Authors’ Note: This article is adapted from Mending Ministers on Their Wellness Journey and has been used with the authors’ permission.
Are you confident when talking about spiritual health? Is it a topic of conversation that effortlessly flows from you? Forme (Petr), I can easily answer “no” to both questions. Yet, since early childhood, I have had a strong desire to engage in religious and spiritual activities. Perhaps that was why my sisters used to—tauntingly—call me the “holy one.”
Only years later did I realized that my spiritual journey started while I was yet in the womb. Before I was born, my dad was called to ministry via a church plant; this was a bold and somewhat daring move in Communist Czechoslovakia (today called the Czech Republic). While he was far away, preparing the new facility for worship services and readying an apartment for his growing family, my mom was alone at home, pregnant with me, taking care of my sister, and praying for the journey ahead. During this time, she intensely studied Scripture and the Spirit of Prophecy, preparing for her new role as a pastor’s wife.
As a young person, I never doubted God’s goodness—regardless of the trials I experienced. However, I rarely felt spiritual satisfaction. Even after spending considerable time praying and studying God’s Word, there was always the sense that I did not pray long enough or read enough. It took years of searching to relax in God’s arms, learning that spiritual health is a daily, lifelong process.
We each have our own unique stories of spirituality, don’t we? Yet there doesn’t seem to be a universally accepted definition for the term “spirituality.” In the last 10 years, multiple studies have been conducted on Adventist pastors (Sedlacek, McBride, Drumm, Baltazar, Chelbegean, Hopkins, Oliver, & Thompson, 2014; Činčala & Drumm, 2021). The pastors who participated in this research discussed their concern about the lack of a clear definition for “spirituality,” because what may be considered a spiritual behavior to some may not be considered so by others. As one pastor put it:
The definition of spirituality is a problem, very different to members of the congregation, probably different to all of us here. So, that is a word that when you ask the question, ends up being defined by each of us. And then, I think often what happens is people will put a guilt trip on us, or we’ll put a guilt trip on ourselves because we are not spiritual like some other definition or someone else is. So, probably that is a very difficult thing to try and determine. . . what is spirituality? (Sedlacek et al., 2014, pp. 45–46)
The word “spirituality” is not found anywhere in the Bible. In fact, it has only been used and discussed within the last few generations. Catholic theologian Ronald Rolheiser (1999) writes, “Few words are as misunderstood in the contemporary English language as is the word spirituality” (p. 5). In light of Adventism’s holistic belief system and approach to life, I tend to agree that “spirituality is not something on the fringes,” merely “an option for those with a particular bent” (Rolheiser, 1999, p. 6)—although sometimes it feels like it is and/or we are made to believe so. Human beings are spiritual beings by default. The issue at hand is how we handle our spirituality. How spiritual should a pastor be? To what level of spirituality can you go as a pastor (Sedlacek et al., 2014, p. 46)?
Defining Spiritual Health
Foster (1998a) made spirituality more accessible and understandable by articulating specific spiritual disciplines that one can practice. Since his groundbreaking work, this list has been cultivated, revised, expanded, and changed by others (Thompson, 1995; Ortberg, 1997b; Whitney, 1997; Jones & Tickle, 2005; Yaconelli, 2003). This “menu approach” (including “ingredients” such as prayer, study, meditation, fasting, solitude, simplicity, submission, service, confession, worship guidance, and celebration) has helped us understand that we need to nurture our spirit to be spiritually alive, in the same way that our body requires good quality food to be healthy. However, this list of spiritual disciplines can be easily manipulated, leaving us with the impression that our spirituality is a matter of attainment rather than a process (Moore, 2002, p. 30).
