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Clergy renewal grant works to prevent pastor burnout
Aaron Rosenblatt, Rapid City Journal
Clergy burnout by the numbers
90 percent work more than 50 hours a week
80 percent say the ministry affects their families negatively
75 percent report severe stress, worry, anger, depression, fear and alienation
60 percent say the ministry has negatively affected their ability to spread the gospel
57 percent say they would leave the ministry if they had another job
52 percent say the ministry is hazardous to their families well-being and health
45 percent of pastor spouses say physical, emotional and spiritual burnout is the biggest danger to their families
Source: "Pastors at Greater Risk," by H.B. London.
The Rev. Kathy Monson Lutes will spend her three-month, $50,000 sabbatical grant on the three Rs.
Not reading, 'riting and 'rithmatic, but reclaiming, renewing and refreshing.
Monson Lutes, pastor at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Rapid City for the past 10 years, won a National Clergy Renewal Program grant from the Lilly Endowment, and she expects to be gone from her congregation from June 1 through August for a "sabbatical in three movements."
In 2013, the Lilly Endowment awarded 147 recipients nearly $6.5 million to enable congregations to support their pastors for an extended time of renewal and reflection, allowing them time to step back from their busy lives and return with renewed energy for ministry.
Congregations in this round of grants are located in 38 states and the District of Columbia and represent 21 denominations, as well as nondenominational churches. They range in size from a megachurch with an annual budget of $18 million to one that has a budget of $105,000 with 55 at worship.
To begin her sabbatical, Monson Lutes and her family will travel to Norway for two weeks to reclaim their ancestral roots. "It's really just about being together in what I think is a sacred place where some of my people come from. My father would claim that I am 100 percent Norwegian. My Irish mother would take issue with that," Monson Lutes says.
The second phase of the sabbatical will involve the refreshing of relationships as she and her husband of 28 years, Rick, travel together throughout Europe. The luxury to have the time and the travel budget to see parts of Europe is a first for Monson Lutes. "The biggest trip we've ever taken was a camping trip to two national parks," she says. "This money is allowing us to do something we'd never imagined we'd be able to do. This feels like winning the lottery. And it is. For us, $50,000 is huge."
The last "movement" will be a month of spiritual refreshment spent by herself, possibly at the monastic community of Taize in France, on pilgrimage to the Isle of Iona in Scotland or as part of a community in Ireland.
"The absolute wonder about this grant is that they don't require a product," she says. "It's such a blessing to know that what the people who give away all this money really want is healthy clergy. That's what it's all about."
Ordained in 2003, the Episcopal rector is not professionally exhausted by the demanding career of pastoral work, but she knows many clergy who are or who have been. Too many of those have left the profession, and she credits her small, involved congregation with preventing clergy burnout for her.
"I would not consider myself 'burned out,' and the reason is that I have a congregation that really pays attention to wellness," she says.
She's accountable to them about overworking and time away from the office. "I am very clear that there is an expectation of wellness for myself, from them," she says.
Burnout is a vicious circle that involves both an "inflated sense of self" and unhealthy enabling by a parish, she says. Her church works hard to prevent it, and applying for the sabbatical grant is part of it. Up to $15,000 of the grant can be used to pay for substitute clergy during her absence and to develop ways to involve the congregation in the sabbatical, too.
Sadly, not all churches are so inclined, she says.
Clergy now suffer from obesity, hypertension and depression at rates higher than the average American, research shows. Too many are both unhealthy and unhappy. According to "Pastors at Greater Risk," a book by H.B. London, some 1,500 of them leave their job each month and 57 percent of them say they would leave if they had another option.
She knows well the demands clergy work places on families and the financial sacrifices the frugal lifestyle requires, but for Monson Lutes, the stress of pastoral work comes mostly from the relationships it demands. "Those relationships are the joy and the heartache of this work," she says. "You never just leave it at work. I carry that with me ... and you physically need a time away from it."
What some describe as "too much work and too little pay; too much stress and too little pray" — are the things that the Lilly grant is designed to prevent.
“Time and time again we hear that these renewal experiences are transformative for pastors, their families and their congregations,” says N. Clay Robbins, the Endowment’s president and CEO. “We intend for this program to enable pastors to live for a while at a different pace and in a new environment, in Sabbath time and space. Many pastors and their families return with a rich store of shared memories, having had large blocks of unbroken time together, uninterrupted by the 24-hour-a-day routine of the ministry.”
Many of the pastors will seek to regain spiritual vitality through the ancient Christian practice of walking as pilgrims in several countries — the path of Jesus in Israel, the path of the Exodus, some or all of the 500-mile Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James) in Spain, the missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul in Greece, Turkey and Italy — and making retreats in Benedictine monasteries, walking the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral, and living in sacred space on the Isle of Iona and other Celtic spiritual destinations.
As in years past, the arts, and physical fitness and wellness are high on the agenda for many of these pastors. Some hope to write, record and perform new music. Other plans include lessons in violin or guitar, painting, weaving and photography; writing and storytelling workshops; jazz festivals, music camp, the Barcelona Music Festival.
Another pastor wants to attend the Culinary Institute of America and then use those skills for healthy cooking.
Monson Lutes is one of several area pastors who have received the Lilly grant. Other past recipients in Rapid City include the Revs. Ted and Susan Huffman; the Rev. Jon Mapa and the Rev. Paul Sneve.
