The Centre for Clergy Care and Congregational Health conducted the study Clergy Well-Being: Seeking Wholeness with Integrity in June 2003 under the guidance of Rev. Dr. Andrew Irvine. In addition to focus groups, the study examined responses from 338 clergy from the six major protestant denominations in Ontario: United, Anglican, Presbyterian, Evangelical Lutheran, the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec, and the Pentecostal Assemblies.
The report is available in the Current Research section of the Centre for Clergy Care and Congregational Health webpage: www.caringforclergy.ca.
- Ministers worked an average of 50 hours per week, but over 25 per cent worked in excess of 55 hours each week.
- In a 30-day period, almost 40 per cent of ministers took three or fewer days off.
- 80 per cent felt guilty if people saw them taking time off during the week.
- 78 per cent felt their position as a minister demanded perfection.
- 51 per cent indicated that they had suffered physically from stress-induced problems.
- 67 per cent said they sometimes projected job frustrations onto their families.
- 38 per cent sought the aid of a clinical councilor;
- 21 per cent a psychologist;
- 15 per cent a psychiatrist;
- 45 per cent the advice of a family doctor regarding stress and anxiety issues.
- 20 per cent had been diagnosed with an emotional condition;
- When asked to specify the condition, 16 per cent named depression.
- 62 per cent said they sometimes appeared outwardly happy while they were in emotional distress.
- 75 per cent were afraid to let their parishioners know how they really felt.
- Close to 49 per cent of ministers identified two or fewer close friends in their church or community.
- 60 per cent said evenings with friends usually involved 'church talk.'
- 55 per cent indicated that they sometimes feel very lonely.
- 81 per cent experienced a situation in which they required personal pastoral care in the past five years.
- Only 71 per cent sought and received such care.
- 40 per cent of ministers indicated that they had someone who was their personal pastor, but only 16 per cent indicated that they had a spiritual director.
- 80 per cent were sometimes jealous of the success of other ministers.
- 83 per cent believed ministry was a calling from God and the church.
- 91 per cent agreed that being a minister felt more like a job than a calling.
- 77 per cent felt more like CEOs than pastors.
- 83 per cent felt their churches wanted a CEO, not a pastor.
- 94 per cent said they read Scripture for sermon preparation, but it rarely spoke to them personally.
- 86 per cent prayed regularly with others but had little time for personal prayer.
- 71 per cent did not feel spiritually affected while leading worship.
- 89 per cent sometimes felt like they were simply going through a ritual when they led worship.
- 70 per cent felt unfulfilled in ministry.
- 33 per cent had considered leaving their denomination.
- 60 per cent indicated that they had at some time considered leaving ministry.
