There is a sad and consistent narrative that permeates the story of so many pastors. After dedicating their lives to advance the gospel and to serve the Bride of Christ, His church, so often the story ends in the tragedy of burnout and its debilitating effects and far reaching impacts on family, congregation, and community. Yet, there is a small group of resilient and enduring pastors who have somehow learned to grow from the difficulties and stress of ministry. How are they able to avert the negative and often detrimental effects of ministerial stress to experience such success and longevity in ministry? What are their stories? How do they perceive their roles and the stress of those roles? How have they learned to not only survive, but somehow, thrive? This study seeks to give a voice to their stories and to understand their self-perceptions. Several researchers have concluded that the occupation of pastor is especially prone to burnout. These same researchers cite varying contributors to this condition, such as time demands, unrealistic expectations, isolation, and loneliness. Even though debate exists surrounding the specific contributing factors and the level of their contribution, the results are clear in the research. Pastors’ lives become imbalanced and their spiritual growth stagnates. However, some pastors have demonstrated growth and longevity in a constant ministry context. Hence, they have seemingly developed and matured through the difficult experiences and occupational stressors that have left many of their colleagues defeated. This study sought to discover why some pastors are able not only to overcome these adverse and detrimental factors of stress and burnout, but also achieve both personal and professional growth in spite of them. This phenomenological qualitative study describes the experiences of twenty pastors who have experienced the phenomenon of growth and longevity in ministry despite occupational and personal stressors, and identifies commonalities of their perceptions of how they have dealt with stress and achieve success over an extended period of time in a constant ministry context. The pastors have ministered at one church for at least fifteen years. Each church has exhibited measurable growth under the leadership of each respective pastor during their tenure. The results of this study identified four common themes: Source of stressors, how these pastors identify and deal with their occupational stress, the impacts of stress on their personal lives, and their advice for young pastors from what they have learned over their long tenures in ministry. A common pattern among these veteran pastors is that over time they gained a new perspective and became more effective at coping with stress. They modified and adapted their behaviors, adopting several practices that are recommended in the broader literature on stress and burnout and the specific literature on religious clergy. These include: delegating and prioritizing responsibilities, seeking social support, taking time off, engaging in regular physical exercise, guarding family time and family vacations as well as recreational activities, and discipline in spiritual practices such as prayer, meditation, and worship.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology. Johannesburg, June, 1991. / This study investigates the coping style employed by people in the helping professions, who are experiencing the phenomenon known as Burnout. Burnout is conceptualized as one of the serious negative. sequelae of prolonged stress evolved by demanding occupational situations which involve work with people. Investigation is made of the hypothesis that the coping behaviours a person employs in response to stress will be influenced by degree of burnout reported. It was found that emotion focused coping is positively correlated with emotional exhaustion and depersonalization - burnout components. problem focused coping is positively correlated with a second coping style, that of seeking social support. / AC2017

Ministering in the face of HIV and AIDS has posed many challenges. The work of ministers before HIV and AIDS experienced many problems which resulted in ministry burnout. HIV and AIDS have increased the demand for ministers because of the sick, the dying and the grieving people. The increase number of funerals means that a minister conducts many funerals over the weekend and sometimes during the week. This is not the only task of the minister; there are other duties such as house visitation, administration matters, counseling, Sunday services, confirmations and teachings in the church. Furthermore, ministers are often most intensively involved with people in times of crisis and distress. This research deals with the ways ministers are coping or not coping with ministry burnout which may be a result of ministering to people suffering from HIV and those dying of AIDS. This study recognises that an understanding of the minister's problems, as well as helping them to cope, by all who are involved in the church as a vocational system is necessary in the face of HIV and AIDS. The major beneficiary of care and support to ministers will be pastoral ministry itself and the church. Interest in this study therefore stems from both academic and pastoral concerns. Academically, one would like to see the discipline of pastoral care making a scientific and academic contribution that is capable of helping ministers. As for the pastoral concern, one believes that this study and similar studies are ways by which ministry can be strengthened and supported. There is need to equip the church to observe, listen to and respond to ministers in pain more knowledgeably and sympathetically. The researcher endeavours to describe these phenomena accurately through narrative type descriptions, interviews and pastoral conversations. Furthermore, Rediger created a model for avoiding burnout called AIM, which has led to a creation of a model to cope with ministry burnout in the face of HIV and AIDS, which is AIMS: A-Awareness, 1- Impose, M-Management, S-Support. The model has been created in the face of the emotional involvement of ministers in HIV and AIDS / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.

