsivity arising out unconscious dynamics stemming from unmet childhood agendaswhich frequently lead to problems of burnout and/or professional and ethical violations.
Methodology:
The core of the week consists oftwelve hours of dialogue with three different pastoral counselors, each devoted to assessing aspects of the various issues identified above as they are constellated uniquely in each person and his/her particular context. Over a decade’s experience with clergy, we have found a personalized approach that invites trust and intimacy and encourages I-Thou dialogical encounter(15)in a settingaway from the circumstances and temporarily relieved of demands upon the clergy that are associated with the crisis, allows for significant breakthroughs in a very short time. Frequently the downward spiral of emotional and psychological pain, if not arrested, is at least redirected with hope and new inspiration stemming from untwisting the sense of self-worth and the call to ministry that are almost universally found together in unconscious ways in clergy who are suffering this inner folie a deux. Recognizing the importance of the wisdom of St. Paul’s observation that “the self is hid with Christ in God” in contrast with something self-made, one discerning Bishop asksof eachnew candidate for ministry, “Is this a whole person seeking to express wholeness through ministry, or is this a person trying to find wholeness in the ministry?”(16)
Following Frederick Buechner’s simple but profoundly useful definition of vocationas the place where your deep gladness meets world’s great needthesethree main areas are assessed and addressed by the clinical team, each of whom approaches them from several different directions, which overlap in a variety of ways while paying careful attention to this tension between self-making and “God-and-community-serving” ministries. The first clinician to see the clergycompletes the primary clinical intake, addressing psychosocial aspects of the problem – both systemic and intrapsychic, while a second clinician is free to focus more on spiritual discernment and vocational issues as these relate to the current crisis. Although in practice these two may significantly overlap, it has never been the case in over a decade that they merely duplicate one another. When similar insights emerge, having dialogues with several persons at once intensifies the impact of what is discovered and often elicits important nuances in the same material that deepen its import. This concentrated and personalized attentionin the context of pilgrimage within the larger arena of Christian faith and the presence of God in the process is one of the primary advantages of the Clergyin Crisis week in effecting breakthroughs.
Prior to arrival, clergy take several psychological inventoriesthat will be used in the third clinician’s assessment which focusesprimarily on leadership style. Though these may change according to the particular need, the typical battery include the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory in conjunction with the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation-Behavior (FIRO-B)which together yield a Leadership Profile, along with the Campbell Interest Inventory and the 16 PF which are used adjunctively to both assess the congruence of one’s personal energies and interests with the tasks of ministry as well as the options of avocational recreation and/or in some cases, retooling for work outside the pastoral ministry. This member of the clinical team provides professional consultation to the clergy stemming from data assessed in the inventories and shares the results with other team members during the week.
Theoretical Models
The author has developed two heuristic models to conceptualize the various parameters of the assessment and dialogue. These can be used regardless of the clinical theoretical or theological orientation to help ensure that the full range of pressures confronting clergy in the areas discussed above will be addressed, along with assessing the degree to which there is confusion between self-making and ministry-making. They help provide a compass to orient both clinicians and clergy as theseissues are identified, explored and a follow-up plan is developed.
The first model is a developmental approach to the Clergy Burnout Cycle which addresses the intersection of psychic and spiritual domainsby focusing on the difference between self-making and Spirit-bearing ministry which tend to be the areas most often in tension with clergy seeking treatment. The modeldraws on a four-fold heuristic schemacalled the “Hazards of VIPS” (17) which is an anachronism signifying the tensions inherent to ministry throughout the lifespan. Values and choices are lived out in each of the areas of vocationversusvisitation; intimacy versus isolation; presence versus power and control; spirituality versus secularization. Tensions within these antinomies help discriminate free and compulsive ways of functioning in ministry. The path of vocation represents the movement of respondingauthentically with awareness of legitimate human vulnerabilities while relying on faith and traditional spiritual disciplines in ministry. The path of visitation by contrast, is the way of the “wolf in sheep’s clothing” who “visits” ministry in appearance, but because of lack awareness of unconscious motives and tendencies toward functional atheism, falls prey to co-opting the work of ministry for the purpose of making and protecting the individualego.