Experts Say Clergy Stress Doesn’t Have to Result in Burnout

Joe Smith graduated from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in the mid-1960s. His heroes were activist clergy who participated in civil rights marches and demonstrations.

However, those role models did not serve him well when he encountered the hard realities of parish ministry. Smith says church members wanted a pastor who excelled at raising money, making people feel good, and conducting weddings and funerals.

“They didn’t like challenging sermons …,” he says. “[They wanted] warm, fuzzy sermons about sweet Jesus, not about putting yourself on the cross.”

Last year, Smith was fired. During his nearly 20 years in the ministry, he says he never made more than $19,000 annually. With three children, he says he survived only because his wife had a good job. There were periods of depression during his pastoring years, Smith says, but now he’s mostly angry.

Joe Smith is not his real name, but his experience could be echoed by the many pastors who have left the ministry, partly as a result of clergy stress. A Gallup survey last year indicated that 29 percent of American clergy have “often” or “occasionally” considered quitting the ministry because of frustrations or disappointments. In 1977, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health published a study of 9,000 persons admitted to mental health centers in Tennessee. Clergy ranked 36th among 130 professions represented, ahead of teachers, 47th; policemen, 70th; and physicians, 106th.

Behavioral scientist Roy Oswald estimates that at least one clergyman in four is “burned out.” Two years ago, Ministers Life Insurance Company asked Oswald to write a brochure about clergy stress and burnout. More than 101,000 clergymen requested copies of the brochure.

“Doctors or lawyers can refuse clients,” says John Sanford, author of Ministry Burnout (Paulist Press). “But a clergyman has to deal with the people of his parish whether he likes them or not.”

To help ministers cope with the pressures inherent in their work, Pittsburgh (Pa.) Pastoral Institute is starting a stress-management program. Participants will be tested on their values, abilities, and personalities. The results will be fed into a computer, which will produce a stress-management book of 80 pages for each individual. It will deal with job, family, and personal life. In addition, clients will be taught how to deal effectively with stress.

Experts say stress can be damaging or enriching, depending on how a person reacts to it. George Vailant, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, was involved in a 40-year study of 95 originally healthy young men. “I was impressed at how little effect stress per se had upon their lives,” he says. “What was important was how they responded to stress.”

He gave an example of two men devastated by death. One, who had lost his best friend, spent the night writing a poem. The other, a man whose mother had died, went on an alcoholic binge until he had to be hospitalized.

Vailant says the study also showed the benefits of tolerating frustration, counting to 10 before reacting, and choosing to look at the bright side of difficult situations. “Rather than fostering ulcers and high blood pressure, “he says,” [such approaches] had emerged as the dominant defense in the lives of men who have aged most youthfully.”

RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE

North American Scene

Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral has received back more than half of the $473,185 in property taxes it paid last year under protest. The refund came several months after the California Board of Equalization gave the church a partial tax exemption (CT, April 6, 1984, p. 62). The 10,000-member church lost its property tax exemption in 1982 because it held commercial concerts and other profitable activities in its sanctuary.

Duluth, Minnesota, voters have rejected an ordinance that would have prohibited discrimination against homosexuals. Citizens petitioned for the referendum after the Duluth city council overrode a veto by mayor John Fedo in June. “We’re not opposed to them [homosexuals] as people, but we are opposed to creating a special minority status for them,” said Robin Tellor, president of Duluth Citizens for Decency through Law.

Teetotalers in Oklahoma lost a battle to retain the state’s ban on selling liquor by the drink. Oklahoma voters passed a constitutional amendment that authorizes the state legislature to give counties the right to decide whether to allow barroom sales of liquor. Antiliquor forces, including many Southern Baptists and United Methodists, say they will continue to fight against open bars at the county level. Proliquor forces argue that sales of liquor by the drink would boost tax revenues and increase convention business and tourism.

Five Protestant groups have asked a federal appeals court to give them equal air time to respond to a 1983 “60 Minutes” report that charged that church contributions were being used to support Marxist groups overseas. The church groups argue that the dispute warrants the imposition of the Federal Communications Commission’s “fairness doctrine.” The “60 Minutes” report focused on activities in Africa and South America funded by the World and National Councils of Churches. Both organizations receive support from the groups that filed the complaint, including the United Church of Christ, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Episcopal church’s Diocese of Ohio, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and the United Methodist Church’s ecumenical commission.