Text in German / In dieser Forschungsarbeit wird die Führung von Mitarbeitern, die eine Burnout-Entwicklung erlebten, empirisch-theologisch untersucht, um herauszufinden, ob und welche Führungsprinzipien und -maßnahmen dazu dienen, eine Burnout-Entwicklung zu verhindern oder aufzuhalten. Als Grundlagen werden der Forschungsstand zu Burnout und burnoutpräventivem Führungsverhalten dargestellt und eine biblisch-theologische Betrachtung vorgenommen. Als Schwerpunkt wurden Führungskräfte christlicher Non-Profit-Organisationen interviewt, die dem Ring Missionarischer Jugendbewegungen angehören. Dem Forschungsansatz lagen vier Hypothesen zugrunde, die überprüft werden sollten. Das Ziel der Arbeit ist es, auf Grundlage der Ergebnisse, Führungskräfte in ihrer Personalführungsaufgabe mit dem Schwerpunkt Burnout-Prävention durch Empfehlungen zu unterstützen. Die qualitative Studie will einen Beitrag dazu leisten, dass dem Belastungszustand Burnout seitens der Führungskräfte fachlich kompetente Aufmerksamkeit zukommt und eine burnoutpräventive Führungsarbeit entwickelt wird. / This research investigates aspects of leading employees who have experienced burn-out. The aims of this theoretical and empirical research are to determine whether there are leadership styles that can prevent or stop burn-out and to establish principles to accomplish this. An overview of research to date concerning burnout and preventative measures of leaders is taken as point of departure, also reflecting biblical and theological aspects of these topics. The main research focus is on interviews with leaders from non-profit-organisations that belong to the Ring Missionarischer Jugendbewegungen (a German umbrella organisation for youth mission organisations). Four hypotheses are examined. Based on the results, the research aims to offer support to leaders who have human resource responsibilities and who wish to prevent burnout in their staff. This qualitative study also aims to create appropriate and professional awareness of the topic of burnout and its prevention by leaders and to serve as a basis for the development of a burnout-preventative leadership model. / Systematic Theology & Theological Ethics / M. Th. (Theological Ethics)

Text in German / In dieser Forschungsarbeit wird die Führung von Mitarbeitern, die eine Burnout-Entwicklung erlebten, empirisch-theologisch untersucht, um herauszufinden, ob und welche Führungsprinzipien und -maßnahmen dazu dienen, eine Burnout-Entwicklung zu verhindern oder aufzuhalten. Als Grundlagen werden der Forschungsstand zu Burnout und burnoutpräventivem Führungsverhalten dargestellt und eine biblisch-theologische Betrachtung vorgenommen. Als Schwerpunkt wurden Führungskräfte christlicher Non-Profit-Organisationen interviewt, die dem Ring Missionarischer Jugendbewegungen angehören. Dem Forschungsansatz lagen vier Hypothesen zugrunde, die überprüft werden sollten. Das Ziel der Arbeit ist es, auf Grundlage der Ergebnisse, Führungskräfte in ihrer Personalführungsaufgabe mit dem Schwerpunkt Burnout-Prävention durch Empfehlungen zu unterstützen. Die qualitative Studie will einen Beitrag dazu leisten, dass dem Belastungszustand Burnout seitens der Führungskräfte fachlich kompetente Aufmerksamkeit zukommt und eine burnoutpräventive Führungsarbeit entwickelt wird. / This research investigates aspects of leading employees who have experienced burn-out. The aims of this theoretical and empirical research are to determine whether there are leadership styles that can prevent or stop burn-out and to establish principles to accomplish this. An overview of research to date concerning burnout and preventative measures of leaders is taken as point of departure, also reflecting biblical and theological aspects of these topics. The main research focus is on interviews with leaders from non-profit-organisations that belong to the Ring Missionarischer Jugendbewegungen (a German umbrella organisation for youth mission organisations). Four hypotheses are examined. Based on the results, the research aims to offer support to leaders who have human resource responsibilities and who wish to prevent burnout in their staff. This qualitative study also aims to create appropriate and professional awareness of the topic of burnout and its prevention by leaders and to serve as a basis for the development of a burnout-preventative leadership model. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Theological Ethics)