Common ingredients in all types of spiritualities within Christendom include prayer, learning from Scripture, worship, repentance, and sanctification. However, there are legitimate “sacred pathways” (Thomas, 2020), spiritual streams (Foster, 1998b), or spiritual styles (Schwarz, 2009) that allow us to connect with God and maintain a nurturing intimate relationship with Him. Some people love studying Scripture beyond typical, everyday devotionals; comparing Scriptures, connecting the dots, deepening their knowledge of biblical doctrines, and learning the historical background of Bible stories gives them spiritual meaning and connection with God. Others practice godliness through sharing with others through serving, volunteering, encouraging, and praying for/with others. Perhaps you spiritually thrive and/ or experience God’s presence through worship, music, and/or art—and those are equally valid ways of experiencing spirituality supported by Scripture. Do you belong to the group of people who find comfort for their soul when praying, meditating, and contemplating in nature? This kind of spirituality is rooted in the Bible, the same as the others.
Chandler (2014) writes that “the goal of our spiritual journey is conformity to Jesus (Rom. 8:29)” (p. 70). Indeed, spirituality is more than matching behavior to a list of expectations. “There is something bloodless in the contemporary vision of spirituality as part of a general fitness scheme, that sees it only as a means for attaining a life of perfection and health” (Moore, 2002, p. 163). Spirituality is more than a daily spiritual workout. Have you ever been in a situation in which the more you “trained” (i.e., prayed, studied the Bible, etc.), the weaker and less spiritual you felt? Could this be because our spirituality can easily become task-oriented and duty-bound?
Along the same lines, spiritual life is more than simply acquiring information. In the Western world, we are taught from childhood that it is desirable to be rational about everything. As a result, “we trust in the mind and in facts,” utilizing a somewhat “materialistic approach to knowledge” (Moore, 2002, p. 199). Ortberg (1997a) explains that “the ultimate indicator of your spiritual health is your capacity to fully love God and love people” (p. 16). God wants to restore us back to His image so we can “share in a reciprocal love relationship with God and others. It starts with being formed spiritually” (Chandler, 2014,p. 70). Obviously, then, our “spiritual life cannot be reduced to numbers and research studies [Perhaps] what is needed is a new appreciation of the non-rational without sentimentalizing eccentricity or a magical view of life” (Moore, 2002, p. 200).
Spirituality is a matter of the heart. Believing in, relating to, and loving are rooted in emotion. We all have a deep desire from within. “Spirituality is, ultimately, about what we do with that desire. What we do with our longings. . .” (Rolheiser, 1999, p. 5)—whether we deal with the pain that comes from our dissatisfaction, frustration, etc., or whether we experience love, beauty, creativity. Ultimately, our hearts hunger and thirst for God (Ps. 42; Dybdahl, 2008).
Emotions cannot be separated from reasoning; feelings and thinking go hand in hand. “The biblical perspective is in line with modern neuroscience, which continues to disprove any real separation from mind and body. Thinking and feeling cannot be cleanly separated. There is interconnected influence between our thoughts and our emotions” (Collins & Collins, 2019, p. 30). Nancy and Ron Rockey (2008) go as far as to say that “our feelings dictate our beliefs [and] our behaviors” (p. 174). Could it be that our feelings might, at times, be stronger drivers for our spiritual journey than our logic?
When Diane Chandler (2014) introduces her integrated approach to spiritual development, she addresses not only the spirit but also emotions, relationships, intellect, vocation, physical health, and stewardship. Each of the areas of health and wellbeing are intertwined. Spiritual development is connected to maturation and health in other areas of life, as the following quote from one pastor in a focus group demonstrates:
If I don’t do my physical exercise and health is not there, then spiritual health will not be there either. At the age of 50, I was breaking down health-wise from stress in one of my hardest districts in the conference. But then the Lord showed me that you need exercise, you can’t neglect that. (Sedlacek et al., 2014, p. 50)
Spirituality is a way of embracing and being embraced by God, a way of knowing and being known by God. On our spiritual journey, we continue learning how to connect and maintain our connection with God most naturally—engaging our mind, heart, soul, and spirit. Rolheiser (1999) indicates that healthy spirituality has two foci. First, it gives us “energy and fire,” so we stay vital, vibrant, “living with zest, and full of hope” (pp. 11, 14). It allows us to enjoy beauty and find the joy of living. Secondly, spirituality keeps us “glued together, integrated, so that we do not fall apart” (p. 11). Spirituality provides a “sense of who we are, where we come from, where we are going, and what sense there is in all of this” (p. 14). Indeed, “spirituality refers to something vital and nonnegotiable lying at the heart of our lives” (p. 6).
