How Are You Treating Others?

Several of our previous blog posts are related to pastoral renewal, burnout, stress, goal setting, coping strategies, etc. In this blog post we are taking a different point of view. Let’s ask ourselves this question: Are you causing others stress and burnout? If you will indulge me, I would like to share a story of how I fell into the trap of stressing-out some of my employees and how I changed my behaviors to stop this stress.

I managed a hospital staff and had a few great employees, a bunch of middle-of-the-road employees, and some employees that were below standard. I knew I could count on my few great employees to get tasks done correctly and on-time. However, I continuously assigned this small number of solid employees with additional tasks and responsibilities. Why did I do this? Simple – I knew these employees would get the job done right and on-time. I did not have this faith in the middle-of-the-road employees and not in the below standard performing employees. In other words, I made the mistake of rewarding good performing employees with more work. This caused my high performing employees stress. Additionally, the middle-of-the-road employees were missing out on growth and development opportunities. Does this story or situation resonate with you? Fortunately, I was able to change my leadership behavior before it was too late!

Pastors and church leadership can easily fall into this same trap as they are often pulled in multiple directions and are tasked with handling urgent matters. It is important to note that we can fall into this same trap with our children and church volunteers. It is easier to see our own situations (i.e. those who cause us stress and burnout), as opposed to understanding how we are affecting others. We may often lead others with good intentions; however, it may help to stand back and ask yourself about your leadership behaviors.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

•  Who are your go-to employees?
  • Do your go-to employees work more hours or complete more tasks than their peers?
• Do you continually ask your go-to employees to complete tasks that are either outside of the scope of their job duties or tasks that are urgent?
  • What are your go-to employees’ reactions (both verbal and non-verbal) when you communicate tasks to them?
  • How do you reward your go-to employees?
• Are there employees other than your go-to employees that are missing out on growth and development opportunities?
  • Why do you avoid assigning these individuals tasks that are routinely given to your go-to employees(s)?

Research shows that high workloads create stress and time conflicts that exacerbate emergency situations. Oppositely, reduced work hours reduce stress and allow employees to recover (Barck-Holst, et al., 2021). Luke 6:31, known as the ‘Golden Rule,’ states, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Thinking of this Scripture, put yourself in the shoes of your go-to employees and ask yourself a few final questions:

• Is your boss or leader causing you stress? Why or why not?
• Do you have work-life balance?
• Are your being rewarded fairly for your work?
• Are you doing more than your peers?
• What is the one thing my boss or leader could do better for me?

Answering these questions from your go-to employees’ point of view may be difficult. However, it may provide you with a better understanding of your employees. The final point I will make in helping to reduce the stress and burnout of your employees is communication. Without open and candid communication, we will not be able to fully understand the viewpoints and situations of our employees. I leave with Proverbs 12:25, which states, “Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.” Let us lead in a way that cheers up the hearts of our employees and reduces anxiety.

Increased Stressors for Pastors due to the Pandemic

In a previous blog, we learned that the definition of burnout includes exhaustion, cynicism, and inefficacy.  What happens when an individual experiences one or more these components of burnout?  From a general standpoint, individuals with burnout may experience both physical and psychological effects.  Physical effects include headaches, elevated blood pressure, and even cardiovascular disease.  Psychological effects include lack of motivation, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, depression, and poor decision making.  Such physical and psychological effects often lead to turnover, as staying in one’s current role or in their current industry are not options for those experiencing burnout.  Now that we have a general understanding of the consequences of burnout, let’s look at how these consequences of burnout affect pastors.

Being a pastor is viewed as a calling from God.  As pastors serve and work in their God-given calling, can they experience burnout?  The answer is a resounding, ‘yes.’ First, pastors are not exempt from experiencing the physical and psychological effects of burnout mentioned in the previous paragraph.  Pastors may feel additional stress and anxiety when compared to a person working in a non-church-related field, as pastors view their roles as being called to serve God.  Put another way, pastors may feel like quitting would be leaving and disappointing God.  Individuals working outside the pastorate can more easily change companies, jobs, or industries without the added guilt felt by pastors in the same situation.  

Second, pastors are not exempt from leaving their churches and pastoral roles due to the aforementioned consequences of burnout.  Recent articles (Boorstein, 2021; Rainer, 2021; Rohane, 2022) point to pastoral positions being vacant.  In other words, a pastor has left the church and there is no one to take the former pastor’s place.  Articles on the topic of pastor turnover point to burnout being a major cause.  A pastor with the understanding that there is no one take over the role may elect to stay on with the church, thus exasperating the effects of burnout.  While the role of pastors has always been demanding (sermons, calls from congregants, funerals, being on-call, etc.), it was magnified during the pandemic.  During the pandemic pastors experienced stress and burnout due to new demands such as moving to online services, reduced congregant giving, mask mandates, political views, and an uptick in crises experienced by congregants.  The pandemic also exposed pastors to being technology tied to their work. 

