Carol Howard Merritt: What causes pastors to burn out?
Pastors have a 50 percent burnout rate. In the first couple of years of ministry, half of them will drop out.
I expect this from nursing and teaching, but I didn’t know that the rate would be quite so high for the pastorate. Do our churches realize what we’re doing to our professionals? When we put so much time and energy into preparing pastors for the ministry, isn’t it disconcerting to watch half of them leave within a couple of years?
I have often seen people shrug off the burnout. They figure that the ones who were not tough enough left. But what if it’s the healthy ones who are leaving? I wondered about this, so I asked my Twitter community of pastors (I’m @CarolHoward) about why we fizzle out so quickly. This is the feedback that I heard.
The Financial Realities —No one entered the ministry to make a lot of money. But it takes an awful lot of money to go to college and seminary. After seven years of little income and high tuition, most of us have tremendous debt. Pastor salaries are often decided by people who have never had to live with the reality of school loans. The fact that their new pastor might be 40k in the hole never occurs to them. But the financial burden becomes too difficult for the pastor, and she has to walk away.
The Professional Loneliness —After you become a pastor, going to a party will never be quite the same experience. There are people who will tell you every problem they have had with religion, or every problem that they have in general. They will apologize for cursing or for drinking. Or they are entirely too happy that you’re a minister. And all of it can make a pastor long to be just an ordinary citizen of the world. The problem becomes compounded when the pastor is single.
I recently went to lunch with a wonderful group of clergywomen, who explained that they do not tell guys their profession on the first few dates. They tell them that they work for a non-profit.
The Gaping Disconnect —There was also the sense that there was a detachment between the theory we learned in seminary and the practical application that we needed in the church. We weren’t taught enough about finances, budgets, technology, conflict management, or evangelism.
The Downward Trajectory —There was the difficulty of walking into a church that has been plummeting in membership for the last forty years. The frustration, anger, and longing to re-create the past loom large. Then the new pastor is considered to be either the bearer of salvation or the reason for the failure.
The Idea Dam —When a pastor is full of ideas, going into a declining church that is looking back, hoping to re-create the past, can be like a rush of water that hits a giant, concrete wall, and has nowhere to go. As I look at generational theory, I can see that this could be a particularly frustrating thing for Generation X (those who are 28 to 48), because a leading characteristic that marks our Generation is innovation and an entrepreneurial spirit. In our churches, our creative flow can get quickly jammed.
Then there was The Problem of Productivity. We live in a world of metrics, reports, and data. Our congregants want to see our output. But what do you do when you spend ten hours of your week counseling a couple through a terrible divorce? What do you do when you read a theological text to prepare for a sermon? How do you measure those hours when you sneak off to the hospital to visit the teenager who just tried to commit suicide, but her parents don’t want anyone in the church to know about it?
So much of our time is filled with work that cannot be measured, sometimes it cannot even be accounted for, but it is incredibly valuable. And it is quite frustrating to be laboring overwhelming hours, and then to have anxious members checking to see if your car is in the church lot.
Can we begin to imagine churches in which pastors can flourish? What do you wish someone had done for you?
Carol Howard Merritt is pastor of Western Presbyterian Church in Washington DC and author of "Tribal Church" (Alban). She blogs at tribalchurch.org.
Expectations and Ambiguities
What I am learning is the need for a proactive personnel committee. A personnel committee, particularly for a multi-staff church, should have some of the congregation's best leaders. In so doing, the personnel committee can work alongside the pastor to set boundaries, bring clarity, create ministry goals, and most of all - share the prayers. Too often, personnel committees are either reactive or they are majoring in minor issues.
Pastors, or at least I, tend to overfunction out of anxiety, then underfunction out of anger or embarrasment. Church systems do the opposite: underfunction out of congregational anxiety, overfunction in reaction to anger. Anger results from unmet expectations.
Eugene Peterson says that being a pastor is the singular profession that has the highest expectations alongside the greatest ambiguities in job description. Managing burnout between those extremes is a daily, life-time prayer.
balance
Actually there have been quite a few studies (both serious and anecdotal) about pastors burning out. The short of it is (1) often, but not always, this is the "result" of the church; (2) it is not just "young pastors" that burn out, older and second-career pastors burn-out as well; (3)in this conversation, let's not forget what some pastors do to churches as well!
May be idealistic but
Seems to me my friends from school who've not dropped out are those for whom ministry is a rich intellectual task. They're the ones who read, who argue with friends, who wrestle with what the church is, who stay in and thrive. This isn't sufficient by any means (I can think of such folks who are now fine lawyers), but it does seem necessary.
Several thoughts: 1. While
Several thoughts:
1. While congregants are looking backwards, the culture is pushing us all forwards, and pastors are left in the middle trying to hold the tension of these opposites.
2. Theology aside, everything I learned about ministry I learned in my first vocation. Learning to be collaborative and to trust the Spirit has saved me a hundred and one times.
3. Family systems, family systems, family systems.
4. Pastors are encouraged to be workaholics. We give a gift to our similarly-inclined parishioners when we take time for ourselves and cultivate identities that are unrelated to our vocations.