Challenges with Spirituality
The calling and vocation of pastoral ministry is a proverbial platter of interwoven spaghetti noodles spilling off the plate and onto the checkered tablecloth of reality. Each strand represents a ministry function that requires a measure of attention and occupies a place of importance, but they all too easily blur together on the plate of our schedules. The priorities and demands of ministry can easily turn the pastor into the main course; their time is swallowed up and, ultimately, their soul is left starving for nourishment. (Okay, I [Craig] wrote this while I was hungry.)
Through the years, I (Craig) have talked with many fellow pastors about their call to ministry. Although there are many variations in the circumstances, one common theme has been consistent: God called, and the individual answered. The calling to ministry is spiritual—a holy covenant between the individual pastor and the Lord. The vocation of ministry includes the realities and challenges of life outside the calmness of that “still, small voice”—many of which resemble the plate of pasta described above. In a word, pastors are busy; however, the epidemic proportion of time-consuming activities is only the presenting problem. What often accompanies physically tired pastors is the more deeply important undernourishment of their emotional and spiritual vitality.
Whether in the first or fiftieth year of pastoral ministry, the challenge remains the same: how does a pastor maintain a vibrant spiritual connection while busily serving everyone else’s needs? As the shepherd of a flock, the needs of our communities—both inside and outside our congregation—are endless. Most pastors can relate to getting calls and texts at all hours of the day and night, having calendars filled with appointments and meetings, squeezing in sermon-writing time, with no margin of time for the unexpected emergencies that often arise.
The stark reality of pastoral ministry is that there is a distance between the calling to be a pastor and the vocation of doing the work of a pastor. This reality gap is evident in the results of a recent survey of North American Division pastors (William & Činčala, 2020) in which a vast majority (97%) of pastors responded, “I know that God called me to be a pastor.” This is a marvelous affirmation that these pastors sensed that they were fulfilling God’s purpose in their life. Having accepted the call to serve in the vocation of pastoral ministry, 93% affirmed that they “enjoy being a pastor.” However, of those same respondents, a lower percentage (85%) claimed that they received adequate support from their congregation. Measured in minutes, a mere 15% of pastors strongly agreed that they “have enough time to perform the tasks necessary to my ministry” (William & Činčala, 2020). This is only a mere slice of the realities and challenges of pastoral work while working with a mostly volunteer labor force.
Even when one’s calling is sure, the landscape of ministry is rougher terrain than many expect, and human, financial, and time resources come in limited quantities. When taking inventory of their own reserves, pastors can quickly find themself drowning in the deluge of expectations and appointments that litter their calendars. At some point, there truly are not enough hours in the day to accomplish all of the tasks that need to be done; there never has been nor will there ever be. This is where pastors need to recognize and embrace their God-given limits.
I (Craig) have noticed that most pastors will respond to the question, “How are you doing?” by including the word “busy” somewhere within the first few sentences. While it’s a truthful statement, given the crowded calendar of commitments, a concern is that busyness is too closely connected to a pastor’s identity and view of their effectiveness. The moment we make unchecked “busyness” into a badge of honor or an idol to be worshipped, we are disobeying our Maker’s intended use of our energies. To slow down enough to care for one’s own spirituality can often produce guilt or even self-doubt in the heart of the earnest pastor who has mistakenly replaced purpose with the approval of others. Additionally, the more physically tired we are, the less emotional energy we have to give, which often correlates with spiritual vitality (or the lack thereof). It’s all connected.
Spiritual Health Barriers
Pastors face many barriers to spiritual health and vitality. Research conducted with pastors in the North American Division have revealed that many are particularly problematic in our Western culture.
