Mental Health and Ministry

Often when we think about mental health challenges we forget to consider how the leaders of churches, ministries, businesses, and even countries may manage and address their mental health. Pastors and leaders are commonly put on pedestals (i.e. thought of as “better than the average person”) and therefore must be immune from emotional turmoil and personal trauma. This is obviously not true because pastors and all leaders are also just people who experience the same consequences of sin in the world as others. 

However, the expectation of them to be perfect can put pressure on ministry leaders to appear to be perfect, often ignoring and not addressing the consequences of trauma in their own lives – while dealing with the emotional stress of assisting others with their spiritual and mental health challenges. Let’s examine how mental health is a concern for ministry leaders (i.e. pastors, missionaries, and those in leadership positions in different ministry contexts) more closely. 

Why do ministry leaders need to manage their mental health?

It is imperative that ministry leaders manage their mental health and address any mental health challenges they may have because they can determine and affect the mental health status of those they lead. What is meant by this? 

Ministry leaders are (Franklin and Fong 2011, 408-410):

• trusted to define spiritual reality; 
• trusted to safeguard congregants’ heightened vulnerability;
• expected or allowed to serve without supervision or surveillance; 
• expected or allowed to serve as professional counselors, when not fully qualified; and
• allowed to define community relationship norms. 

They therefore carry a weighty responsibility for the well-being of others. 

Symptoms of leaders’ sub-optimal mental health

Select the information icons in this interactive graphic to read about symptoms that may indicate that ministry leaders need to pay attention more closely to how they are managing their mental health (Franklin and Fong 2011, 411).

How ministry leaders can manage their mental health

To help ministry leaders manage their mental health proactively and maintain optimum mental health, they should consider implementing the following measures:

• Have spiritual accountability, and prayer partners, and be open to having their own counselor. 
• Perform regular personal inventories of stressors (i.e. causes of stress) in their lives and reflect on how much time they spend on their ministry, with their family and friends, on hobbies etc. They should look to ensure there is a balance of time spent on these various pursuits. 
• Know and recognize the symptoms of burnout, anxiety, stress, and depression and take steps to address them.
• Take regular days off (i.e. sabbaths), personal retreats, and sabbaticals.
• Know and accept when professional help is needed to deal with mental health challenges.

Should a ministry leader find themselves in a position where the above guidance has not been followed effectively or they have experienced significant trauma, leading to physical, mental, emotional, spiritual (or even moral) breakdown, they should do the following:

• Confess and repent, preferably to a small team of accountability partners or ministry leadership.
• Submit to discipline guidelines (e.g. removal from roles and responsibilities in the ministry, counseling, time away) and reinstitute spiritual disciplines (e.g. prayer and journaling, regular meetings with a mentor, attendance at an established program).
• Take the time needed to heal and not rush back into ministry.
• Ensure that their family is involved in the process and also receives counseling and support.

Where relevant, the focus of the above activities should be on the restoration of fellowship with the Lord rather than with the ministry.