Living Into Our Call
A young minister was being interviewed by a church board for the position of pastor. One old hard-working Irishman who was on the board looked at the young man sternly and asked, “Young man, did God send you here?” He replied, “Well, I don’t know if God sent me here. I am here trying to find the will of God and find out if you would like me for your next pastor.” The board member replied, “Young man, did God send you here?” The young minister was somewhat at a loss for words and came back again, “Well, I just stopped by to talk with the board . . .” The board member interrupted again and said, “Young man, did God send you here?” Finally, he screwed up his courage and said, “Well, I guess God didn’t send me here. I just stopped by to see about whether we could get together.” The old board member leaned back in his seat and said, “That’s good. The last four said that God had sent them and we have had nothing but trouble with all four of them!” I have liked that story since the first time I saw it. Why? It reminds me that when I think I am “inspired” by God, it might be a good idea to look around and see who else sees the same things.
When it comes to the sense of call and purpose it can have a profound effect on how we manage the stress of ministry. I found a research paper that has been hiding on my computer (yeah, I dropped the old typewriter years ago). The article was one of those scholarly papers where they attempt to quantify a topic and help us to get a better understanding of what that means for us. The title is one of those that make you want to run the other way, unless you like research: “Clergy Burnout: A Comparison Study with Other Professions”. What intrigued me, because I like research is that someone actually studied the idea that clergy share some similarities with other helping professions. Then again, you would probably utter a sigh of relief and say so what, but then again listen to how these folks described the pastor’s job: “The job description of clergy is diverse and includes leadership roles that involve constant engagement with others. Clergy roles have been grouped into six categories: (a) preacher, (b) deliverer of rituals and sacraments, (c) pastor, (d) teacher, (e) organizer, and (f) administrator (Blizzard 1956; Milstein et al. 2005). Taken together, these roles involve highly diverse competencies with numerous stressors. Clergy must frequently transition between roles, sometimes many times during a single day (DeShon 2012), resulting in potential role overload. Also, the content of clergy work can be highly emotional, such as when officiating funerals and providing grief counseling. The stakes of providing good interactions with congregants are high; among other things, good pastoral care can be vitally important when linking congregants to mental health care. Of the people in the United States seeking help for a serious mental
illness, one fourth approach their clergy person before anyone else (Wang et al. 2003). Furthermore, leading organizations composed of people with diverse priorities, histories, and personalities is complex work. Clergy attempt to create a shared vision for the congregation and lead the staff and congregants, most of whom work on a volunteer basis, to enact that vision. In the process, clergy negotiate conflict between congregants and take a leadership role in decision-making, such as how to spend limited funds or what positions to take on community issues. These decisions often lack clear right or wrong answers and make clergy vulnerable to criticism.” Or another more succinct way to describe the pastoral role is this one: “The modern preacher has to make as many visits as a country doctor, shake as many hands as a politician, prepare as many briefs as a lawyer, and see as many people as a specialist. He has to be as good an executive as the president of a university, as good a financier as a bank president; and in the midst of it all, he has to be so good a diplomat that he could umpire a baseball game between the Knights of Columbus and the Ku Klux Klan.”
As you read that description of the job, we do regularly without thinking about it, it could almost make you depressed. It might even make you wonder why you have not succumbed to the proverbial “burn out”. After all we have all heard the statistic that over 1,500 pastors are leaving the church every month. Maybe you have recited that statistic. However, there is something terribly misleading about that statistic. It is a classic example of using a “convenience sample rather than a random sample. (For those who are not researchers, a convenience sample means it was convenient for the researcher to work with. While random samples, the gold standard of research, are more difficult to obtain and therefore more reliable.) This “statistic” came from a particular denomination, gathered in the same place two years in a row. Despite the fact that it is not valid, it has claimed “Urban Legend” status and is often used as a “scare” tactic to convince churches to help their pastor. If you have not succumbed to burnout, if you are still joyfully serving Christ in ministry, what accounts for this behavior? Once again research to the rescue, or at least provides and answer.
The researchers found that while clergy have higher stress loads than other professions, yet we do not experience the same burnout effect. The reason for this “lack of burnout” is that unique to the pastoral profession are what the research gurus would call buffering factors. Think about that a moment. What would you see as buffering factors? For instance, I can recall that a number of hospital visits turned out to be highly spiritual experiences. Being able to visit a new Mom and child in the hospital and even at times sitting with a saint while they went to glory. Or what about the times when you took time to visit with a young student only to find later that they told you what you said made a positive difference in their lives. You see what we have in ministry are truly buffering factors, however, don’t forget the most important, that you have been called by God to lead his people! Or maybe it was the time you watched a spiritual wave move across a group of students at a retreat? You see, in addition to the stresses of ministry there are those times we see God move in ways that cannot be accounted for and help to mitigate our stress.
I have been both a pastor and a volunteer fire fighter for over 40 years now. What kept me in ministry was the call of God to serve his people. What keeps me “chasing fire trucks” is knowing that I make a difference and that I serve with some of the most dedicated men and women in the world. What both share, what both have in common that keep me from burnout, is the buffering factor of call and purpose.
What I would invite you to do is take some time this summer and list the challenges and frustrations of the place God has called you. Then list the benefits and joys that accompany that call! I have a hunch that by the end of the exercise you will find that those “buffering factors” as they are called is what allows you to get up every morning and do the world God has called you to. However, despite all the joys of serving, be sure and take time for self-care. Take time to read the Bible for yourself, not just a sermon or Bible study. If you are married or married with children at home, be sure to make time to be with them. Take your spouse for a walk on a regular basis (that advice deserves its own blog). Then don’t forget to take time to be with your children.
Burn out is real, I know, I have been there and by the grace of God recovered and now celebrate each and every day of my life. If you find that those buffering factors no longer serve to buffer the pain and loss, then it is time to seek help to avoid the end game of burn out. Remember, the difference between burning out and staying for the long run is finding that place in the will of God that is affirmed by those around you and nourished by those times when you find God at work in special ways.