Isolation
In Matthew 18:20, we read, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (ESV). There is something to be said about the importance of community when it comes to spiritual health. Yet many pastors report that they feel alone and do not have people to whom they can relate. When pastors lack peers and a community in which they can safely be themselves, they miss out on one of the most important aspects of Christian living.
To be and feel alone in ministry is alarming and ultimately dangerous in the long run. It is not God’s design, as even God Himself operates in community of three. It is vital that pastors have a spiritual partner, someone in whom you can confide and with whom you can pray. Neil Cole (1999) in his book Cultivating a Life for God suggests a simple yet practical model of two or three people of the same gender meeting weekly or biweekly for half an hour to encourage and pray with each other.It may be someone from your congregation or a pastor from another church in your community; however, it may also be someone who is not yet a Christian but is interested in reading the Bible and praying (Cole, 1999). The important thing is you are not alone on your spiritual journey!
Pressure from the Local Conference
Pastors are responsible for not only managing and ministering to their local congregations; the local conference also sets forth expectations for them to meet. This pressure from the conference level can lead to pastors focusing on achieving results, thus neglecting their own personal spiritual lives (Sedlacek et al., 2014). Additionally, since pastors often measure their personal spiritually by their congregation’s success, if they do not feel they are excelling in their ministry and meeting expectations, they are much more likely to feel their spiritual health is lacking (Sedlacek et al., 2014).
A pastor needs to have at least one accountability partner with whom he or she regularly meets and who provides valuable feedback, helping pastors set healthy priorities and boundaries that align with biblical teachings.
Church Member Expectations
Managing church members’ needs and wants is a difficult part of ministry. No matter what the pastor does, there is always someone who will disagree with their decisions. However, church members’ high (and many times unrealistic) expectations of pastors are often at the root of pastors’ spiritual struggles (Sedlacek et al., 2014). When pastors feel as if they are not meeting their congregations’ needs and expectations, they may more easily waver.
Congregations expect performance from clergy. This expectation to perform and to provide “results” can become apoint of personal and congregational anxiety. Poorly managed, this anxiety can result, ultimately, in clergy burnout, terminations, and congregational frustration. It does not help that American congregations exist, and often share, in aculture whose values reflect corporate “bottom-line” attitudes and performance expectations of leaders. As a result, very often clergy themselves take on those performance expectations. (Galindo, 2004, p. 169)
Perhaps you need to take an honest inventory to identify what causes you to neglect your spiritual life in regard to church members’ expectations. Perhaps you believe that you succeed only if all church members are happy. Maybe you adhere to a belief that you are a Christ-like servant only if you make yourself available to the members 24/7. Or perhaps you simply don’t know how to say no. A helpful resource to make positive changes in your life in order to be released from the captivity of expectations of others is Craig Groeschel’s (2021) book Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life.
Lack of Time for Engagement in Spiritual Activities
Pastors’ schedules are often filled to the brim. While Adventists use the Sabbath as a day of rest and reconnection with God, Sedlacek et al. (2014) found that, by the very nature of the job, it is impossible for Adventist pastors to actually keep the Sabbath. And this isn’t the only area of struggle when it comes to engagement in spiritual activities. McBride, Sedlacek, and Drumm (2014, p. 31) found that
- two-thirds (67 %) of pastors struggle to make time for personal devotions,
- over half (56%) of pastors have difficulty with personal prayer,
- over half (54%) of pastors have trouble maintaining a personal connection with God, and
- two in five (40%) pastors struggle with keeping the Sabbath day holy.
If these areas are foundational to spiritual health and vitality, and if pastors are unable to find time to engage with them due to other pressures and tasks, it’s no wonder that these barriers negatively impact pastors’ spiritual lives! Perhaps it’s not about finding time but rather making time by setting healthier boundaries, of which the Sabbath offers its own permission to rest.
