(RNS) — America’s pastors are tired.
The decline of organized religion, the aftermath of a worldwide pandemic, political polarization — and the burden of caring for their congregation’s soul — have left many clergy feeling burned out and wondering how long they can hang on.
The title of a 2024 report from the Hartford Institute for Research summed up what clergy are saying: “I’m Exhausted All the Time.” Small wonder that about half of clergy had 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 a five-year study of how COVID-19 affected congregations.
Scott Thumma. (Photo by Shana Sureck)
Racial divides and political issues have disrupted faith communities, said Thumma. All these factors have undermined the relationship between religious leaders and their congregations, leading to clergy burnout and discouragement.
That has made it crucial for clergy to pay attention to their mental health, experts say.
While burnout and poor mental health for clergy may 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.
Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell. (Photo courtesy Duke University)
“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 need, experts say.
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.
Having a clear plan for an intentional health or well-being practice can lead to flourishing when it comes to mental health for clergy. Clergy dealing with poor mental health may feel a lack of agency within their work life, said Gunderson. Engaging in these practices can bring back a sense of agency and the capacity to choose good things for themselves.
(Image by Mohamed Hassan/Pixabay/Creative Commons)
This includes making time for things that are fun. It’s easy to remove a movie night with a friend from your busy schedule, but to be proactive against burnout, it’s important to have time away from work and invite play into your life, said Werdel.
Conflict between clergy and their congregation can also lead to poor mental health.
“There’s a real strong relationship that, in some ways, is probably more than many other vocations, between what’s going on at work and how well the person feels,” said Thumma.
Having a space where the congregation and the clergy can be honest about their feelings and process issues together can help repair the relationship between them. Conflict around the pandemic in many congregations has not been resolved.
“I think there’s some compensatory grieving that needs to happen and rebuilding of people’s trust,” said Thumma.
This can be for other issues the congregation is facing as well.
Gary Gunderson. (Photo courtesy Wake Forest University)
“The most important thing a congregation can do is to create a safe culture,” said Gunderson. “The congregation should be healthy for everyone in the congregation, including clergy, to find a voice and to be able to talk about what’s actually going on in their life.”
It is particularly healthy for the clergy person to be able to voice doubts and stresses, instead of being viewed as the mascot. “What is healthy for the clergy is healthy for everyone else in the congregation,” concluded Gunderson.
Post-COVID, clergy and their congregations may need to reevaluate their relationships — and find better ways to collaborate. That might include a shift in expectations, said Werdel.
“There’s a sense that you are the one that’s going to fix everything, that you are the one… that you alone are essential in solving all the problems of the world,” said Werdel. That is too much pressure on one person.
“Have you lost the ability to delegate? Are you micromanaging? These experiences will lead to burnout because they have to do with the belief of control that is not healthy,” she said.
Therapy can help identify these expectations, and having a supportive team within the leadership of the ministry can also help remove some of those beliefs by sharing the load of the labor.
Werdel cautions clergy not to ignore their emotional well-being. “Our emotional worlds matter, they matter deeply, and they’re connected right to our spiritual experiences,” she said. Pushing through feelings of overwhelm and burnout will affect both your mental and spiritual health.