What Pastor's Have on Their Minds Right Now 

Here's what some of my trusted advisors on the Alpha Team see as the most pressing mental health issues for clergy right now. I had another response or two that were a little too personal to post. I am still praying about and mulling over the approach I will take on the upcoming podcast with Thomas McDaniels.

Soul rest or self care of some type would be a great topic.

Pastors already struggle with their own spiritual practices and self care and now COVID fatigue has pastors resigning faster than ever out there…pastors are struggling more than ever, but so are others as we try to live grace-fully in the midst of a world that feels more like an angry mob all the time!!

Hi Jeannie. I would suggest this mental health issue for discussion on Thomas McDaniels’ podcast: “Staying focused on our God-given priorities”.

Dear Jeannie: My first thought was to suggest depression/anxiety, but then I thought more.

As a pastor, recognizing something is amiss is a vital first step. Sometimes, perhaps often, we don't see it for what it is. I have a Sudanese refugee in my congregation. Sometimes he chooses actions that mystify me. Then a mental health counselor, who volunteers to help out indigent people, told me that his emotional age is about 12-14. His emotional development was frozen at a particular age due to a highly stressful event in his life (one of many). He is 37. Since this volunteer pointed out this developmental issue to me, I have done a much better job at helping him. He is a very fine person who has been profoundly harmed by the trauma that he experienced.

Jeannie, I am not sure of the specific mental health issue, but what I see in pastors is this... They are pulled in too many different directions with differing objectives (balance the church books, but offer new and innovative programs, hold to tradition while creatively bringing in new members, cater to new church members, but maintain the desires of the founding members, take care of everyone else, but don't ignore yourself). This must create enormous stress and you know the results of not managing stress well - poor health, burnout, and a host of other issues. A few practical solutions on how to manage competing goals and the people that try to impose them would be awesome.

NOTE FROM JEANNIE:

The response above is from a very active layperson. Interesting perspective!