“And [Jesus] said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile,” (Mark 6:31). Christ is full of tenderness and compassion for all in His service. He would show His disciples that God does not require sacrifice but mercy. They have been putting their whole souls into labor for the people, and this was exhausting their physical and mental strength. It was their duty to rest [emphasis added]. Christ called them to rest that they might spend a few hours with Him. How thoughtful and tender was His love and care for them! (White, 1897, n.p.)
If you are finding yourself unable to slow down and rest and do not know how to change it, we encourage you to reach out to a mentor or coach who can guide you to discover the hidden obstacles keeping you from engaging in spiritual activities. There are more clues and ideas to implement in this article.
Maintaining and Enhancing Spiritual Health
In view of the existing barriers, you might ask, “How does a pastor stay spiritually grounded and emotionally stable with the demands of ministry? How can they turn their ministry—their life—around?” There’s good news: it’s never too late for pastors to make positive changes.
Accepting Human Limitations
The primary area that pastors struggle with is striking a healthy work-life balance. One way to combat this involves accepting human limitations and allowing time for self-care. Sedlacek et al. (2014) found that
pastors identified the constant struggle of the many demands on their schedule as barriers to their desired level of spiritual health. Pastors reported overwhelming expectations placed on them to be able to do all and be all for their church members, family members, members of the community and the greater Adventist church leadership. To help alleviate some of this pressure, pastors reported that being able to accept human limitations was key. (p. 48)
As one focus group participant put it,
I think we need to accept that God has called us, and we should be normal human beings. Because, when we accept this call, we form, we create our own expectation of us. Connect to God all day. But you need to be connected with people as normal people. (Sedlacek et al., 2014, PFG4)
The goal of accepting this is to be able to embrace the following statement of a pastor and make it your own:
I just want to emphasize what I’ve found helpful for me is in those moments with me and God, where they’re scheduled, just for me and God, or God, my family, and me. I don’t pick up the phone. You just have to be jealous for that time, you know you just have to be jealous for that time. (Drumm & Činčala, 2021, p. 12)
During your times of self-evaluation, have you ever spotted the subtle fear of being rejected—either by church folks or even by God? Did the thought, “God will only accept me if I work harder” ever cross your mind? Have you entertained the question, “Why do I feel that I am not good enough?” Entertaining these thoughts means there is a subconscious issue of you not accepting yourself.
Another way of accepting your own limitations is by seeking the help of others, specifically by meeting with a Christian counselor or therapist. Employing the help of such a professional can provide an outside perspective and help you sort out the pressures in your life. As one pastor shared:
One of the best things that I ever did for myself was see a therapist for three years I have been in this for almost 40 years. At some point, I just had a lot of stuff. I would often have my biggest breakthroughs driving home from my therapist’s office. (Sedlaceket al., 2014, p. 50)
We want to emphasize the importance of living every day in God’s grace. God demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt through Jesus Christ that He accepts you unconditionally and desires to work with you and through you, wherever you are. It is like taking a shower every day: you can get in the habit of daily taking a shower in God’s love, reminding yourself that while you are on a journey of growth and transformation, God accepts you and loves to work with you—just the way you are. This is an important foundation for being able to set the necessary boundaries and living within your limitations. A healthier, grace-oriented identity is key in battling the enemy’s accusations of “you’re not enough” or “you can never do enough to be worthy of love.” Keep in mind, boundaries are not just good for your schedule, but also for your heart and soul.
Spiritual Intentionality
Sedlacek et al. (2014) also found that being intentional about spiritual experiences—whether they occurred within the work context or on a personal level—was key to pastors maintaining spiritual health. Additionally, the research team suggests,
One simple intervention to encourage greater intentionality is for church leaders to regularly remind pastors . . . that their spiritual development is paramount. Pastors should specifically be encouraged to make personal time with God more important than sermon preparation or any other pastoral responsibility. (p. 108)
One way you can practice spiritual intentionality is to learn more about your spiritual niche or spiritual style (i.e., how you most naturally connect with God). It may help you to be more intentional and passionate about spending time with God.
