Short tenures. Short tempers. Angry preaching. A depressed wife.
These are just a few of the ways stress can manifest itself in the life of a pastor, said Dale Huff, director of the office of LeaderCare and church administration for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.
“Mismanaged or unmanaged stress can have negative consequences on one’s physical, emotional, relational and spiritual state,” Huff said, noting it is a problem rampant among Alabama Baptist pastors. “There is a high rate of frustration and despair.”
To do his job, a pastor has to be a change agent, leading his church to be healthier and holier. But often pastors are resistant to change themselves, Huff said.
One way to help make a change is to develop a “big, strong support system” of family, friends, mentors, colleagues, a doctor, a counselor and others.
Breaking away for some weekly, monthly and annual time helps a pastor cope with stress too, he explained.
“Because most churches are single staff, the pastor is subject to being expected to minister on his day off, which he dutifully does, but may have to go two or three weeks without a day off,” Huff said. “The church should require a pastor to have reasonable time off for his, his family’s and the church’s sake.”
And a pastor should require himself to sleep and exercise, he added. “Most ministers, as well as most Americans, operate out of a sleep debt, which diminishes their effective functioning. Most ministers are also overweight and do not have an exercise regimen at all.”
And many, in their despair, do not practice the spiritual disciplines they encourage their congregation to practice, he said.
The despair often begins with unrealistic expectations on the part of the church and the minister, Huff said. “Many pastors do not have a formal job description, so they have an informal one developed by the expectations of every church member.”
And the demands never stop, he said. “There is no end to the needs of people. People-intensive vocations, ministerial or otherwise, have a higher rate of burnout. There is never a finish line — it is constant plodding.”
To help pastors, Huff counsels pastors personally and responds to requests from associations to lead conferences. For more information, contact Huff at dhuff@alsbom.org or 1-800-264-1225, ext. 263. (TAB)
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