A national network of people caring for pastors so they can share ideas,
support, mentoring, resources and prayer was set up
after a Caregivers Conference in Australia held at the end of January at
Whitley College. Delegates included 38 people from
all over Australia and from six denominations, plus a wide variety of
para-church ministries.The purpose of the conference
was to gather together people who were caring for pastors, their
partners and families in counselling/crisis situations so
there might be an opportunity to unpack some of the issues caregivers
are facing as they minister to pastors. Alongside that
was the opportunity to network, to share ideas and resources and to pray
for each other.

The conference resulted from a visit
made by the Rev Geoff Rowse, our Eastern Area Superintendent, to a
Caregivers Forum in Colorado Springs, USA, in 1997. On
his return he talked with the Baptist Union of Victoria Ministry Team
and Rowland Croucher from John Mark Ministries and the
conference was planned for early 1999.

What has been learnt?

The
conference began by focusing on what we can learn from the
research that has been carried out over recent years. This was shared by
Philip Hughes of the Christian Research Association
and Peter Kaldor who heads up the National Church Life Survey.

• Thematerial highlighted some key factors:
• Dilemmas facing clergy at the end of the 20th century
• The dilemma of trying to be pastor and prophet, to care and to challenge.
• The dilemma of trying to be a friend and a professional.
• The dilemma of trying to be both subject centred ie producing sermons, passing on

  the traditions, sharing the sacraments and being people centred.

• The dilemma of being very human yet bearers of the divine.

Issues for pastors in Australia

• 1/5 of all pastors’ families say that they are negatively affected by their

  ministry.

• Many shared they were poorly trained/equipped for ministry eg 45% said they were
  poorly equipped for mission and 63% said they were poorly equipped for rural

  ministry.

• 15% said they were burnt out and 55% said they were on the borderline of

  burnout.Some snapshots of the Australian church and people (l996 NCLS)

• 70% of Aussie non-Christians said they have attended a religious service of some

  kind in the past year.

• 55% of Australian churches are stable, 18% declining, 24% are growing 38% said

  they had high levels of newcomers

• There are a
  large number of people just drifting out of the
  church eg 15% of Uniting Church people drifted away from their church
  between 1991 and 1996 and 7% of Baptists and 27% of
  Pentecostals.

• The number of people who switch churches is also
  significant eg 19% of Baptists switched to other
  denominations and 19% came from other churches to Baptists while 27%
  switched to Pentecostal churches and 8% of Pentecostals
  went to other churches

The characteristics of growing churches:

• a sense of vision or direction
• a focus of those beyond the church
• people being invited to church
• empowering leadership
• the young being looked after
• contemporary worship
• a sense of community
• a lively faith
• people were moved towards commitment
• new congregations being started and new services

Characteristics of leaders that are keys for growth. The age of the minister
and how long they have been in a church has little bearing on growth. Effective
leaders have an outward focus, a vision for the future, an ability to achieve
goals, they inspire people, they listen to attender’s ideas and they put a high
priority on growing people’s gifts.

So who wants to be a pastor? It is very difficult to minister today amid the
enormous changes going on and with many different expectations as to what a
pastor is to do.

25 key issues

Rowland Croucher then facilitated a session where the group identified the 25
issues they perceived to be the key ones in their ministry with pastors. Some of
the causes of those issues were identified and possible solutions explored.

The issues included: low self esteem, finding a source of help, lack of
boundaries, lack of interpersonal skills, pastors’ neglect of their own spirit,
isolation and loneliness, burnout, lack of ‘success’, handling of
conflict/confrontation, anxiety, inability to enjoy the whole of life and to take
‘Sabbath’, pain overload, fulfilling expected roles, anger, guilt, depression,
sexuality issues, grief and loss not worked through, spouse issues.

Bishop Arthur Jones, the Bishop of Gippsland, shared in a session which many
felt was the highlight of the conference where he reflected, in both a humble and
humorous way, on life and ministry. He reflected on some keys to his ministry:

I listen hard to people.