Third, prior to the pandemic pastors experienced stress and burnout through being on-call 24/7.  However, face-to-face interactions allowed pastors to serve congregants before and after services, through scheduled office visits, and scheduled phone calls.  Face-to-face interactions were not available as they had been previous to the pandemic, and technology often took the place of face-to-face interactions and scheduled meetings.  In short, technology allowed pastors to serve 24/7 whether they were in their offices or working from their homes.  This led to technology such smart phones blurring the line between home and work, which often negated work-life balance.  As the use of technology became more dominant in the pandemic, pastoral work-life balance further eroded and led pastors to resign their positions.    

As such, pastoral burnout has led to churches without pastors, and ultimately flocks without shepherds.  Pastors need resources and plans to mitigate the consequences of burnout.  Specifically, pastors need to be able to detach from technology without feeling the guilt of missing an email, phone call, or text.  One way to accomplish this is to rotate afterhours-on-call-leadership to handle emergencies.  This has been successful in hospitals.  Another possible solution would be to limit the amount of non-scheduled meetings and conversations via technology.  While such meetings and conversations may be necessary at times, they should not be the norm.  Having a volunteer schedule appointments allows the pastor to address non-emergency needs via scheduled events.  This can reduce the stress related to always being on-call for the congregants.  

References

Boostein, M. (2021, December 24). The first Christmas as a layperson: Burned out by the pandemic, many clergy quit in the past year. Thw Washington Post.

Rainer, T. (2021, December). 10 things trending in the church for 2022. Outreach Magazine.

Rohane, K. (2022, April). Our pulpits are full of emply preachers. Christianity Today.

Understanding the Effects of Burnout

The term burnout has become a common term in recent years.  The widely-accepted definition of burnout relates chronic on-the-job stressors to the three components of burnout, exhaustion, cynicism, and/or inefficacy.  (Maslach, et al., 2001).   We first we see that an individual experiences stressors on an on-going basis.  Individuals face challenges at work like completing tasks and assignments, demands based on deadlines that need met, and limited capacities like collaborating with others that create stresses that impede the ability to work. These experiences are on-going or occur over a long period of time. These stressors may lead to one to becoming physically and emotionally exhausted, coupled with feelings of cynicism and inefficacy.  

Exhaustion: Being unable to recover from being drained emotionally and physically.

Cynicism: Taking on a negative and cold view of one’s work and co-workers. May be used to protect oneself from feelings of exhaustion.

Inefficacy: Experiencing feelings of inadequacy and a loss of self-confidence (Maslach & Leiter, 1997).  

History of Burnout

The study of burnout began in the 1970’s.  The term burnout was first coined by Freudenberger, a psychologist, and this term describes volunteers experiencing emotional depletion, lack of motivation, and reduced commitment (Schaufeli, et al., 2009).  Christina Maslach began to study burnout around this same time and is considered a pioneer in the field.  There are three phases in the history of burnout:

Pioneering Phase: This initial phase started in the 1970’s and was largely exploratory in nature.  Researchers such as Freudenberger and Maslach sought to understand, define, and measure burnout.  Burnout was largely relegated to the human services field.

Empirical Phase: Researchers moved to quantitative empirical research studies, and studies outside of the human services field took place. Longitudinal studies and research using statistics came into practice during this phase.  This phase took place between the 1980’s and the 1990’s (Maslach, et al., 2001).

Expanding Phase: This phase started in the 1990’s and continues into the present day. The study of burnout was applied to an ever-widening array of jobs, organizations, positions, and locations. The major shift of this phase was the study of the effects of technology (smart phones, computers, tablets, applications, etc.) on burnout (Dunbar, et al., 2020).

Bibliography

Dunbar, S., Frederick, T., Thai, Y., & Gill, J. (2020). Calling, caring, and connecting: burnout in Christian ministry. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 173-186. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2020.1744548

Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. (1997). The truth about burnout: How organizations cause personal stress and what to do about it. San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Maslach, C., Schaufeli, W. B., & Leiter, M. P. (2001). Job Burnout. Annual Review of Psychology, 52(1), 397-422.

Schaufeli, W., Leiter, C., & Maslach, C. (2009). Burnout: 35 years of research and practice. Career Development International, 14(3), 204-220. doi:10.1108/13620430910966406

What is burnout in the pastorate?

The Center for Pastoral Renewal is dedicated to developing spiritual and psychological resources for pastors coping with burnout. The important pieces of this are spiritual and psychological. 

Burnout represents a spiritual ailment that describes the depletion of resources because of one’s vocation. As pastors pour themselves into their congregations and families, depletion often occurs provided there aren’t opportunities for rest, reflection, and reengagement. 

The psychological effects of burnout include feeling tired, emotional empty, lack of motivation, and sometimes anger and aggressiveness. The emotional emptiness of burnout robs pastors of the meaningfulness of ministry. It turns serving others in God’s name to performing a service to needy people. The emotional toll of burnout lessens the pastor’s ability to care for the congregation. This is the apathetic nature of pastoral burnout. 

