Photo Attribution: “Pulpit Rock” By Jim Champion; CC 2.0
Introduction:
Our pastors and their depression is a topic we prefer not to talk about, and that is part of the problem. Ignoring something so serious, having unrealistic expectations of your pastor, loneliness, confrontation, and inadequacies are just some of the major contributors to pastoral stress. In this article I want to start with some generalized statistics, move on to some specific statistics, and then end with steps you (the church) can take to help prevent depression in your pastor.
General Information and Statistics:
There are plenty of statistics out there regarding pastors and depression – and they are not positive. Just do a google search and you will see what I mean. According to the Schaeffer Institute, 70 percent of pastors struggle with chronic depression, and 71 percent are completely burned out. Related to that, 72 percent of pastors say they only study the Bible when they are preparing for their sermons and/or lessons; 80 percent believe being in pastoral ministry has affected their families in a negative way; and 70 percent say they don’t have a close friend and confidant.
The Schaeffer Institute also revealed that 80 percent of seminary and bible college graduates will leave the ministry within five years. What does this tell us? It tells us there is a problem. It tells us we need to remove the stigma related to depression, and other mental/emotional disorders, and do something to help accept and correct this epidemic as best we can.
A somewhat recent study by the clergy Health Initiative at Duke Divinity School uncovered that the demands that are placed on pastors, by themselves and by others, put them at a much greater risk for depression than people in other vocations. The study showed that 8.7 percent of all of the pastors surveyed by telephone suffered from depression. However, when allowed to take the same survey confidentially through the internet, the number of pastors who admit they suffer from depression jumps to almost 12 percent. Anxiety disorders among pastors was even higher at 13.5 percent, and just over 7 percent suffered from both chronic depression and anxiety.
I stated some contributing factors in the introduction, but another main contributing factor for depression and anxiety among pastors is job stress. Pastors are called to do many stressful things on a regular basis, including grief and crisis counseling, juggling all of the demands placed on them by the congregation, and delivering at the very least one sermon each week that the congregation expects to be profound (and opens the pastor up to disagreement and criticism). The pressure of all of these roles being put upon a pastor is magnified by the fact that they often have to switch back and forth from one exhausting role to another with almost no notification. This exacerbates the stress which often leads to depression and/or anxiety.
Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell, the Clergy Health Initiatives research director, and assistant research professor at the Duke Global Health Institute, stated:
“Pastors may have created a life for themselves that is so strongly intertwined with their ministry, that their emotional health is dependent on the state of their ministry. So it’s possible that when pastors feel their ministry is going well, they experience positive emotions potent enough to buffer them from mental distress. Of course, the converse is also true.”
More Specific Statistics:
According to the results of a study published in the New York Times on August 1, 2010, “Members of the clergy now suffer…depression at rates higher than most Americans. In the last decade, their use of antidepressants has risen, while their life expectancy has fallen. Many would change jobs if they could.”
~13% of active pastors are divorced
~23% have been terminated or forced to resign at least once in their careers
~25% don’t know where to turn when they have a family or personal or family crisis or issue
~33% felt burned out within their first five years of ministry
~33% say being in ministry is a hazard to their family
~40% of pastors suffer from hectic schedules and unrealistic expectations
~45% of pastors admitted they’ve experienced depression to the point of having to take a leave of absence from ministry
~50% feel unable to meet the demands of the job
~56% of pastors’ wives say that they have no close friends
~57% would leave the pastorate if they had somewhere else to go or some other job they could do
~70% say they have no close friends
~75% report experiencing stress that caused enough anguish to feel dread, get extremely angry, suffer fear, cause depression and alienation
~80% of pastors say they don’t have enough time with their spouse and that ministry affects their family negatively
~90% work over 50 hours a week
~90% feel unqualified or poorly prepared for the challenges they face in ministry
~94% of those married felt pressure to have a “perfect” family
~Over 1,500 pastors leave their ministries EACH MONTH due to depression brought on by burnout, conflict, or moral failure
~Pastors are third in line, behind doctors and lawyers, for having the most problems with an addiction of some kind (drugs, alcohol, pornography, etc.) and suicide…yes, suicide
You Can Help Prevent This From Happening:
The most important thing congregations can do is to create a safe environment for your pastor. An environment where getting help is not only acceptable but expected. A mental health check up every three months (or even more frequently) with a trained, experienced Christian counselor would be a great idea. If your pastor is married, add a marriage and family counseling session at least once every three months as well. All of this goes a long way in getting rid of the stigma related to proper mental and emotional health.
So, not only should you desire to help your pastor in this area, as part of his congregation you have a responsibility to help prevent or heal depression in your pastor. Following are a few ways you can do this.
First – Put your pastor on the top, and bottom, of your “prayer list.”
Pastors need much prayer. This is vitally important. During my own life of ministry I have had countless people pray for me regularly both in person and in their private times. I cannot over emphasize how much this has helped bring me through dark and trying times.
