Overcoming 4 Hidden Stressors of Ministry

Pastoring is a high-stress occupation. When our seminary professor Dr. Margaret Clarke shared that with our class recently, one of my fellow students shared that she had never actually heard anyone acknowledge that simple truth before—it is stressful being in ministry.

If you’re reading this, you probably already know that it’s true.

That stress can be compounded for pastors who are co-vocational due to managing multiple jobs and  schedule sadds an extra level of complexity and challenge to being a pastor. No wonder the old jokes about pastors only working a couple of hours a week on a Sunday morning sting so much. Sometimes it helps to have someone recognize and acknowledge that what we are doing is difficult, complicated, and stressful. 

What is it that makes pastoring so stressful?

Part of it is the complexity of the role—after 17 years in co-vocational ministry, I have lost track of the number of times I have said “They didn’t teach me about that at Bible College.” I wish I had written them all down, I could have written a trilogy of books by now. This article is meant to address just a few of the things that make ministry so complex and stressful, as well as some suggestions on what to do about those stressors.

Pastoring is complex, deverse, and requires multiple skills

The first thing that makes pastoring stressful is that it is incredibly complex and diverse and requires a very broad set of skills.

Dr. Richard DeShon, an organizational psychologist and researcher, conducted a job analysis and discovered that pastoring requires sixty-four (64) different domains of knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal characteristics (“KSAPs”).¹ These KSAPs are things like:

• knowledge of administration, theology, and Scripture;
• skills in problem-solving, public speaking, and conflict management;
• abilities like creativity and adaptability; and
• personal characteristics like authenticity and empathy.

Even from this brief list of examples, you can get the sense that no one single person could possibly be highly effective in each of those areas, let alone all sixty-four.² Churches often expect a lot out of their pastors, and pastoring requires a diverse skill set and a high level of proficiency in a lot of different areas.

One suggestion in response to the stress of how many different skills and abilities are expected of pastors is to embrace the idea that we will never be good at all of it. When I first heard the concept that pastoring requires sixty-four different KSAPs, my initial reaction wasn’t alarm—it was relief! As a co-vocational pastor of a small rural church, I have often felt like I needed to be good at everything. But when I realized there were sixty-four different things a pastor would need to be good at, it was a relief to realize would be impossible to “be good” at all those things; it eased the pressure of needing to be good at everything. 

Clergy frequently switch between tasks. 

The second thing that makes ministry stressful is that because of the complexity and diversity of being a pastor or clergy are often required to switch between tasks frequently.³ Pastoring is also often full of unexpected events and unscheduled interruptions.⁴ It would not be uncommon for a pastor to move from sermon preparation to counselling someone, to administrative work, to technological work, back to sermon writing, and then to leading a small group in the evening.

Bloom, DeShon and Quinn refer to these as “switching costs:” the idea that when we switch between complex tasks that require our focus and attention—which most pastoral tasks require—it is a drain on our cognitive effort, behavioural control, and emotional regulation. Therefore, not only are the tasks themselves tiring, but the act of switching between them also exerts a toll on pastors, which can lead to chronically high levels of stress and fatigue.

Bloom suggests that rather than multitasking, which actually decreases productivity, we should attempt to structure our schedules and the work we do in a way that organizes similar tasks together before switching to new tasks. This can be something as simple as booking all our meetings on the same day and then setting aside a different day for administrative work, visitation, or sermon preparation when possible.

High levels of expectation.

A third stressful aspect of ministry is the high levels of expectation placed on pastors. These pressures and expectations come from many directions: denominational, congregational, and financial demands can be high, as well as societal expectations.⁵

In addition to these expectations, some pastors find that the highest expectations and demands are actually the ones we place on ourselves. Pastoral ministry is very “high stakes,” so pastors usually feel high levels of both internal and external pressure and expectations.⁶ This means that criticism often has a major impact on clergy, more so than it does on other professions.

Solutions to this challenge of high expectations can be difficult to find. In some situations, congregations and denominations need education or reminders about what reasonable expectations look like. In other situations, high personal expectations and perfectionism might be helped by coaching or counselling. 

Isolation 

Finally, isolation can also be a major adversity for clergy.⁷ 

Many things can contribute to clergy isolation. Geography may play a role, which can be compounded for pastors who relocate frequently. Furthermore, although pastoring is a very relational job, every relationship a pastor has within their congregation is a one-way caregiving relationship.

A pastor needs to diversify their friendships to include friends outside the church. This is why many pastors find that friendships with peers are very important, but there’s a catch: for some pastors, peer competition makes true close mutual friendship very difficult.⁸ Some of these pastors are left without a “backstage” where they can safely let their guard down in full authenticity.⁹ This is a concept Matt Bloom talked about in his book, Flourishing in Ministry. He explained that clergy need a backstage like an actor who is on stage; the backstage is a place where pastors can be vulnerable and unpack what is happening for them in ministry and life. A pastor’s relationships with people in their congregation can’t provide that. So, it is strongly recommended that pastors develop friendships outside of their congregation. Pastoral ministry is difficult and stressful, but it’s even more difficult and stressful when we do it alone.

For clergy who are married, their spouse is often a major source of support and helps prevent isolation—but as other blogs will tell you, this can often leave clergy spouses even more isolated than the clergyperson themselves. Therefore, it is strongly encouraged that pastors and spouses devote time and energy to diversifying their friendship group since this is a strong protective factor for clergy.⁹ 

We Can Help!

These are just four things that contribute to pastoral ministry being a high-stress occupation—unfortunately, there are many others. However, as Dr. Margaret Clarke discovered in her research with Canadian Christian clergy, Canadian pastors are incredibly and remarkably resilient, even in the face of many adversities over the past few years.

This is encouraging news! Clergy have many supportive resources they can access to bolster their resilience.

If you have been experiencing high levels of stress or adversity in ministry, you are not alone. Faith in God is one of the greatest resources. In addition to God’s peace and presence, Briercrest is here to help. If you are in co-vocational ministry, I invite you to visit https://www.briercrestseminary.ca/leadershipcentre/co-vocational/ to connect with Co-Vocational Canada and access complimentary counselling, coaching, and resources to help with the stress and challenges you face in ministry.

You do not have to do it alone—as my District Superintendent frequently reminds me, “We’re better together.”  

References

^1,2 DeShon, R. P., & Quinn, A. (2007). Job Analysis Generalizability Study for the Position of United Methodist Local Pastor: [Focus Group Results Reporting]. Michigan State University. https://ministerscouncil.com/resources/effective/clergy_effectiveness_UMC.pdf
³ Bloom, M. (2017). A Burden Too Heavy? Flourishing in Ministry and The Work of Clergy.
Proeschold-Bell, R. J., & Byassee, J. (2018). Faithful and Fractured: Responding to the Clergy Health Crisis. Baker Academic.
⁴ (Bloom, 2017) 
⁵ Clarke, M., Walker, K. D., Spurr, S., & Squires, V. (2023). Role-Related Stress and Adversity Impacting Christian Clergy Resilience: A Pan-Canadian Study. Journal of Pastoral Care.
⁶ (Proeschold-Bell & Byassee, 2018)
^7,8,9 (Clarke et al., 2023)