Clergy Health Initiative

Forming healthy habits in clergy

Project: Stress reduction program

What’s Next: Workshops are underway

Tracking clergy well-being and identifying contributors to well-being over time

Project: Statewide longitudinal survey

What’s Next: The next survey will be sent in fall of 2021

Understanding clergy careers

Project: Reflections study

What’s Next: Processing data in order to develop recommendations to Duke Divinity School and United Methodist conferences for nurturing clergy

Building national conversation about clergy health and well-being

Project: Develop field guide of best practices

What’s Next: Develop and disseminate evidence-based programing to promote clergy well-being

Clergy can:

Cultivate friendships that provide emotional support. Clergy often have access to instrumental support (for example, someone who will bring them a meal). It’s often harder to find emotional support, in which a pastor can talk about difficult emotions and receive active listening, with or without advice; however, seeking out these friendships can make a big difference.

Congregations can:

Express their caring for their pastor as a person. Ask your pastor about his or her family, vacation or health — anything that shows that you care about them as an individual, not just as a spiritual leader.

Try to make the pastor’s life more predictable. There are true emergencies that need a pastor’s immediate attention, and your pastor will want to be there for you. There may be times, though, when the situation can wait. Find out what day your pastor takes off and try to avoid calling on that day or during dinner hours.

Denominational officials can: 

Address church climates that are consistently negative toward pastors. Churches are comprised of people, and even well-intentioned people can interact in such a way as to create an environment that is hostile to pastors. Excessive demands and criticism are very strongly related to depression, anxiety and burnout among pastors.