{"id":5042,"date":"2010-08-18T11:13:26","date_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/?p=5042"},"modified":"2010-08-21T18:53:30","modified_gmt":"2010-08-21T07:53:30","slug":"no-rest-for-the-holy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2010\/08\/18\/no-rest-for-the-holy\/","title":{"rendered":"No rest for the holy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is an old saying that \u201cthere is no rest for the wicked.\u201d But how about, “there is no rest for the holy?”<\/strong><\/p>\n

God may have rested on the seventh day, but for a growing number of his ministers, there is more work- – and stress- – than ever, and less chance to unwind. This has led to all sorts of health problems among clergy, from a lack of exercise and a rise in obesity to problems of depression and substance abuse and all the many ills of modern life that pastors spend so much time helping their congregants tackle.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0David Gibson, Religion Reporter for Politics Daily<\/a>, tackles this topic in his article No Rest For the Holy: Clergy Burnout a Growing Concern<\/a>. <\/strong>He raises three concerns:<\/p>\n

\u00a0The congregation\u2019s expectation of ministers. <\/strong><\/span>Some congregants have high expectations of the minister. They expect them to always be there when they need them. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0There is a deep concern about stress. Rabbis today are expected to be the C.E.O. of the congregation and the spiritual guide, and to never be out of town if somebody dies. And reply instantly to every e-mail. – Rabbi Joel Meyers, former executive vice president of the Rabbinical Assembly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The minister\u2019s expectation of the minister. <\/span><\/strong>The minister has high expectations of him\/herself, but ends up paying the price for this. In trying to be all things to all people they become unhealthy spiritually and physically, and in the end are no longer useful to their Church.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The health of the minister. <\/strong><\/span>Ministers often eat on the run and the food is often unhealthy.\u00a0 Functions they attend are likely to have food which is not always healthy, but the minister is expected to eat. Several Methodist preachers in the US told researchers from Duke Clergy Health Initiative \u201cDoughnuts will be the death of me.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 [In Tasmania: Curried egg sandwiches!?]<\/p>\n

\u00a0When surveys (in the US) show us that a high percentage of clergy are overweight or obese and that support groups are being set up for clergy who are suicidal, depressed or overwhelmed\u2026.that’s a warning sign, we need to respond and we need to\u00a0act!!<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For ministers, the secret is for them to provide balance in their own life by:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Setting boundaries, <\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Taking care of themselves <\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. Attending to their family<\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. Sitting down to eat a healthy meal<\/strong><\/li>\n
  5. Finding time to exercise or relax<\/strong><\/li>\n
  6. Saying \u2018NO\u2019 to some requests<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u00a0For the congregation, they need to:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Remember that ministers are not super-human<\/li>\n
    2. Remember that ministers are not available 24\/7 and are entitled to dinner time, holidays etc.<\/li>\n
    3. Encourage their ministers to take time off<\/li>\n
    4. Not view everything in the church as the minister’s responsibility<\/li>\n
    5. Provide healthy food at church events<\/li>\n
    6. Support their ministers not only by praying\u00a0for them, but helping where there is a need.
      \n<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      “Help carry each other’s burdens. In this way you will follow Christ’s teachings.”<\/em> (GOD’S WORD Translation 1995)<\/p>\n

      \u00a0Read the article No Rest For the Holy: Clergy Burnout a Growing Concern<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0 \u00a0See also Clergy Burn-Out<\/a>, Helping Ministers<\/a>\u00a0and Ministry Burnout Syndrome<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      There is an old saying that \u201cthere is no rest for the wicked.\u201d But how about, “there is no rest for the holy?” God may have rested on the seventh day, but for a growing number of his ministers, there … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5042"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5042"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5084,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5042\/revisions\/5084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}