Reason for My New Book on this Subject
Thank you very much for focusing on this vital topic in pastoral/church life. Because of my concern for pastors in spiritually dry places I wrote the just released book, For Those in Dry Places: Hope for Ministers in the Wilderness by iuniverse.com. I trust that interested pastors and laity will find in it a beneficial resource for encouragement and guidance.
Trying to Deal.
I think all of the above is perfectly valid, and really appreciate having it put out there.
In my experience so far as a young pastor, the problem of expectations is not confined to local churches. The pressure to work long hours and produce a particular kind of measurable results stems from denominational leaders, as well -- in spite of lip-service given to leading balanced lives. Young clergy are expected to produce more people, younger people, and more money for churches . . . often with very little support or spiritual mentorship.
These expectations tend to conflict with the reasons many of us went into ordained ministry in the first place: a passion to create a different kind of community, to give people a different, spiritual lens through which to see the world, and to help those in need. When the church's expectations for itself and its leaders match those of country clubs or, at best, volunteer-based non-profits, the question becomes: why NOT leave for a healthier career in one of those?
Idea Dam
I love the "Idea Dam" comment. I am 27 and a year into my first pastorate. My congregation has been wonderfully gracious in their demeanor toward me, but I often feel most desperate when I am trying to do something "new and different" and continually finding the congregation is not excited to go forward with it.
I don't feel like I will burn out anytime soon, but you named something I haven't been able to yet: The difference between a young or enthusiastic pastor and an aging or content congregation is seen most when new ideas are introduced.
Clergy Burnout
When new or long term pastors try to introduce change, frequent reasons for frustration and subsequent failure are the nature of the change introduced which may or may not be appropriate, the way the change is introduced, and the involvement of the congregation members and leaders. Many cliches exist for ministry and leadership but the one which comes to mind is when change is necessary make your change their change. Two conditions need to exist for change to occur: 1) external forces requiring change, and 2) internal awareness that change is necessary. When the first vehicle with an internal combustion engine drove past the buggy whip factory, the hand writing was on the wall. Many pastors do not help congregations understand external forces and the fact that the status quo is not an option for long term effectiveness and, indeed, in many instances survival. Sometimes the oldest members of a congregation have the most commitment and intense interest in survival and, with adequate explanations, will support change. It is often said that congregants are afraid of change. In reality, congregants are afraid of uncertainty and will embrace change when it is in their best interest or forced by events such as a fire destroyed sanctuary. One commenter pointed out the inadequate training seminary students receive in how to be leaders of a congregation. For sure, for sure.
Pastor burnout
As a second-career minister, I sought spiritual direction in the midst of burnout to build a spiritual identity thru spiritual practices (i.e.Centering Prayer and the Welcoming Prayer) so I might "see with new eyes" (Descarte). The latter either gives me new insight into the situation(s) causing burnout or reveals to me that I am powerless here--time to turn it over to God Triune in prayer as success and failure are not all up to me.
Thank you for going into detail
Lately a lot of people have been writing about clergy burnout, but most cite the usual generalities about lack of boundaries, poor self-care, unrealistic expectations, and the stress of being on call 24/7 without getting more specific. Thank you for being more thorough and acknowledging some realities - like the crushing student loan debt many of us are still struggling to pay years after seminary graduation, and the loneliness and awkwardness in social situations that many pastors, especially women, experience.
Sounds like
The image that comes to mind is the flight attendant who, after getting chewed out by a passenger and then hit in the head, decided to grab a beer, open the escape shoot, and jump ship.
Good article. Was thinking of
Good article. Was thinking of passing it on to my SPRC to give them some understanding of the psychological/emotional battles pastors face. But I'd also like to give them some proactive responses to those things, too. As I try to work with congregations on claiming an ecclesiology shaped by the authority to minister that is given to them through baptism, I hope that I am shaping the church for the future: local churches whose life/shape/systems don't chew up its leaders and leave room for the JOY of leading the people of God. Any suggestions on books to read that present proactive responses by an SPRC? I'm sure Moses would have appreciated such a book. :)
Pastors Burnout
my comment may seem very simple but why don't we read of the Apostle Paul with a burnout?
Was he a super Christian?
Or was his total dependence on God and living by faith?
What about Christians who are in Noth Korea in the punishment camps and those Christians who sit in containers in Eritrea. They are totally dependent on God and He is theie everything. They know what it is that Paul wrote " It is not I that lives but Christ in me"
Maybe we are to much alive to ourselves. How can someone that is totally dead to themselves possibly burn out?
Exodus
Dear Guest,
You're right, we have no talk of burnout in the bible, just as we have no talk of ADHD or post-traumatic stress disorder. But I promise you pastored who've ministered in the sort of settings you describe will understand the latter. You might also chew on a bit of the Torah:
Exodus 17:12: "Moses' hands grew weary; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one sid,e and the other on the other side, so his hands were steady until the sun set."
Exodus 18:17: "What you are doing is not good. You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone."
There is wisdom borne of leading a people for decades there that is hard-won and reflective of the work Carol Howard Merritt is doing in this post.
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