I participated in the following survey this past year. I offer the summary here for your reading. I encourage you to keep me and all pastors in your prayers.
Richard Day Research (RDR) conducted an online quantitative survey of 1,006 clergy of the United Methodist Church to learn about church systems factors that may adversely affect clergy health. The objective was to identify the strongest predictors of health from among a wide range of potential variables.
Survey respondents answered approximately 150 questions about their health, personal background, spiritual practices, appointment history, career trajectory, congregational context and fit, work stresses, outlook on life, living and working conditions, and personal finances.
The survey data identified thirteen key factors that are highly correlated with health and that differentiate those who are healthy from those who are unhealthy. The absence of risk factors has a positive association with health.
- Personal centeredness: Risk factors include feeling a lack of control over one’s life; ruminating about the past; difficulty experiencing the presence of God.
- Eating habits with work that often involves food: Risk factors include struggling to maintain a healthy diet with food available at church meetings, social gatherings and house calls.
- Work-life balance: Risk factors include having difficulty balancing multiple roles;
feeling guilty taking time to exercise; avoiding health care because of time demands; struggling to achieve overall work-life balance.
- Job satisfaction: Risk factors include feeling dissatisfied with one’s appointments; feeling isolated at work; feeling disappointed with ministry; wishing for a way to exit the system.
- Personal finances: Risk factors include high debt; low income; few assets; little to no personal savings.
- Outside interests, social life and friends: Risk factors include a lack of hobbies, outside interests and/or participation in group activities for personal renewal; having few friends or people with whom one can share personal issues; feeling detached from one’s community.
- Relationship with congregation: Risk factors include feeling judged rather than supported; feeling the congregation’s expectations are too high or do not match one’s own beliefs about the appropriate pastoral role; feeling the congregation desires a pastor with a different leadership style; avoiding relationships with congregation members so as to avoid improprieties; avoiding health care for fear that parishioners might find out.
- Stressors of the appointment process: Risk factors include feeling stressed by the appointment process; feeling reluctant to talk to one’s DS because of the power he or she holds over appointments; feeling resentful about being paid less than non-clergy in similar professions.
- Marital and family satisfaction: Among clergy with families, risk factors include low marital satisfaction; low appointment satisfaction among spouses and/or children.
- Existential burdens of ministry: Risk factors include feeling obligated to carry the weight of others’ emotional and spiritual burdens; being overwhelmed by the needs of others and the sheer importance of the issues to be addressed in ministry; feeling expected to solve unsolvable mysteries.
- Living authentically: Risk factors include feeling unable to be one’s “authentic self”; failing to live according to deeply-held personal values and beliefs.
- Education and preparation for ministry: Risk factors include feeling unprepared by seminary for the everyday responsibilities of ministry; feeling one lacks the skills and training necessary to excel at pastoral duties.
- Appointment changes and relocation: Risk factors include more frequent appointment changes; more frequent long-distance moves.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
Ok, I admit it! Its technically Tuesday when I wrote this ( 12:03 am), but in all of the hustle and bustle of trying to get ready to go away......you know how it goes. Best laid plans sometimes go off course.
So let me just say, I hope you have fun eating turkey and stuffing this week!
I know I will - well sort of - no stuffing, no cornbread, no pie, no potatoes... I think there is a lettuce least and maybe a small piece of turkey with my name on it. Being healthy is hard work!
BTW, make sure to take time and say thanks for all the blessings that have come your way - even those that seem like anything but, I'm sure in the end God will use for Good.
So let me just say, I hope you have fun eating turkey and stuffing this week!
I know I will - well sort of - no stuffing, no cornbread, no pie, no potatoes... I think there is a lettuce least and maybe a small piece of turkey with my name on it. Being healthy is hard work!
BTW, make sure to take time and say thanks for all the blessings that have come your way - even those that seem like anything but, I'm sure in the end God will use for Good.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Psalm 55 sometimes you feel like running...
