Pastoral Burnout in Modern America

Renn’s piece over at First Things highlights numerous aspects of modern pastoral ministry that I addressed in my dissertation on pastoral longevity. Renn notes,

Negative world ministry requires pastors with Pauline toughness—both mental and emotional—as well as new approaches to structuring ministry.

He notes in the end that the negative world we live in will require emotional resiliency to stand fast in such days. Further, the pastoral ministry has undergone a host of challenges in these last two years that have made such endeavors more difficult than the ordinary difficulties inherent in pastoral work. Particularly striking is the new statistic on pastoral burnout observed from Barna:

40 percent of pastors had thought about leaving the ministry in the past year. The level of people thinking of leaving the ministry increased by nine percentage points in less than a year, with younger pastors more likely to consider leaving than their older brethren.

There is a massive exodus from clergy taking place and churches are having to restructure themselves to deal with these newer battles and the fundamental lacuna left in the absence of a shepherd. This, of course, impacts in even greater proportion pastors who are outspoken on social media concerning political issues. The examples of Abraham Cho (Keller’s successor) and Jason Meyer (Piper’s successor) are listed as examples of modern pastors who have voluntarily resigned without any public scandal. These examples abound all over the Presbyterian world as well. In one presbytery, there were examples of almost 1/3 of the pastors resigning during COVID because of issues pertaining to COVID measures. How to deal with it? How to approach it? To mask or not to mask? Do we meet on Sundays? Do we go to live stream? And other related matters.

Issues pertaining to race also played a major role in challenging pastoral ministries around the country. Pastors who speak boldly on the race-CRT issue–for or against–often find confrontation from parishioners a constant in their day-to-day efforts. Beyond the regular pastoral duties, he is having to add an entirely new extra layer of problems to his concerns. “Should I remain quiet in the midst of these obvious scandals in the church and society?” “Should I opine on this issue knowing that certain congregants feel very differently?” “Will they accuse me of being soft if I don’ speak up on these latest controversies?” A pastor could choose to remain silent on such matters, but in our day, silence is an interpretive mood. To be silent is to speak in some way.

Renn argues that among the solutions to avoiding the massive clergy exodus in our day is getting a part-time job to alleviate the pastoral burdens.

Operating under a bi-vocational model—adding a part-time, outside career—can help reduce that pressure in some situations. 

He notes the classic tent-making model that the apostle Paul had in his ministry. Also, adding mental and emotional resiliency to the day-to-day scenarios can provide additional stamina to the build-up of pastoral longevity in the church. The Apostle Paul endured various trials–both physical and mental–and yet persevered.

I argue that these elements are helpful, though building emotional and mental resilience can become easily ethereal. Will many of my woes disappear if I get a part-time job and find that I can easily be financially secure should troubles arise in my congregation? Perhaps. But it can also mean that a host of issues get pushed aside because the pastor simply does not have enough time to cultivate them. And even so, perhaps the problems do arise because they are being overlooked.

Pastoral ministry, in some ways, must be a totalistic endeavor. I argued in my dissertation for the need for three rituals: learning, leisure, and friendship. These realities and rhythms reshape pastoral ministry in times of need. They don’t solve the longevity problem, but they make the longevity problem less of a burden historically and sociologically.

Find a pastor who has resigned in these last two years, and there is certainly a major aspect of one of the three rituals lacking. He may be lonely, unheard; his dynamics of learning may have been lacking for quite some time due to his lack of preparedness, and his capacity for leisure ever decreasing in this era. All these things easily catapult pastors to a position of frailty and emotional breakdown.

Pastoral burnout is a problem, and I hope to address some of these issues in the coming weeks. Perhaps what America is facing is a decline of the priesthood; and with a decline of the priesthood, a decline of lucidity in ecclesiastical affairs, and therefore, societal as well. As the church goes, so goes the culture. And the church cannot go unless it is led.