Another psychological effect of burnout transforms the pastor’s views of others. The pastor sees the congregation as making more and more demands. The pastor begins to view others as objects and not congregations. As ministry is offered when the pastor holds this view, he or she is simply going through the motions. The ministry “job” is done, there’s just no passion or feeling behind it. We call this aspect of pastoral burnout indifference. 

Ultimately, indifference and apathetic aspects of pastoral burnout result in serious questioning of one’s pastoral call. Pastors often question their calls when faced with significant challenges that culminate in burnout. This is quite normal for pastors. Some congregations and denominations implicitly reinforce this by suggesting burnout reflects some weakness or deficiency on the part of the pastor. Sometimes the pastor cannot ask the church or lay leaders for help with burnout because of the perception of weakness. And in some situations, the lay leaders are a source of pastoral burnout! 

The spiritual significance of pastoral burnout reflects its impact on purpose, caring for others, and connecting with those in need. Being a pastor fulfills the spiritual call of God to minister on God’s behalf to the world. The pastorate embodies the spiritual significance of the call. The pastoral call demonstrates its fruitfulness in the connections developed between God and the community while at the same time providing meaningful care to others. The spiritual depletion associated with the experience of burnout empties the purposefulness of the call to be a pastor while increasing apathy and indifference. 

Some first steps for pastors concerned about burnout focus on developing insight into the experience itself. There are some excellent and accessible articles available on burnout and the pastorate. We recommend starting with this one (Link Pastoral Psychology Full Text). 

Second, we have developed a helpful tool on assessing burnout and the pastorate. The tool is included here and also available on our website under resources. 

Center for Pastoral Renewal – Self Assessment for Pastoral Burnout

The following thirteen questions are meant as a self-assessment for pastors. This self-assessment is not intended for diagnostic purposes. Instead, these items are useful for pastors to reflect on their experience of burnout in ministry. If you need to discuss your scores, please contact Tom Frederick at centerforpastoralrenewal@gmail.com. 

Directions: Please indicate on a scale of 1 to 5 the frequency these items, over the past six (6) months, reflect on your experience as a pastor in ministry. A score of one means never, 2 means seldom, 3 means sometimes, 4 means frequently, and 5 means all the time. Please select N/A if the item does not apply to your experience in ministry. Scores from 55 to 65 may indicate pastoral burnout. Scores from 45 to 55 may indicate a higher level of stress as a pastor. Scores less than 30 indicate some stress, but a pastor who is not burning out. 

Question	1 = Never	2 = seldom	3 = sometimes	4 = frequently	5 = all the time	N/A = Not Applicable
I feel emotionally drained after ministering to a church member.	1 = Never	2 = seldom	3 = sometimes	4 = frequently	5 = all the time	N/A = Not Applicable
I notice that I am responding curtly to my congregation.	1 = Never	2 = seldom	3 = sometimes	4 = frequently	5 = all the time	N/A = Not Applicable
I am drained after meeting with a church member.	1 = Never	2 = seldom	3 = sometimes	4 = frequently	5 = all the time	N/A = Not Applicable
I feel spiritually depleted after engaging in church ministry.	1 = Never	2 = seldom	3 = sometimes	4 = frequently	5 = all the time	N/A = Not Applicable
I am noticing a more judgmental attitude toward my congregation.	1 = Never	2 = seldom	3 = sometimes	4 = frequently	5 = all the time	N/A = Not Applicable
I am increasingly frustrated by my congregation.	1 = Never	2 = seldom	3 = sometimes	4 = frequently	5 = all the time	N/A = Not Applicable
I am growing more and more indifferent towards the needs of my congregation.	1 = Never	2 = seldom	3 = sometimes	4 = frequently	5 = all the time	N/A = Not Applicable
Ministry is growing less and less important to me.	1 = Never	2 = seldom	3 = sometimes	4 = frequently	5 = all the time	N/A = Not Applicable
Responding to my congregation is draining to me.	1 = Never	2 = seldom	3 = sometimes	4 = frequently	5 = all the time	N/A = Not Applicable
I am exhausted after ministering to others.	1 = Never	2 = seldom	3 = sometimes	4 = frequently	5 = all the time	N/A = Not Applicable
Is it draining to work with the person(s) with oversight/authority over you?	1 = Never	2 = seldom	3 = sometimes	4 = frequently	5 = all the time	N/A = Not Applicable
I don’t feel the ministry support I need from my supervisor.	1 = Never	2 = seldom	3 = sometimes	4 = frequently	5 = all the time	N/A = Not Applicable
I feel like I am simply going through the motions in ministry.	1 = Never	2 = seldom	3 = sometimes	4 = frequently	5 = all the time	N/A = Not Applicable

Third, please share any concerns you have with safe people. You may reach out to Tom Frederick (centerforpastoralrenewal@gmail.com) at the Center for Pastoral Renewal. We would also recommend discussing your findings with a spiritual director or pastoral counselor. Getting help early is important for pastoral recovery.