Pslam 55 ( The Message)
1-3 Open your ears, God, to my prayer;
don't pretend you don't hear me knocking.
Come close and whisper your answer.
I really need you.
16-19 I call to God;
GOD will help me.
At dusk, dawn, and noon I sigh
deep sighs—he hears, he rescues.
My life is well and whole, secure
in the middle of danger
22-23 Pile your troubles on GOD's shoulders—
he'll carry your load, he'll help you out.
He'll never let good people go topple into ruin.
And I trust in you.
Sometimes in life you just seem to feel like running, and I dont mean in a helathy way! Life seems to pile on top of you, weighing you down with all the diffcuties that it can bring to bear.
Wetehr its a child who is having diffcultes, a spouse who is hurtings, bills that are pilling up or even a job that just seems filled with stress. No matter what is hapeening today, trust God! Remember that God can see you through!
1-3 Open your ears, God, to my prayer;
don't pretend you don't hear me knocking.
Come close and whisper your answer.
I really need you.
16-19 I call to God;
GOD will help me.
At dusk, dawn, and noon I sigh
deep sighs—he hears, he rescues.
My life is well and whole, secure
in the middle of danger
22-23 Pile your troubles on GOD's shoulders—
he'll carry your load, he'll help you out.
He'll never let good people go topple into ruin.
And I trust in you.
Sometimes in life you just seem to feel like running, and I dont mean in a helathy way! Life seems to pile on top of you, weighing you down with all the diffcuties that it can bring to bear.
Wetehr its a child who is having diffcultes, a spouse who is hurtings, bills that are pilling up or even a job that just seems filled with stress. No matter what is hapeening today, trust God! Remember that God can see you through!
Monday, November 9, 2009
Bonus Post: Fall Bazaar!
The Fall Bazaar was a great success! More pictures coming to a website near you!
Ahh, Numbers!
It's amazing to me how numbers can affect a person's life.
Whether its getting on the bathroom scale in the morning ( no - I'm not going to tell you what it said - but I did lose this week), or hearing from the doctor that your total cholesterol is only 91 ( yes - 91 - not 191), numbers have a way of effecting our life at an emotional, physically even spiritual level.
If the blood test or the scale had said something, "bad" It most likely would have put my day into a tail spin - emotional I would have been a wreck. Spiritually, I would have felt weighed down and burden by what I had heard. Physically, my head would have hurt, my body would have ached and my heart would have felt like it was breaking.
It's sort of like seeing red lights in your rear view mirror on the highway - numbers have a way of suddenly, taking on a new meaning.
The amazing thing to remember is that no matter what numbers are bothering you: your weight, your blood pressure, your finances or even the number of things ion your To Do list; we have a God who can overcome.
Ours is a God of abundance. Ours is God who seeks to give and give.
We should never underestimate what God would do for us. We should never doubt that it is in Gods ability and heart to give to us enormous blessings.
We should always remember that God can take the chaos that numbers seem to create in the midst of our life and turn them into unlooked for and unplanned blessings.
May all your numbers bring you blessings!
Pastor Vic
Whether its getting on the bathroom scale in the morning ( no - I'm not going to tell you what it said - but I did lose this week), or hearing from the doctor that your total cholesterol is only 91 ( yes - 91 - not 191), numbers have a way of effecting our life at an emotional, physically even spiritual level.
If the blood test or the scale had said something, "bad" It most likely would have put my day into a tail spin - emotional I would have been a wreck. Spiritually, I would have felt weighed down and burden by what I had heard. Physically, my head would have hurt, my body would have ached and my heart would have felt like it was breaking.
It's sort of like seeing red lights in your rear view mirror on the highway - numbers have a way of suddenly, taking on a new meaning.
The amazing thing to remember is that no matter what numbers are bothering you: your weight, your blood pressure, your finances or even the number of things ion your To Do list; we have a God who can overcome.
Ours is a God of abundance. Ours is God who seeks to give and give.