Engaging in Enjoyable Aspects of Ministry
Pastors reported that they experienced enhanced spiritual wellness when they engaged in personally enjoyable aspects of the ministry. The enjoyable aspects included a variety of activities such as baptizing, providing Bible studies, evangelism, and chaplaincy (Sedlacek et al., 2014, p. 49). As one focus group participant put it: “When I’m baptizing, when I’m wet, when I’m preaching, when that canvas is snapping in the wind, that is when I’m alive! That’s when things are happening, when I’m standing up there preaching, that’s when I’m alive” (Sedlacek et al., 2014, PFG5). By using your spiritual gifts in ministry, you may also experience the joy God has for you as you bring Him glory. (You can learn more about the various spiritual styles and take a test to find your own spiritual style at https://3colorworld.org/en/etests/spirituality/summary/about.)
Experiencing Meaningful Personal Worship
Pastors also reported that personally meaningful worship experiences enhanced their spiritual lives (Sedlacek et al.,2014). This included praying (both silently and aloud), engaging with God’s Word (via reading, meditating on Scripture, or listening to an audio recording of the Bible), spending time in nature, seeking the Holy Spirit throughout the day, etc.
When I (Petr) was going through spiritually rough times running a center of influence in a secular European environment, God providentially brought a book on fasting to my attention (Franklin, 2008). I was asked to translate a three-week fasting journal, meaning that I could not merely scan through it then put it aside. I had been familiar with fasting since my teenage years, and I actually had done one-day fasting on regular basis, but this journal explained it on a whole different spiritual level, drawing from biblical stories and texts.
Before the translation was finished in January 2011, I went through a three-week fast to start the new year, and I have continued starting each new calendar year with this worshipful experience. For me, fasting has become a bodily/physical experience of unity with God, feasting on His presence and dwelling in intimacy with Him. The added value of this experience is that it allows God to manifest His power in ways He might not do otherwise.
Jesus Our Ultimate Example: Concluding Remarks
One doesn’t have to read too far into the Gospels to notice that Jesus had similar challenges to what pastors face today: everyone wanted time with Him and He—the incarnated Christ Himself—was limited by the 24-hour day. He once claimed, “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work” (John 9:4, NKJV).Amidst the incredible amount of work involved to achieve His mission, we see Jesus, on a regular basis, seeking the solitude and quietness of the early morning hours before the clam or of the crowd or any interaction with His disciples. Jesus modeled how to maintain a vibrant, spiritual life by regularly spending time with His Father in nature to receive a fresh anointing of His purpose.
In Mark 1, we see recorded a normal, hectic day in the ministry of Jesus. After a busy day of healing, He arose the next day before anyone else. The disciples were likely awakened by members of the crowd who were looking for Jesus, and a search party was dispatched. When Peter found Him in a desolate place (i.e., in nature), the coercing expectation of the crowd is evident in Peter’s anxious words,“Everyone is looking for You” (Mark 1:37, ESV). But Jesus was not fed by the fleeting but feel-good “need to be needed;” He remained fixed on the agenda He had received from His Father for that day. Jesus and His disciples then departed for the next town, where Jesus was led by His Father to preach.
We hope that this article has provided ideas that captured your heart and inspired you to cultivate your relationship with God. We hope and pray that the current and future generation of pastors will be more “intimately and passionately in love with Jesus Christ, more self-aware, less controlled by their unresolved issues, healthier in the way they relate to their families and congregations” (Sedlacek, 2022, p. 7).
Petr Činčala, PhD, associate professor of World Mission, is director of the Institute of Church Ministry, director of NCD America, director of Doctor of Missiology at Andrews University, and executive editor of the Journal of Applied Christian Leadership.
Craig Carr, DMin, is the ministerial director for the Mid-America Union Conference in Lincoln, Nebraska. He researches and presents on the interaction of emotional and spiritual maturity in pastoral ministry. The ultimate purpose of his work with pastors is summarized in this phrase: “Restore the joy of my vocation.”
References
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