TAMUNOIBI ROGERS MILLER
(revrt.miller@yahoo.com; revrandymiller@gmail)
INTRODUCTION
The greatest desire of every servant of God is to effectively discharge his ministerial responsibility in an excellent manner. This has made many minsters to work round the years without creating opportunity for good rest. Perhaps such ministers forget that as a wholistic being, the care of every area including the physical, emotional and spiritual is vital for an effective service. Since humans are not machines, when the minister refuses to rest to be refreshed periodically, stress or what we may consider as burnout in this paper become obvious. Burnout often hits people who believe, commit and serve with all their heart, in the area toward which they believe God has directed their commitment and involvement.
The daily pressures of ministry can sometimes overwhelm Christian leaders and leave them feeling worn out and without energy to carry on. This ministerial pressure makes them susceptible to burnout which is a real problem not for the pastors alone but also to the family, and church. When burnout runs its course, the complaint is lack of initiative or drive, little energy, lack of the desire to visit with people, and just want to be left alone. There is irritability, and disillusionment with people, loss of confidence, a feeling of being mistreated, and feelings of detachment: Burnout causes inefficiency, inefficiency creates increasing demands, demands create pressure and concomitant guilt for not achieving desired goals, added pressure and guilt causes stress, stress causes a depletion of energy and drive, which in turn causes inefficiency. Burn out is a common condition among pastors and those in other helping professions. Christian ministers are subject to work-related stress that is typical of other human service occupations. This paper will consider the causes and remedies for burnout.
AN OVERVIEW OF THE CONCEPT OF BURNOUT
Historical Perspective
Burnout is essentially a term borrowed from the world of mechanical systems. In the field of electrical science, it means the burning up of an electronic wire or semiconductor by the oversupply of electricity. In the field of aeronautics, it is used in cases where the operation of a jet apparatus or rocket engine is stopped by the exhaustion of fuel. Christina Maslach defines burnout as “a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment that can occur among individuals who do ‘people work’ of some kind.”
Research on burnout originated in the psychological stress literature. Early writing and exploration began in the 1970s with the aim to describe the phenomenon and show that it is not an uncommon response to stress. Early writings were based on the experiences of health and human service employees. Interpersonal and emotional stressors emerged as key stressors in care giving and service occupations. Nurses, social workers, counselors, and pastors characterize this type of work in which care is provided and emotional labor is involved.
Freudenberger, a psychiatrist working in an alternative health care agency, was one of the first to popularize the term and describe the process of “burnout.” Burnout was termed to refer to emotional depletion, loss of motivation, and low commitment to one’s job.
Empirical and Theoretical Perspective of Burnout
In the 1980s, burnout research shifted from the exploratory work to scale development and empirical research. Maslach and Jackson identified a multidimensional model of burnout with three components: emotional exhaustion which is the core of burnout dimension and refers to a depletion of emotional resources, cynicism known as depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment.
Building on Maslach’s foundation, Shirom and Melamed developed a different conceptualization of burnout as individual feelings of physical, emotional, and cognitive exhaustion. Thus, the model focused on the depletion of physical, emotional, and cognitive
energetic resources resulting from chronic exposure to job.
According to Beebe the pattern of burnout among pastors seemed to suggest the following basic process:
Self-role Differentiation: The idea describes psychological drain as the result of being unable to distinguish between goal-setting with reference to their congregational ministries and goal-setting in their own personal and professional lives. Thus, some pastors over-identify with the successes, failures, and conflict present in their role and church.
Also, some pastors view interpersonal and congregational conflict as an indication of one’s job performance in the pastorate. If pastors can view conflict as separate from evaluations of one’s performance in the pastorate and evaluations of one’s self, it would positively affect perceptions of work overload and ambiguity and reduce burnout.
Person-Job Fit Theory: This present individual who perceives that they do not have the necessary skills or abilities, or are not interested in their job. Such will experience their work as stressful and be more likely to exhibit signs of burnout. Some pastors also report feeling unprepared to handle the business and organizational aspects of their church, such as facilities and financial oversight . The daily pressures of ministry can sometimes overwhelm Christian leaders, leaving them feeling worn out and without energy to carry on. With the pressures of ministerial leadership, all Christian workers are susceptible to burnout.
TYPES OF PASTORAL BURNOUT
Pastors may experience the following types of burnout, which often come together and have a compounding effect on each other:
- Physical Burnout: This can be prompted by lack of sleep, exercise and physical effect of stress. The overloaded schedules, work, and other stressful activities can drive pastors to forget to eat healthy, exercise and to keep a regimented routine. When unimpeded, physical burnout can cause aches and pains, a change in eating habits, a weakened immune system and a feeling of being tired all the time.