Second – Handle unjustified critics and criticism promptly.
Pastors and their families can go through an unrealistic amount of negativity, which is almost always from inaccurate accusations and criticism. This can be extremely damaging to the pastor and their spouse, if married.
Third – Give your pastor four weeks of paid vacation.
This may sound like a lot at first, but you need to remember that they are virtually on call 24 hours a day. The amount of stress, as well as the persistence of the stress, is really unimaginable if you’ve never held the position of pastor. Often times, days off don’t feel like days off especially when they are expected to be “social butterflies” and when a single phone call can change the course of everything. Give them their vacation time, and make sure they have enough money to take a trip somewhere. (Four weeks isn’t a magical number, it’s just what I’ve seen and experienced to be a fair, healthy amount of time).
Fourth – Let your pastor have two days off a week.
I know this may sound revolutionary, but that’s only because the vast majority of churches only allow their pastors one day off a week. I don’t know why that started, but I don’t think one day is enough R&R to recharge the batteries for the week, especially considering they are typically putting in far more hours in five days than most of those in the congregation do. If it makes you feel better designate one day as personal or family and the other as off-site, uninterrupted study.
Fifth – Give your pastor a paid four-week sabbatical every three or so years.
How often they receive this sabbatical period is not really the main issue, although I wouldn’t go over five years without allowing them a sabbatical. This needs to be in addition to their vacation time. The sabbatical can be used for resting, studying, writing articles and/or books, or gaining additional theological education. Quite frankly, I think all leaders on the full time pastoral staff should get a sabbatical at least every five years. “The stakes are too high to burn out our leadership” (Marty Duren).
Sixth – Provide counseling options in addition to the pastor.
This is suggested for a few reasons. One, some pastors make horrible counselors. It is not their strength nor their calling and they can end up doing more harm than good. Reason number two, some counseling is more of a routine nature and can be handled by someone other than the pastor. Issues like pre-marital counseling, addictions, and financial counseling would be examples that fall into this category. Number three, many churches have educated, trained, experienced counselors in the congregation who would be more suited for certain forms of counseling.
Seventh – Allow your pastor to minister at other locations at times.
Preaching at other churches or speaking at conferences can give the pastor opportunities to receive positive feedback from a different audience and it can often times give a boost of energy that is brought back to the congregation.
Eighth – Remember that your pastor will make mistakes, and don’t judge them unjustly when they do.
Many times the expectations put on the pastor are highly unrealistic, and often times silly. Issues such as what he should wear, where their family should sit, how their kids should behave (which is always perfect…), how involved their spouse should be, should they shake hands at the door after service or pray with people at the altar, and the list goes on and on.
Pastors are not perfect nor will they ever be.
Ninth – Help protect your pastors privacy.
Some people have in their mind that the pastor is up on some kind of pedestal. The pastor, however, more often than not feels like every decision they make, every action they take, and every purchase they make is being evaluated and scrutinized by 30 to 3,000 people.
The feelings of the pastor are most often legitimate. I have had people refer back to some simple, innocent, unremembered action on my part that they thought was improper or inappropriate. It is just the nature of the beast, it comes with the territory, and churches should want to protect the privacy of their pastor.
Tenth – Help maintain your pastor’s emotional health.
I think that helping to prevent depression in pastors starts with churches that are willing to have an atmosphere of true grace that recognizes and accepts that it is okay for someone, even the pastor, to say they are emotionally or mentally ill and need help.
Whether we admit it or not, emotional and mental illness is simply part of being human. But churches, for the most part, are not prepared to handle emotional and/or mental illness. Most churches can’t fathom the idea that their precious pastor would be vulnerable to emotional illness such as depression or anxiety.
The truth is that pastors are just as susceptible to mental and emotional illness as anybody else. A church that comes to grips with this and provides appropriate care for their pastor’s emotional and mental health with things like those I have listed above, will go a long way in easing, relieving, or even preventing pastoral depression.
Conclusion:
Some people struggle with depression and/or anxiety their entire lives, even some pastors. Instead of being self-righteous and condescending about it, why don’t we recognize and admit that emotional illness is part of the fall and approach it “holistically and redemptively rather than being so judgmental?” (Marty Duren). Spiritual disciplines are prescribed for spiritual health, medications are prescribed for physical health, why not prescribe retreats, sabbaticals, privacy, time off, and counseling for the emotional health of our pastors?
Let’s look at 1 Thessalonians 5:23 briefly as I begin to sign off:
“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (ESV).
This is an excellent verse to start dialogue around the wholeness that the Gospel was meant to provide. It is a far better approach to provide a grace-filled, open environment and culture of prevention instead of always doing damage control.
This was a guest post from Dr. Jeff Hagan.
Jeff is an ordained Christian minister with over 23 years of ministry experience. He has attended Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Luther Rice Seminary, Tyndale Seminary and a handful of other institutes as well. He has earned several degrees including the Doctor of Christian Education and the Doctor of Theology.
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