Ministers Council logo.

Hub for Clergy Well‑Being


Hub for Clergy Well‑Being


Hub for Clergy Well Being
The Hub for Clergy Well Being
Mental/Emotional Well-Being Well-Being in God's Creation Physical Well-Being Spiritual Well-Being Financial Well-Being Social/Relational Well-Being Family/Marital Well-Being Vocational/Occupational Well-Being Intellectual Well-Being
Hub for Clergy Well Being
The Hub for Clergy Well Being
  • Mental-Emotional Well-being “…includes identifying, sharing and expressing one’s emotions in a healthy way, practicing mindfulness, as well as management of anxiety, depression, and stress.”
  • Well-being in God’s Creation “…involves the way that we engage in God’s natural world, including the practices of awe, play, worship, learning, and stewardship.”
  • Physical Well-being “…attends to the needs and flourishing of our bodies, including healthy eating, rest, and exercise.”
  • Spiritual Well-being “…refers to care of the soul, practice of prayer and other spiritual/contemplative disciplines (including Sabbath), and attending to one’s relationship with God.”
  • Financial Well-being “…deals with awareness of one’s ‘money story’ from their family of origin, as well as management of financial resources and debt, and self-advocating for fair compensation.”
  • Social/Relational Well-being “…includes attending to healthy boundaries, cultivating clergy friendships, caring for others, and nurturing diverse professional and personal relationships. It also includes acknowledgement and healing from traumas of racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression.”
  • Family/Marital Well-being “…involves healthy relationships with family of origin, partner/spouses, and parenting/nurturing younger generations.”
  • Vocational/Occupational Well-Being “…pays attention to calling, vocational identity and gifting, work/life balance, adaptive leadership, and professional needs of ministry preparation, vocational competency, and ‘ending well’ in retirement.”
  • Intellectual Well-being “…involves the way that we engage the world with our minds, including our learning, knowledge, ministry competences, creativity, and the practice of curiosity.”

We recently conducted a survey of our membership, and found that 52% of our members define themselves as “surviving,” “struggling,” or even “depleted and despairing.” This isn’t some generic study by a polling firm, but our American Baptist colleagues, partners in ministry, and friends. These are pastors, pastoral counselors, chaplains, and other clergy, who wake up some days wondering if they still want to continue this work to which they have felt called by God.

man writing on a computer

As ministers who support ministers, we get it. Many of us in the Ministers Council leadership have described ourselves in these terms in various seasons of our ministry, and we know that each of these responses represents a different story, a different journey, and a different set of root causes that brought clergy to respond in this way. Clergy well-being is a complex and complicated thing, and we understand that there is not one single threat to clergy well-being, nor one single solution for addressing it. At the Ministers Council, we understand this network of needs, as we feel called to address issues of collegiality, and centeredness, and competence.

With these survey results and that calling fresh in our minds, we have created what we call a “Hub for Clergy Well-Being.” Instead of recreating additional content, or building new programming, we see value in serving as a hub for so many other amazing resources, offered by our American Baptist partners and others. No one organization can do it all. In fact, in their book Caring for Clergy: Understanding a Disconnected Network of Providers, Thad Austin and Katie Comeau write “we believe it is unrealistic that one sector or one care provider should meet every need for clergy….In the book of Exodus, Moses needed Aaron and Hur as the task at hand got wearisome and almost too hard to bear. Together, their support more holistically met the needs of Moses in a sustainable way.”

Caring for Clergy: Understanding a Disconnected Network of Providers.

Thus, our hub model. Scroll back to the top of this page and you will see a picture of a hub with various spokes. Each connects to a different element of your well-being as clergy (and you’ll note that the elements are all interconnected, as well). As you consider your current season of ministry, look at each of the various elements above, and ask yourself (and/or friends or colleagues) what might be missing in your well-being. If you hover over one of the circles, you will see a short description appear. (If you're reading this on a smaller screen, like a tablet or smart phone, the descriptions and links will be below the image of the hub.) Click there, and you will be taken to a full list of ideas, resources, links, and encouragement to find help.

Not sure where to start? Visit proqol.org/proqol-measure for a helpful and free assessment tool designed to help measure compassion fatigue, work satisfaction, and burnout. It takes about 10 minutes to fill out and 10 minutes to score, and might help you narrow down areas of focus.

You matter. Your ministry makes a difference in the lives of people you meet every day. If there are things standing in the way of your well-being, the Ministers Council wants to help you find a route to a new space: Thriving. Trusting. Together.

Go to top