We should never underestimate what God would do for us. We should never doubt that it is in Gods ability and heart to give to us enormous blessings.
We should always remember that God can take the chaos that numbers seem to create in the midst of our life and turn them into unlooked for and unplanned blessings.
May all your numbers bring you blessings!
Pastor Vic
Monday, November 2, 2009
Where Do Go From Here?
The following come from the Re-Think Church web site - a part of our UMC denomination. So what do you think? Can we move beyond our pews? Can we truly be "unbound and outbound" in how we live for God? Will we be a part of the Spirits movement to make a difference in the world? Can we Re-Think our church and become all that God wants us to be?Blessings,
Pastor Vic
Does your welcome extend beyond the doors of your church? Does church only happen on Sundays?
We can no longer wait for the unchurched to find us. We must prepare to receive others where they are and help them feel accepted through authentic caring and kindness that anticipates their needs. Our neighborhoods are not just down the street, but around the world.
Seekers will find welcome messages on our social networks, aired on our media and carried by our missionaries. Welcoming others is just part of who we are as Christians, a gift we offer to others with no strings attached. Together we can open hearts, open minds and open doors because we are the people of The United Methodist Church.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Troubling Moment.
Today I found myself out running an errand at a local store. While there I happened to be next to a young man and his mom (?). He was about 16 or 17 and was looking through the clothes in the same area as me.
While browsing he was keeping up a constant stream of comments about life, the clothes he was being asked to look at and just about everything else under the sun. I won't repeat what he said, it really wasn't for public consumption.
What I found most interesting about this even was my own reaction. When it first occurred I was ready to chalk it up as another example of a "young punk" who was most likely going to end up on the six o'clock news with a wanted sign under his picture. I was bothered by what he was saying and how he was acting. I felt like saying somethings, but frankly was unsure of what would happen next. so I just grit my teeth and moved on.
Later in the the day as I had time to to sit with what I had experienced and what I had thought while it was occurring it gave me pause to think. Yes, what the boy had done was inappropriate, but then again so was my reaction.
I have no idea what this young mans life was like. I have no idea what burdens or troubles he may have. I have no idea what role models or mentors may be in his life. I have no idea what may have just occurred in his life to make home feel that way he did.
Yet, here I was, ready to convict him and throw away the key. I wonder is that what Jesus would have done? Would he have condemned him or offer him a hand of friendship? As a disciple of Jesus, shouldn't I be willing to reach out, no matter what the situation or how difficult it might be.
Lord, forgive. Help me to be faithful even when it is difficult. Help me to see past the outside and look inward. Help me to look at others with the same eyes of love that I believe you look at me.
While browsing he was keeping up a constant stream of comments about life, the clothes he was being asked to look at and just about everything else under the sun. I won't repeat what he said, it really wasn't for public consumption.
What I found most interesting about this even was my own reaction. When it first occurred I was ready to chalk it up as another example of a "young punk" who was most likely going to end up on the six o'clock news with a wanted sign under his picture. I was bothered by what he was saying and how he was acting. I felt like saying somethings, but frankly was unsure of what would happen next. so I just grit my teeth and moved on.
Later in the the day as I had time to to sit with what I had experienced and what I had thought while it was occurring it gave me pause to think. Yes, what the boy had done was inappropriate, but then again so was my reaction.
I have no idea what this young mans life was like. I have no idea what burdens or troubles he may have. I have no idea what role models or mentors may be in his life. I have no idea what may have just occurred in his life to make home feel that way he did.
Yet, here I was, ready to convict him and throw away the key. I wonder is that what Jesus would have done? Would he have condemned him or offer him a hand of friendship? As a disciple of Jesus, shouldn't I be willing to reach out, no matter what the situation or how difficult it might be.
Lord, forgive. Help me to be faithful even when it is difficult. Help me to see past the outside and look inward. Help me to look at others with the same eyes of love that I believe you look at me.
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