Tag Archive: ministry

Ministers And Their Need For Counseling

There are dangers for ministers. Some of these dangers can end the opportunity to serve in Christian vocational ministry. Some of these dangers can be avoided with sound Christian counseling. Dr. Ken Corr has served at Brentwood Baptist for five years as Congregational Care Minister. Both in his previous role as a senior pastor and in his role now as a counselor, Ken has seen the good and the bad of the minister’s work and private life. It’s that experience that leads him to the following benefits of counseling for clergy. I’m thankful for his guest post and his wisdom on this topic.

Guest post by Dr. Ken Corr

A recent Duke Divinity School study on clergy health discovered that the clergy they studied had a higher rate of obesity, diabetes, depression, anxiety, arthritis, and high blood pressure than the general population and were in need of greater self-care including talk therapy. This may be a surprise to many, but it will not be a surprise to the clergy. A 2009 study of clergy by Oakland City University found that 85% of seminary students will leave the ministry within 5 years of graduating from seminary and 90% of pastors will not stay in the ministry until retirement. The demands of ministry and the pressures on the clergy are profound.

These studies point to the need and benefit of counseling for clergy. There are some signs that talk therapy might be needed. These signs include: moodiness; anger at family, church members, and God; a loss of vision or interest in the work; a lack of focus; a growing sense of fatigue; a cynical attitude towards the work of the church.

Too often, there is a hesitation among clergy to seek counseling. Some may think that these are issues that they should be able to handle themselves. However, when waiting too long to seek help, the problems may have led to burnout and the recovery is much more difficult.

One way for clergy and church members to think about counseling is that it is an enhancement to ministry.

Beside the positive mental health benefits, it will also help with developing clear boundaries for work and family, exploring feelings in a safe environment, having another perspective on work and relationships, and positive interventions to deal with chronic issues.

My strong recommendation for all clergy is to find a good therapist with whom they can have a trusted relationship and allow the therapy to help manage the many demands of ministry.

About Ken Corr

Originally from Auburn, Alabama, Ken graduated from Auburn University with a Bachelor of Science degree in education, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree and a Doctorate of Ministry degrees, and The University of Memphis with a Master of Science degree in community agency counseling. Before joining our staff in 2008, Ken was the pastor of First Baptist Church in Memphis for 12 years and served at the Church Health Center as the Congregational Relations Specialist. Currently, he’s a published author and member of the American Counseling Association (ACA) and the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling.

Can a part-time employee still be effective?

Hiring at a part-time level is purposeful in our ministry setting. It’s a part of our strategy to manage our resources until other factors drive us to full-time positions. We refer to it as “incrementalism.”

There are typically gains with small, incremental steps in both cost and efficiency. This is true of most ventures, but employee hours especially.

We’ve found if you have the right part-time people, and they’re managed well, they can produce far more results than their hours suggest.

Here are four key things a supervisor should ensure his or her part-time employee is doing so their hours can be maximized:

Anticipate

Last-minute boss tasks and other tyranny of the urgent matters;
Post-meeting tasks—and give time to address them;
Deadlines. Schedule out the time slots to hit deadlines. Annual budget submittals, Disciple Now, and VBS shouldn’t surprise you;
And avoid black holes. Give yourself a time limit for activities that tend to eat up time, such as Facebook, trips to the break room, engaging certain people in conversation (we all know people who can’t end a conversation).

Delegate

Ask yourself: is this the most effective use of my time? I’ve had to realize that although others may not say or do things like me, their work is still adequate.

I have to delegate and pass things along so I can focus on mission-critical initiatives. This is true for part-time employees as well. Which five-minute tasks could they give away?

You don’t always need position power to delegate. Be creative in determining who could willingly accept a task (there are capable and called volunteers).

Advantage Moments

Typically small in length, these can be fulfilling if used properly:

Mean-time tasks (phone calls, making copies) in between meetings or over lunch;
Group-like tasks;
E-mail templates (i.e. volunteer schedules, regular scheduling of meetings and agendas) See Michael Hyatt’s post to learn more about these;
And use computer shortcuts (find tutorials or ask a “geek”).

Meaningful Moments

Develop weekly Must-Do, Should-Do and Nice-To-Do task sheets;
Know what you have planned each day, before beginning the day;
And block out time every week for projects. Don’t try to squeeze in preparation for a presentation in between fielding e-mails from church members.

Whether the part-time role is a minister or support position, you can manage their limited hours to produce more than part-time results.

P.S. If you want your part-time role to go full-time, make your supervisor notice you. Let them see the amount of work you’re producing. They can’t ignore quality and results for too long.

The sixth sense…guest recognition

They have common tells. They’re reading the bulletin feverishly. They’re actually reading the signage in the hallway. They’re on time. They’re sitting in the back. Their eyes are exploring the room. They’re filling out the guest registration card. There are more subtle signs, but as a minister you must hone your guest radar to notice these first time guest tells.

Only when leaving my last church did I find out that many people had appreciated my noticing them as guests and beginning those first conversations with them. While we all have many tasks going on prior to our various church services, I’d argue that spending ten minutes looking for and greeting first-timers should be the highest of our priorities.

As in most cases, it takes a little relational intelligence to figure out how much a guest wants to engage a staff minister. But I have found that most people are thankful for a personal conversation.

In engaging guests have I introduced myself to those I thought were first time guests only to find out they were founding members? Yes.

Have I sniffed out a pastor search committee? Yes.

Have I connected guests to information they needed, such as restroom location or length of service-time, and have I sometimes connected them with someone to pray? You bet.

It begins with putting time in your schedule to engage this. If looking for guests is your priority, you’ll quickly become adept with this guest-sense.

Then, scan the room for those “Tells” that guests usually exhibit. And then go in for the engagement, “Hi, I’m Brian, and I don’t think I’ve got to meet you before.”

This sixth sense will allow you to minister to people, and it will likely get people to attend your church more than once.

Happy guest hunting.

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