The Clergy Wellness Commission

Clergy Wellness and Mutual Ministry

Summary Abstract

This abstract of Clergy Wellness and Mutual Ministry by Rev. Pamela Lee Cranston has three parts (click to skip ahead):

• The Reason for Wellness Policies
• Problems Clergy Face in Ministry
• Basic Assumptions About Clergy Wellness

The Reason for Clergy Wellness Policies

Healthy clergy make for healthy parishes. Unfortunately, unhealthy work patterns practiced by clergy in congregations have resulted in burnout, if not actual physical, spiritual, emotional and psychological break-downs. A holistic understanding of work is crucial if we want to develop healthy expectations and work standards for all clergy functioning within parochial ministry. So today, the Episcopal Church is taking a closer look at the issues of "wellness" and "work", primarily for its clergy: bishops, priests and deacons.

As the church recovers a more scriptural-based and holistic understanding of the congregation as ministering community and of the laity as its primary ministers, clergy are called to change some traditional understandings of their own role. Dr. John Kater has said,

If lay people and/or clergy approach this shift in emphasis as 'laity taking over the clergy's job', it can be the occasion of lay resentment and clergy anxiety. But if it is perceived as restoring the appropriate balance to the church's ministry, it will be liberating to both clergy and laity. The clergy will be free to concentrate their time and energy on the primary public forms of their ministry, while the laity will be enabled to claim their gifts and calling as members of a caring people.

But if we see the "church as mission" being Christ-bearers wherever we go, at work, at home or at play then the vision of the congregation as ministering community is expanded and empowered. Theologian Elton Trueblood once said, "You cannot go to church; you are the church wherever you go."

Problems Clergy Face in Ministry

1) Dual Relationships

One perennial problem facing clergy is that every relationship they have in a parish is, by nature of the parochial system, a dual relationship. The reality of the clergy vocation is that they can never "de-role" with parishioners completely, whether they would like to or not, nor should they.

2) Performance vs. Relationship Models of Ministry

Much confusion in ministry is best explained by the tension of expectations relating to performance and relationship-based evaluations. The primary value in today's secular work environment is usually "performance".
When most people begin a new job, they are hired by the company and receive a contract. Ministry, in this context, is considered as just another job.
In contrast, both the Book of Common Prayer and the Canons of the Church presuppose quite a different standard based upon "Relationship and Covenant."
The Church's notion of "Call" and the vocation of priesthood is as much focused on "being" as "doing", and ordained ministry is understood primarily as a vocation: sacramental, pastoral and educational.

3) Contractual vs. Covenantal Ministry

The reality of today's church is that the working pastoral relationship between clergy and congregations is both contractual and covenantal; it is both a job and a vocation, although not in equal measure. Covenant assumes the best aspects in a pastoral relationship while contracts protect both the clergy and congregation from the worst.

4) Work as Addiction

There are data to suggest that 75% of the stress in clergy life is related to unclear and improper sense of boundaries related to work. In the Diocese of California, current expectations for salaries and full time work is based upon the norm of 45-50 hours a week: 5 days a week work (including Sunday) with two full days off. Many parishes require clergy to use one of those days off as an 8 hour study day. According to the Alban Institute, to work more than 50 hours per week is considered "dangerous," yet many parish clergy are expected to do this consistently.

5) Clergy, Sexual Abuse and Financial Responsibility

The Church demands and should expect high standards of ethical behavior from its clergy especially in the way they conduct themselves both in regards to sexual attitudes and behavior and to financial responsibility.

6) Clergy Burnout

Roy Oswald of the Alban Institute says that 1 in 5 clergy score high on the burn-out scale. He says "with stress, too much change or novelty forces people to overuse their adjustment capacities and after a while they become physically or emotionally ill." He says, furthermore, that burn-out occurs "when people over use their listening and caring capacities."

7) Clergy Families

In February 1993, the Clergy Family Project headed by Adair Lummis and Robert Walmsley published a study entitled Healthy Clergy, Wounded Healers: Their Families and Their Ministries. They surveyed 1899 clergy and 1317 spouses from at least 19 US Dioceses. 70% of the clergy surveyed were at risk or in fair to poor health, and 73% of their spouses experienced the same conditions. Clearly clergy and their families need support.

8) Single, Gay, Ethnic, Women, Interim, Non-stipe and Retired Clergy

The concerns, interests and talents of these groups are broad and immense. Care should be taken to attend to each of these within a parish community.

9) Communication Problems in the Parish

There are a number of power and communication issues related to rectors, their staff and congregations. A few denominations have solved many of their conflict and communication problems by establishing Parish/Pastor Relations Committees. Chosen by the pastor and vestry, these commissions of 4-7 people act as an advisory group to the pastor and as support for the pastor's leadership. PRCs are able to communicate the shared ideas, dreams, hopes, expectations and concerns of the congregation to the pastor as well as to interpret the roles, functions, needs and concerns of the pastor to the church. In parishes which have multiple staffs this system would ideally be used to help assistant clergy as well.

Basic Assumptions About Clergy Wellness

A Positive Mission

The Clergy Wellness Commission is primarily interested in the quality of Clergy Care and Wellness and not clergy pathology. Clergy Wellness is not about damaged goods or deficient people. It is about promoting health and stimulating growth. Clergy Wellness is not about "clergy as victim" but about how clergy and their families can continue to take responsibility for their own lives and health as they seek to serve God in the Church.

Lay Ministry

The primary ministers of the Church are the laity. (See The Book of Common Prayer Catechism p. 855) We assume, according to I Peter 2:4-9, that all God's people are called to carry out Christ's priesthood in the world and to be agents of God's reconciling love.