- Relational Burnout: This is associated with emotional burnout and can cause strained relationships with other church leaders, and members. Routine interactions with energy-draining members and other people make the pastors vulnerable for this type of burnout. Emotional and physical exhaustion between church members can cause pastors to isolate themselves to get a break from their energy draining sources.
- Emotional Burnout: is usually experienced when pastors feel they have no one to turn to for advice. They have no one to shepherd them. This type of burnout can inflict chaos on a pastor’s marriage and family life due to the feeling of isolation. Emotional burnout can cause pastors to be impassive to their normal emotions which can lead to a sense of failure and self-doubt.
- Spiritual Burnout: This is felt when pastors neglect their own spiritual lives while trying to minister to the lives of others. Many pastors do not have a mentor in their lives and fail to seek the life- strengthening power of God for spiritual refreshment. They lack encounters with God through prayer, scripture reading and fellowship.
FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR BURNOUT: Some of the factors of burnout include;.
- Stress
Burnout is caused by distress. Distress is a secondary occurrence produced by stress. In this aspect, chronic excessive stress becomes the cause of burnout, and if there is not an appropriate countermeasure, it will lead to sickly melancholia.
Han Selye, one of the most famous experts on stress, classified stress as having two kinds: “distress,” which brings about the psychological damage due to the repetition of excessive stress; and “eustress” (good stress), which brings happiness.
The term “stress” originated from the Latin “stringer”, which means “tighten closely”, and afterward was used as “string”, “strest” and “straisse”. In the 14th century, the term “stress” meant “anguish”, “oppression”, “suffering”, or “adversity”. In the 20th century, “stress” was used as a medical term that referred to bad health conditions or mental diseases.
- Workaholic
These are people who bring work home or who work over vacation. These people have a workaholic personality established as the principal standard, where they feel the value and worth of themselves in work or productive activity. Most of them have an obsessive character with a tendency to fall into workaholism and feelings of helplessness. When these individuals try to achieve something beyond their abilities, they often experience burnout as a result.
- Meticulousness
These perfectionists try to do all things completely well, and have downright perfectionistic tendencies; nothing is ever good enough. They think that there is a place for all and all should be in its place. They devote themselves to their work in order to finish all things completely, and work day and night in order to satisfy the expectations of others. After establishing high and strict standards, they try to do their best in order to achieve perfection. Because they achieve above their level, they experience excessive fatigue by demanding so much of themselves as well as others.
- Pessimistic View of Self and the World (Low Self-Esteem)
According to Hong Lee, individuals with high self-esteem cope with stress more actively than those with low self-esteem. Pastors can keep harmony with others when they can keep harmony with themselves, and interpersonal relations can only be good when they are in good relations with themselves. When an individual has severe displeasure or dependency, they cannot acknowledge others properly and cannot accept praise. If they continue to have low self-esteem, they begin to have an inferiority complex. If they begin to develop severe inferiority, they may come to accept the other person’s words as an attack; and if they are dried up in mental energy, they fall into a crisis of ministry
- Excessive Occupational Activity
William. H. Willimon declares that “the work of the church is endless”. Generally, many people who have a professional job come home after a day’s work and relax; however, pastors have no peculiar office hours or closing hours. They take care of their congregation on a 24/7 basis. There is no end to the work of the pastor; there are continuous worship services, funerals, weddings, visitations (absentee members, hospital patients, sick and shut in home visits and counselling, trainings, administrations and various other meetings. This excessive occupational activity causes the pastor to overwork and exhaust all energy.
- Unending Expectations of Congregation:
Congregation expect pastors to fulfill their endless expectations. Some want their pastor to be sincere, to be an excellent preacher, to have a wonderful talent in managing the financial affairs of the church and to be a capable counsellor. Some congregants want their pastor to take care of the sick and the poor, and to have interest in their congregation’s individual spiritual needs. The expectations of the congregations are endless, and some are even impractical. There is no pastor who has both the talent that can satisfy so many of the members’ expectations and enough energy to do so.
Congregations expect that not only their pastor satisfy their individual needs, but also that they be a reputable leader in every aspect. Therefore pastors, who know this fact very well, invest a great deal of time in order to develop a “persona” that shows the good aspects of themselves to others. Persona has two functions. One function is to project their best features effectively, and another function is not to reveal hidden features to others.
- Criticism from the Congregation
Congregations see the pastor as the clergy, and they consider him or her as a different human being from themselves. Therefore, they demand values and behaviour of the highest level. If the pastor cannot satisfy this demand, they criticize him or her and become non-supportive of the pastor.