The U.S. Tax Court has denied tax-exempt status to the Church of Scientology of California. The court ruled that the church operates for commercial purposes, noting that it calls its parishioners “customers” and its missions “franchises.” Scientology president Heber Jentzsch said the ruling strengthened the organization’s determination to seek reform in the Internal Revenue Service.

Four members of the Faith Assembly sect in Indiana have been convicted of reckless homicide and child neglect in the deaths of their children. Two married couples were found guilty of withholding medical treatment from two infant children. Faith Assembly members shun conventional medical care. One of the couples, Gary and Margaret Hall, was sentenced to five years in prison. The other couple, David and Kathleen Bergmann, could face up to 28 years in prison.

Violence in weekend children’s television programming last year reached an all-time high, with 30 violent incidents per hour. George Gerbner, dean of the Annenberg School of Communication at the Universitiy of Pennsylvania, added that the rate of violence on prime-time dramatic programs has remained “remarkably stable” for the past 17 years, averaging five incidents of violence per hour. Differences among the three major networks are negligible, he said.

A controversial civil rights measure died in the U.S. Senate before Congress adjourned last month. The Civil Rights Act of 1984 was designed to undercut a U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding Grove City (Pa.) College, a Christian institution that refused to fill out federal forms on sex discrimination because it accepts no direct federal aid. Nonetheless, the government maintained that federal student loans paid to the institution constitute federal aid (CT, April 6, 1984, p. 70). Conservatives oppose the bill because of its potential application to churches whose donors receive federal assistance. It is likely that the bill will be reintroduced.

World Scene

Peru’s National Evangelical Council (CONEP) has issued a declaration to the government protesting the recent slayings of evangelicals in the state of Ayacucho. Terrorists, presumably from the Maoist Shining Path guerrilla group, killed seven people in a Pentecostal congregation in July (CT, Oct. 5, 1984, p. 90). CONEP suspects that government soldiers killed six members of a Presbyterian church in August. CONEP has formed a committee to provide supplies, money, and refuge for those affected by terrorist violence.

Missionaries report limited freedom for Christians in Egypt. Some 200 Bible-study groups meeting in homes have been disbanded as a result of government regulations. The Coptic Church patriarch still is under house arrest. In addition, eight bishops and 20 priests—after being released from prison—have been barred from returning to their parishes.

Former priests in Italy are fighting to end the celibacy rule for priests in the Roman Catholic Church. Vocatio, an organization that includes married expriests, is planning an international synod of married clergymen next summer in Rome to put pressure on the Catholic church. An estimated 10,000 married former priests live in Italy.

The first Protestant Chinese New Testament study Bible will be released this fall in Hong Kong. The book is the first study Bible written and edited entirely by Chinese scholars. A Chinese Old Testament study Bible tentatively is scheduled for release late next year.

The West German village that produces the Oberammergau Passion Play has decided to forgo additional script revisions, despite new charges that the play is anti-Semitic. Under the auspices of the American Jewish Committee, a delegation of three Americans requested the changes. However, the 25-member passion play committee voted unanimously not to change the script again. The script was revised several years ago to remove elements considered anti-Semitic. Scholars have argued for 40 years that the play blames Jews for the death of Jesus.

Enthusiasm for missions in South Korea has led to an increase in the number of Korean missionaries serving in other countries. The number of Western missionaries serving in Korea has dropped. Missionaries from Korea primarily serve in Asian countries, with some in Africa. The Africa Inland Mission actively recruits Korean missionaries.

Poland’s Roman Catholic church and Communist authorities have agreed on establishing a Western-supported fund to aid private farmers. Some 3.3 million farmers till more than 75 percent of the country’s land. The United States and Western European countries will contribute most of the $1.8 billion needed over a 5-year period to buy chemicals, modern machinery, and fertilizer. President Reagan has asked Congress to approve a $10 million contribution.

Eight evangelicals have been elected to the Argentine legislature, and several others won positions in the government’s executive branch. Observers say the participation of evangelicals in politics constitutes a major change. Argentina’s constitution requires that the president and vice-president be Catholics.

Just as some economic progress was being made, drought has hit Kenya. Agricultural output surpassed population growth at just over 4 percent. However, malnutrition is increasing. Between 1977 and 1982, the proportion of children aged one to four who are below normal size and weight rose from 24 percent to 30 percent.

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