Case Studies

Managing stress in the Ministry

Mark is a pastor in one of the independent churches. He has a wife and four young children and he leads a staff team of 10.

Mark describes himself as an innovative leader. He has built up the ministry of the church from a ‘sleepy’ congregation of around 100 13 years ago to a thriving centre for worship, youth work, social outreach and mission.

He used to take a day a week off, but with so many openings and so much to do he was no longer able to do this. He said his wife complained a lot and one of his children had started to behave badly at school. He believed that God’s strength would be sufficient for his needs but he felt ‘a bit overwhelmed’ and thought the work-life balance consultation was worth a try at InterHealth. Nothing to lose…
Mark used it to talk about his habit of over-working. He said he would discuss it with a trusted elder & take the situation into his prayers rather than ignoring it in the hope it would resolve by itself.

Mark later came for a follow-up consultation with his wife, which they used together to further their reassessment of lifestyle, already begun after the first appointment. Mark’s wife said:

“It’s a relief to be able to talk about it properly. We are completely committed to each other and to ministry but we couldn’t seem to sort things out. We’ve got a lot of talking to do but at least we’ve started!”.

Sustaining well-being for the ministry

Tina is a Team Vicar who trained for ordination after her children had left home. Now in her late 50’s she said she loves being in Ministry to which she had long felt a sense of call.

She described how her personal circumstances have changed in the last two years with the arrival of two grand children and her husband’s parents having to live apart as her mother-in-law had gone into residential care.

Tina was tearful as she described how painful she found it to see her mother-in-law with all her mobility difficulties and suffering from dementia. She was also tearful as she described her desire to see her grandchildren more regularly than she seemed to have time for.

The Work-life balance consultation explores the impact of the personal changes and Tina realised that, despite her work situation remaining stable and enjoyable, the time was ripe for making some adjustments.

“I thought I should be able to cope with everything’ she said. ‘I was surprised when we discussed the idea of planning in a quarterly quiet day of retreat. I hadn’t thought I could take time for myself but I’m going to book these days in as part of resourcing myself for ministry.”

She was going to talk things over with her husband and her Team Rector with the idea of sustaining herself for Ministry rather than apologising for not being as energetic and enthusiastic as she had been in the past!