On a recent trip to a friends wedding, we took a little detour and stopped for a couple of hours in the wonderful city of Chester. After enjoying a coffee, we spent time walking along the riverside, enjoying the scenery and the sunshine. On our way back to the car, we passed a historic looking church. To one side of the church were the ruins of an earlier church that had stood on the site. All that remained standing were a few walls and some impressive looking arches, all of which were protected by iron railings.
Having recently been doing a lot of reading about the physical and mental health of our church leaders, the scene before me was striking. As we stood admiring the architecture and the craftsmanship of the medieval stonemasons, I was challenged by this thought:
Are we underinvesting in the health and wellbeing of our church leaders, abandoning them when they begin to show signs of wear and tear?
Do you know 5 Pastors? I bet that the majority of you would be easily able to answer yes to this question, whether you regularly attend a local church or not. I’ve used the term pastor, but you can read it as vicar, minister, priest etc dependant on which denomination you’re part of. Even if you couldn’t name 5 pastors, you are likely to have at least 5 churches in your town.
So what does the question about knowing 5 pastors or churches have to do with the church ruins we were viewing? I recently read an article in Christianity Magazine titled “Burnout - Has the pandemic pushed pastors to the point of no return”, the author makes reference to an official Church of England survey (reported under the title Clergy In A Time of COVID in January) that 42% (so that is more than 2 in 5 of the pastors you know!) had reported a deterioration in their mental health during the pandemic. This figure of more than 2 out of every 5 clergy identifying mental health as being an issue for them was both a little shocking, while at the same time it stirred a renewed sense of calling to do something about this.
I began to search online for the original survey details to check it out and I found myself with a 100 page report. As I checked out the quote of 42% reporting mental health deterioration, I also found other worrying statistics, including 44% reporting that they felt isolated in their ministry. Over 50% didn’t take all their annual leave and only 78% regularly took a full day off each week!
While these are worrying figures for the Church of England, from discussions we’ve had with leaders across a variety of denominations, I would expect similar responses if this survey had been across the wider UK church. These same themes are bubbling under the surface in the personal lives and also in the churches of many of the leaders who we are currently supporting and encouraging all round the country, across many different denominations.
I am left wondering if we all need to go back to the biblical principal of Sabbath. God created for 6 days and then he rested, not that he needed to, but because it was as an example to us. Sabbath may look different for many of us, but it’s that principle of having a day of rest, a day without the pressures of our electronic devices, emails etc. As church members, we need to ensure that we are empowering our leaders to take time off each week and to take all their holidays. We should be encouraging them to take regular days of retreat/spiritual reflection and to find a group of supporters who can encourage them and challenge them.
We need to be actively investing in the health and wellbeing of our church leaders. We don’t want any more leaders who are abandoned as a ruin of their former selves.
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