Pastors
Pastoral/Clergy Health
Clergy health could be one of the most vital issues we have in the world. The greater the level of individual clergy health, the more effective pastors and clergy will be able to serve their congregations and communities with the message of hope, grace and love.
Here you’ll find resources to help you sustain yourself… in spirit, mind and body. The more effective you manage your stress and the healthier you are the better you’ll be able to serve the people in your congregations. This page will be a work in progress for a while as I develop and make available resources to help you stay healthy.
Disciplines of a Healthy Pastor
The following might be important practices or disciplines that a pastor should attend to to be healthy and effective:
- Take Frequent Short Sabbaticals
- Sustain Your Personal Relationship with God
- Pray
- Worship
- Read and Study the Bible for Personal Insight
- Maintain and Nourish Close Friendships
- Develop and Sustain Peer Support
- Maintain an Active Relationship with an Accountability Partner
- Monitor Your Balance Between Work and Your Personal Life
- Be Plugged in to a Group of Peers
- Establish & Adjust Priorities Based on Periodic Review of Your Values
- Set Clear Boundaries – Say “No” More Often
- Care for Your Body
- Eat Nutritiously
- Be Physically Active
- Get Adequate Rest and Sleep
- Receive Regular Physical Exams
This list is not complete and I encourage you to help me make this list more thorough. If you can suggest a discipline or practice that is vital to clergy health that’s not listed here, simply visit the Contact page and suggest it be added to the list here.
Emails of Encouragement
I feel led to minister to pastors as part of my calling. In that light, if you’d like to receive a monthly email of encouragement on matters of personal wellness geared towards pastors, chaplains and ministry leaders please let me know. See samples here and here.
“Your encouraging words were so timely after an exhaustive and heart-wrenching week… as you reminded me from the Word of God, my strength comes from the Lord.” Senior Pastor
Church Retreats
If you’d like me to minister to your staff, congregation or community with a workshop or retreat, please see information at the the Services page.
Army Chaplains
The following documents used during the Chief of Army Chaplains Senior Development Training Retreat are provided for downloading:
Purpose and Use of the Spiritual Fitness Assessment
Handout for Renewing the Mind and Keeping It Fit
Receive Monthly Email of Encouragement
Clergy Wellness Coaching
Wellness coaching is available to assist clergy with changing unhealthy behaviors.
Helpful Resources for Pastors and Clergy
A talk to help your congregation better understand how their faith might help their health
A book by G. Lloyd Rediger – A Call to Physical, Mental and Spiritual Fitness
From Pulpit and Pew by Bob Wells – Which Way to Clergy Health?
This site by Rev. John Marshall Crowe presents a practical ecclesiology for the ongoing journey toward healthy churches & clergy for a hurting world.
By Greg Sumii, Pastoral Care Specialist, California Southern Baptist Convention
My explanation of why this connection exists
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“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:29-31
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