Work-Related Psychological Wellbeing and Conservative Christian Belief Among Methodist Circuit Ministers in Britain: Distinguishing Between Emotional Exhaustion and Satisfaction in Ministry

Abstract

Drawing on data provided by 803 Methodist circuit ministers serving in Great Britain, the present study was designed to test the association between conservative Christian belief and work-related psychological wellbeing as operationalised by the balanced affect model proposed by the Francis Burnout Inventory. After taking into account the effects of personal factors, psychological factors, contextual factors, and experience factors, holding conservative Christian belief was associated with a higher level of positive affect (satisfaction in ministry) but independent of negative affect (emotional exhaustion in ministry).

God is in His Heaven, All’s Right With the World: Psychological Well-being and Belief in Divine Control During the Third COVID-19 Lockdown Among Anglican Clergy and Laity in England

“…Second, these findings are consistent with the way in which conservative Christian beliefs function in relation to the two components of the Francis Burnout Inventory, as presented by Francis, Haley, and McKenna (2022) . Drawing on data provided by 803 Methodist circuit ministers serving in Britain, they tested the association between conservative Christian beliefs and the two scales proposed by the Francis Burnout Inventory as described by Francis et al (2011) : the Emotional Exhaustion in Ministry Scale (negative affect) and the Satisfaction in Ministry Scale (positive affect).…”

Exploring the Connections between Confidence in the Digital/Online Future and Changes in Anglican Clergy Psychological Well-being during the Third Covid Lockdown in England during 2021

“…The practical insight from this theory is that, although it may be difficult to remove from clergy experience the factors that generate negative affect, good pastoral oversight can facilitate the development of factors that support positive affect. The validity of this theory has now been established in a series of studies among 744 clergy serving in the Presbyterian Church USA (Francis, Village, Robbins and Wulff, 2011), 155 Catholic priests serving in Italy , 95 Catholic priests and 61 Catholic religious sisters serving in Italy , 358 Anglican clergy serving in Wales (Village, Payne and Francis, 2018), 90 Anglican clergy serving in England (Francis, Laycock and Ratter, 2019), 287 Catholic priests serving in Italy (Francis Crea, and Laycock, 2021), and 803 Methodist ministers serving in Great Britain (Francis, Village and Haley, 2023).…”