Clergy Wellness

"Clergy are often caught carrying the cross of United Methodist decline in ways that are both unfair and debilitating. This is not a recipe for success..." Patrick Scriven offers some reflections which may be helpful to local church leaders looking to support their pastoral leaders as they weather turbulent days together.

In her post for the Clergy Wellness Corner, Rev. Lara Bolger talks about the importance of finding support for the hard work of ministry. Especially "during this tumultuous time in the life of our denomination," she argues that clergy "can really hold each other up."

"Grief is a journey. I can’t just hammer away at it one day and expect it to be gone the next. It needs my attention." In a post for the Clergy Wellness Corner, Moscow First UMC Pastor Debbie Sperry shares how leaders must allow themselves to grieve as they help those they serve to do the same.

Rev. Susan Boegli, pastor of Battleground Community UMC, has been sober for ten months. In this post for the Clergy Wellness Corner, she shares how her journey to sobriety started last year on Good Friday, the fear she took on in stepping into the light, and the support she has received along the way.

"Why is chronic pain my superpower?" writes Rev. Jenny Smith, lead pastor at Marysville United Methodist Church. Smith explains that living with chronic pain has forced her to take seriously things like Sabbath and helpful boundaries. It has also given her empathy for many others who struggle in similar ways.

For the final installment of a 3-part series on burnout, Rev. Lisa Talbott offers four key strategies that have helped her to recover from a ministry "stall." While acknowledging that recovery can be a slow process, she argues that "burnout doe not get the last word."

By Sue Magrath | Sacred Mountain Ministries We all have it—that area of vulnerability, the Achilles heel which we hope will never catch up with us. But it...

For her latest wellness post, Sue Magrath intended to encourage clergy to "attend to their own spiritual Advent journey" but a call to serve as an interim lay person over the season is causing her to reevaluate and redevelop advice that is realistic.

The Formation committee of the PNW Board of Ordained Ministry is excited to announce a series of optional web-based clergy wellness workshops. The first workshop, 'Achieving a Healthy Body in an Unhealthy World' with Rev. Brad Beeman, will launch in January.

By Rev. Joy Martin, ordained deacon Imagine my surprise when an accomplished organizational development author and speaker once told me, "Your problem is that you...