SYMPTOMS OF BURNOUT
According to Luban, Burnout is a gradual process that occurs over an extended period of time. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it can creep up on you if you’re not paying attention to the warning signals. The signs and symptoms of burnout are subtle at first, but they get worse and worse as time goes on. The following are signs and symptoms to burnout:
- Separating yourself from others
- Deferring, taking longer time to get things done
- Withdrawing from responsibilities
- Avoiding work
- Increasingly cynical and negative outlook
- Decreased satisfaction and sense of accomplishment
- Loss of motivation
- Feeling abandoned, confined, and overpowered
- Disinterestedness, feeling by yourself in the world
- Sense of failure and self-doubt.
- Frequent headaches, back pain, muscle aches
- Feeling tired and drained most of the time
- Lowered immunity, feeling sick.
- Change in appetite or sleep habits.
Ways of Managing Burnout
- Avoid Working Too Much
Pastors are required to work but know when to take break. They need to heed to counsel from family members, and close friends on when to rest.
- Delegate Authority for Serving
Pastors are encouraged to delegate, but that if the task involves teaching, they should find qualified people. Delegating requires work, but it will be rewarding at the very end. It is essential when there is additional workload.
- Address the Problem
Problems not addressed will get worse. Pastors are involved in God’s work does not exempt them from burnout. Human apparatuses have limits, and pastors should confront their limits. They should be aware of the potential problem with burnout. Face the realities of the stressors and pressures of being “called” into the ministry. In addition, the presence of an active support system, whether in the form of coaching, a small group, or personal friendships, has been shown to promote overall health and reduce burnout tendencies
- Avoid Isolation
Lack of an adequate support system contributes to isolation and loneliness, which prevents personal and spiritual restoration and renewal. Pastors should avoid isolation and need to find ways to spiritually nourish themselves by relating with others.
- Cultivate Dependence on God : For the strength and power needed in your ministry, the pastor need to depend on God. Remember, the ministry is not yours – it is God’s. He has called you, and He must accomplish His work in you. Therefore, stop trying to control what you can’t control and manage what you have no business managing. This includes managing other’s opinions of you and their reactions to you
- Know Your Limits
Pastors need to learn to focus on their limited human outlook on life, giving in to God’s marvellous viewpoint and His way of viewing things: Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, exercising loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
- Time Management and Priorities
The suggestion is that pastors should balance their time between self and family. Hands and Fehr assert that “Relationship to oneself has also to do with time. This aspect of life has gotten out of portion with many clergy.” They further exert that “Time is life and life is more than ministerial tasks.” Many clergy working too much and too long; simply put, it is a result of their inability to ask for help or delegate. These pastors avoid their inner emptiness and deficiency in the spirit by overworking their weekly hours, often in unproductive and unprofessional busywork.
- Self-Appreciation
Many pastors fail because of a lack of consistent self-care and self-appreciation. Hands and Fehr suggest that, “self-appreciation means knowing one’s own worth, knowing one’s strengths and talents as well as one’s limitations and weaknesses.”
Hands and Fehr suggest that, “Clergy, like others in the helping professions, often do their best to be good for others as a way of earning self-esteem.” The clergy, in a practical sense, need to become a part of a peer group, thus developing their relationships with others and eventually with God. From a biblical perspective, pastors should have an intimate relationship with self and God.
- Regular Review of Marriage and Family Life
. The suggestion is that, “Pastoral families confront common dilemmas all families face, including the demand of house-hold chores, typical family conflict, and community involvement, childcare are activities for children as they grow. Add to these challenges the life crises and financial struggles faced by most pastoral couples. Pastoral couples should regularly review their marriage and family life and seek counseling as appropriate
- Self-Care and Regular Time Off
Pastors need better self-care and regular time off. They also need to guard their spouses from becoming an emotional dumping ground, and provide healthy boundaries and conversation about emotional ministry situations. Also, pastors need to assure their children that they are not the blame for ministry stress and that God is providing them the strength for challenges of the ministry.
- Healthy Relational Connections
Many pastors’ spouses feel abandoned, which can threaten the health of the pastors’ families, and thus the ability of pastors to remain productive. It is vital that pastors and their family consider healthy relational connections by taking time off, keeping a regular date night, taking solitude from the phone and keeping a short account of the wrongs.
CONCLUSION
This paper has examined the management of pastoral burnout which may happen to anyone if the necessary precautions are not taken. The historical background was given to trace its beginning of the concept. The theoretical and conceptual view was also presented to expose the thought of people on the issue of burnout. Possible solutions were then given to help pastors in their ministerial responsibilities.
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