3 minute read
Pastors & Mental Health
Pastors -- fully human, after all -- are not immune to mental health struggles.
Imagine a pastor’s life as family guide at home and at church. Add to those responsibilities hours to prepare a weekly message (30 minutes or less) that's applicable to a dwindling live congregation and an unpredictable digital audience in the post-COVID times in which we're living.
Aside from traditional human interactions, pastors wrestle with building and ministry reorganizations, surviving smaller congregations, Zoom fatigue, deaths without funeral closure and repetitive grief. It’s little wonder clergy not only burn out, leave, stray or worse. Headlines over the past two years have reported suicides of three notable pastors or pastor’s children.
Without excusing the behavior, the “fully human” pressures of leadership have also been cited as causes of marital infidelity, emotional abuse of personnel and many other indiscretions pastors are expected to be immune from, yet fall victim to.
Why do we make these observations? To remind us:
1) that pastors need prayer and tangible support and from family and flock,
2) that pastors must confess weaknesses, take time off and delegate work, heeding Jethro’s advice to overworked son-in-law Moses:
“You will certainly wear out both yourself and these people who are with you because the task it too heavy for you...you cannot handle it alone.” (Exodus 18:17-19)Indeed, for church health, many denominations insist on sabbaticals.
Kingdom Impact Theater Ministries tracks mental health resources for pastors with whom we have served and also writes scenes to facilitate Safe Faith Conversations on the topic of mental health.
Among our creative contributions is an audio version of the semi-autographical book, “Who Prays for the Pastor?” by author Fredrick Ezeki-Okoye. Okoye shares modern ramifications of clergy burnout with personal anecdotes and antidotes in his book, which is available on Amazon. These tips and stories are narrated as an audiobook narrated by Michael Edgar Myers, founding artistic director of Kingdom Impact Theater Ministries, who also created audio devotional questions based on the book. The devotionals are downloadable on Soundcloud.
A final resource is "When the People Pray," a 30-day guide for congregations to prayer for their pastors, written by Thom S. Rainer
An affiliated hands-on resource is the Ministry Assistance Program, a network of Christian counselors for pastors and their families. MAP is affiliated with our colleagues at Converge MidAmerica.
Feel free to recommend other written or interactive resources to assist pastors in the mental health journey.
