Predicting the Level of Pastors’ Risk of Termination/Exit from the Church

Spencer, Jan; Winston, Bruce E.; Bocârnea, Mihai C.

doi:10.1007/s11089-011-0410-3

Cited by 20 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 18 publications

(18 reference statements)

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“…In addition, Spencer, Winston, and Bocarnea (2012) researched how compassion fatigue contributes to a high risk of pastoral termination/exit from the church. Pooler (2011) further explained how pastors create additional vulnerability to fatigue and burnout by striving to fulfill their perception of an ideal pastor:…”

Section: Pastors and Burnoutmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, pastors must support their parishioners with their personal problems such as death of loved ones, marital trouble and divorce, illness, loss of home, and loss of work. These heavy burdens are consistently carried by pastors on behalf of their peoplewith no respite (Spencer et al, 2012). In fact, most pastors are expected to care for their congregation like a shepherd would care for their flock.…”

Section: Pastors and Burnoutmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pastors can leave the ministry for various reasons. For example, some pastors depart their positions from ministry because of internal doubt or fatigue (Spencer et al, 2012). Others leave because of personality conflicts and political challenges from church members, contentious coworkers, or difficult board members.…”

Section: Pastors and Career Longevitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pastors also vacate their ministries because they do not experience a consistent sense of self-efficacy in their work, especially when faced with scenarios for which they have not been properly trained-such as, counseling the severely and persistently mentally ill (Marks, 2013). Still other pastors leave because of challenges such as continuous crises that face the congregation, such as death of members or loss of work (Sullender, 2010), marital and parental problems among church families (Marks, 2013), or fighting among church members (Spencer et al, 2012). Yet another set of difficulties that pastors face are community disasters such as natural disasters (Elkington, 2013) and school shootings (Swezey & Thorp, 2010).…”

Section: Pastors and Career Longevitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Analysis of Emotional Intelligence Training and Pastoral Job Satisfaction

West

2016

J Pastoral Care Counsel

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The purpose of this qualitative research was to determine whether Canadian pastors in the ministry may be inadequately prepared in skills of emotional intelligence (EI), and if this possible lack of preparation in EI negatively affects their job satisfaction. Twenty Canadian pastors were interviewed to determine which of the 18 EI competencies from Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee (2013) are utilized by pastors while serving in the ministry, and how the utilization of EI contributes to pastoral self-efficacy and job satisfaction. This study also researched the extent to which Bible colleges and seminaries in Canada and the U.S. offer EIfocused content by conducting a document analysis of college transcripts collected from the interviewed pastors. In addition, the corresponding course descriptions, syllabi, and academic catalogs from each of these institutions were analyzed to provide additional detail and context regarding the courses offered in each of these pastoral training programs. Next, five institutional interviews were conducted with key administrators from Bible colleges and seminaries to determine which of the EI competencies were offered in their coursework and their rationale for offering EI-focused content in their curriculum. The research demonstrated that all 18 of the EI competencies were relevant to Canadian pastors and the utilization of EI improved pastoral selfefficacy and corresponding job satisfaction. Further, this study revealed that Canadian pastors are inconsistently trained in Bible colleges and seminaries in the EI competencies. Several recommendations for policy and future research were made to facilitate the improvement of pastoral preparation programs and how they train pastors in the competencies of EI.

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Section: Pastors and Burnoutmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Pastors and Burnoutmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Pastors and Career Longevitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Pastors and Career Longevitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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An Analysis of Emotional Intelligence Training and Pastoral Job Satisfaction

West

2016

J Pastoral Care Counsel

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“…A common and reoccurring factor according to earlier studies, is the experienced high levels of pastoral role stress. Research in the USA conducted by Spencer, Winston, & Bocarnea (2012) found that two factors stood out; vision conflict and compassion fatigue. Spencer, (2010) who discovered vision conflict, defines this role stressor as "the disparity between a minister's positive anticipation regarding ministry involvement and the actual experience itself.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Role Stress – Experiences of Swedish Non-Lutheran Clergy

Rosendahl

2022

European Journal of Social Sciences

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Background: About fifty percent of Swedish Non-Lutheran Clergy leave the vocation before retirement resulting in huge personal, financial, psychological, emotional, spiritual and social costs. The factors behind this substantial flood out has scarcely been researched. From the multifaceted problematic aspects of pastoral work, the aim of this study was to explore the clergy’s experiences of work stressors with the focus on Role-stress. Method: A qualitative approach with 19 open ended interviews was used and the interview material underwent qualitative content analysis. Results: Multiple external role-senders together with the individual pastor’s experienced, internal expectations and demands, generated different types of Clergy role-categories that surfaced during the analysis. These roles were accompanied by several role-stressors as apparent with the roles Servants of men and Servants of God and the presence of Vision Conflict. Further the pastor as the Church’s ultimately responsible person is plagued by Role-ambiguity and Role-confusion, and as the Proven trustworthy administrator struggling with Role-conflict. Family-work and Work-family conflicts, especially for female pastors, contributed to Work overload, this consequence also effecting the male colleagues during the generic attempts to meet as many of the Church members’ expectations as possible. The accumulated Work overload, together with a lowered level of Work Satisfaction, boosted the Turnover intentions. Conclusions: Mutual succinct information between employer and employee, active continuous communication and refined and updated organizational structure need to be coordinated in order to lower the level of experienced role stress and thus reduce the present substantial number of Clergy leaving the vocation prematurely.

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