I get to know people’s histories.

I rejoice with people in their achievements.

I affirm people.

I keep sitting with people.

He shared the importance of having a ‘Rule of life’ to live and minister by
and said if we didn’t have a rule of life we would exist rather than living. For
him that included:

I will listen to people compassionately this day

I will practice the presence of God this day

I won’t do anything against my conscience this day

I will say a few prayers morning and evening this day

I will read the scriptures this day

Spirituality and mentoring

Jill Manton and John Mallison shared in sessions on spirituality and
mentoring as keys for ministers.

Jill opened up the Biblical understanding of ‘Sabbath taking’ for ministers
and shared how in the Bible the Sabbath highlighted the Celebration of Creation,
Liberation of God, Resurrection of Jesus and that as we take seriously building
into our lives as ministers the rhythm of the Sabbath we come face to face with
the wonder of the unconditional love of God and are able to celebrate Him. She
also unpacked some of the ways ministers can live this out recognising that it is
still very difficult to do in an activist and performance-oriented society and
church.

John asked us to reflect on the people who had significant influence on our
lives and the characteristics of those people and outlined some of the keys for
mentoring. His new book entitled, Mentoring to develop disciples and leaders, is
now available.

Sexual and ethical
issues

Greg and Mereyem Brown, who are full-time counsellors in Queensland, led a
very significant session on sexual and ethical issues, starting with a specific
case study to highlight the issues. They shared some of the causes as they saw
them of the problems facing clergy in areas of sexual misconduct and ethical
impropriety:

Inadequate approach to sexuality generally within the church.

Lack of ethical culture in the church especially in the areas of intellectual
property issues, due process, natural justice, conflict of interest,
confidentiality-related issues, abuse and misuse of power, lack of ethical
sensitivity in ministers (lack of ability to recognise, understand, reflect upon
and resolve ethical dilemmas)

Reluctance/inability/lack of mechanisms for (especially male) cIergy to
discuss their sexual journey and concerns.

Role issues:

relative autonomy and subsequent lack of accountability, blurring of
emotional/relational boundaries, draining nature of ministry which draws clergy
away from family and spouse (where intimacy needs can be properly met), content
of pastoral care often related to sexual issues, context of caregiving (client’s
home/deserted church building often leads to boundaries being trangressed.

Personality issues:

sexually dysfunctional people drawn to ministry, need some clergy with a
particular mix of personality type, have to present as always being competent,
not wanting to refer, unwilling to seek help for self or others, resistant to
peer accountability and professional supervision.

Inadequate ethics training during preparation for ministry so poor
understanding of the dynamics of transference, lack of awareness of limits to
their competence as counsellors, problems of lack of professional distancing,
lack of appreciation re the dynamics and effects of power and lack of ability to
maintain professional boundaries. They shared also the need for every clergy
person to have a personal code of ethics and for help for the clergy to develop
such a code.

Stress and burnout

Rowland Croucher led this session. He began by outlining with group input the
classical statements re pastors and burn out. eg need to take a day off, four
weeks’ annual leave, understand your personality, understand the output/input
ratio emotionally, have a hobby, have fun, sleep well, have a good diet, have a
mentor but these only address the symptoms not the causes. Stress has a lot to do
with who we are. Stress and burnout is more a function of the way we were
nurtured as children and teenagers. Most men do not experience the strength and
tenderness of a father and the time needed with their fathers to grow to be whole
men. As a result many male pastors do not function well as pastors being driven
by the need for affirmation, the need to do better/to succeed in their church
than their peers are doing ie numbers, finance, buildings, programs.

The result when mid life crises come is that they realise that affirmation
doesn’t feed their souls only their regrets and so burnout and stress take their
hold.

The final session of the conference was given over to reflecting on what all
we had shared said about the training of pastors.The evaluation of the conference
showed the overwhelming support for future conferences probably annually.

Geoff Rowse