Modeling Health and Wellness

Since our goal as Christian clergy is to be a "wholesome example" (The Book of Common Prayer, pg. 517, ordination of a bishop) to "fashion our lives in accordance with the Gospel" (The Book of Common Prayer, pg. 531, ordination of a priest) this means that all clergy are called to model healthy living. Thus, it is also assumed that all clergy will seek regular Christian counsel.

The Business of Clergy

Clergy are not called simply to be "institutional CEOs and business managers" but are in the "health and wholeness business". The healthier and more whole clergy are the more likely parishioners and congregations will become healthier too.

Benedictine Balance

The three-fold rhythm of life adopted by the Benedictine monks of work/study/prayer/(and some add play) is embedded in the spirituality of the Book of Common Prayer. As Anglicans, we are called to model this balance in every aspect of our life where no one aspect overpowers the other.

Healthy Working Style(s)

Exactly what health and wholeness looks like will be different for every individual and must be determined by them. The challenge in today's working environment is to allow these differences to blossom in an open and healthy way but also encourage people to risk change when an alternate working style is called for.

Leisure Time

Roy Oswald says, "Who and what clergy are as persons is our most powerful tool in pastoral ministry." For clergy (and laity) ministry is as much a matter of being as doing. This means that time spent recharging while playing with our partners or children or practicing a favorite hobby or sport can be as important as parish work itself. In a recent study by Kay Smith and Virginia Carson on the use of leisure time among clergy, they found that clergy work 21 hours longer (59 hours vs. 38) and recreate 35 hours less (7 hours vs. 42) than the average American. In this pattern of work and leisure, clergy have managed to turn the clock back to the early 1900s when the 60 hour work week was the norm for working people.

Quality Time

Closely related to issues of leisure is the need for clergy to experience Quality Time with their spouse/partner. Intimacy demands time and energy. You can't create it on the fly. When Bishop Swing met with the Clergy Wellness Commission in 1994, he stated that every six weeks he took a Sunday off and recommended the same for parish clergy. While most parish clergy might find every six weeks off undesirable and impossible, taking 3 or 4 weekends off a year (especially around Memorial Day or Labor Day) might be quite possible. The Clergy Wellness Commission recommends that all clergy have written into their wellness agreements Quality Time Sundays Off in addition to their regular vacation days. The specifics would vary from person to person. The purpose is not to pile up vacation time.

Health Care

Physical, Mental and Emotional:

1. Sick Leave: In the past, the Diocese of California's sick leave policy was at best vague, stating that sick leave should be based upon "whatever is reasonable". The Clergy Wellness Commission suggests that a sick leave policy which allows 12 working days per year sick leave and/or personal time off, up to a total of 30 working days in case of more serious injury of illness, is quite reasonable. No payment shall be made for left over sick leave time upon termination of the cleric's position.
2. Preventive Health Care: Attention to proper health care is essential and often neglected by clergy. This means that clergy are expected to have annual complete physicals, dental and eye exams, maintain a healthy diet and use caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, and other mood-altering substances in moderate proportions, if at all. They will pay adequate attention to their mental health and be willing to seek professional help if need be.

Finances

Clergy are expected to exercise responsibility in their use of personal funds and discretionary funds. The Episcopal Church accepts the tithe as a minimum standard of giving, and recommends that if clergy are not already tithing, that they adopt a systematic plan of moving towards that minimum. However there should be flexibility in the ways clergy donate their funds to allow them to spread their giving among the parish, the diocese and outside charities if they so wish.

Continuing Education

All clergy should take part regularly in paid continuing education opportunities, in consultation with the congregation and their spiritual advisors. The 1997 General Convention of the Episcopal Church has set the required standard minimum hours of continuing education at 36 hours annually. The norm is two weeks of continuing education time per year in addition to vacation time. This should be made available to rectors, vicars, assistants and interims, whether full time or part time.

Community Commitments Beyond the Parish Workplace

We assume that clergy will be involved with community affairs, not just related to the deanery, the diocese and the national church but the wider community of town, city and state as well. The church should recognize that clergy are citizens too and have every right to participate fully and personally within the American political arena.

Clergy Health Agreements and Work Agreements

Section VIII:A of the report features a suggested sample of clergy health agreements for rectors, vicars, assistants, interims, part time and extra-stipendiary clergy.

The Clergy Wellness Commission also highly recommends Called To Work Together by the Rev. Richard Ullman(see Bibliography). Ullman's handbook on letters of agreement for clergy and congregations provides additional sample letters of agreement and valuable commentary.

Called To Work Together stresses the working relationship between the rector, the vestry and the congregation emphasizing the importance of "mutual ministry". Vestries should take great care when sculpting letters of agreement with their clergy and staff, bearing in mind the special gifts and needs of each and the detailed tenets of the Diocesan Health Agreement mentioned above. Over recent years, the "boiler plate" model of letters of agreement has been not nearly as effective as those which were hammered out with open communication and negotiation between vestries and clergy. This means that rectors must both be informed and inform assistant clergy and other staff members about letters of agreement and their compensation rights, and then negotiate terms in open conversation. (It is wise for assistants and lay employees to inform themselves about these rights as well.)

We believe that when clergy and vestries use the resources of these documents: Clergy Wellness and Work, Called To Work Together and the Diocesan "Health Agreement" in tandem, comprehensive, balanced and equitable letters of agreement can be constructed - and, even more importantly, be implemented wisely and compassionately.

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