A national network of people caring for pastors so they can share ideas, support, mentoring, resources and prayer was set up after a Caregivers Conference in Australia held at the end of January at Whitley College. Delegates included 38 people from all over Australia and from six denominations, plus a wide variety of para-church ministries.The purpose of the conference was to gather together people who were caring for pastors, their partners and families in counselling/crisis situations so there might be an opportunity to unpack some of the issues caregivers are facing as they minister to pastors. Alongside that was the opportunity to network, to share ideas and resources and to pray for each other.

The conference resulted from a visit made by the Rev Geoff Rowse, our Eastern Area Superintendent, to a Caregivers Forum in Colorado Springs, USA, in 1997. On his return he talked with the Baptist Union of Victoria Ministry Team and Rowland Croucher from John Mark Ministries and the conference was planned for early 1999.

What has been learnt?

The conference began by focusing on what we can learn from the research that has been carried out over recent years. This was shared by Philip Hughes of the Christian Research Association and Peter Kaldor who heads up the National Church Life Survey.

• Thematerial highlighted some key factors:
• Dilemmas facing clergy at the end of the 20th century
• The dilemma of trying to be pastor and prophet, to care and to challenge.
• The dilemma of trying to be a friend and a professional.
• The dilemma of trying to be both subject centred ie producing sermons, passing on the traditions, sharing the sacraments and being people centred.
• The dilemma of being very human yet bearers of the divine.

Issues for pastors in Australia

• 1/5 of all pastors' families say that they are negatively affected by their ministry.
• Many shared they were poorly trained/equipped for ministry eg 45% said they were poorly equipped for mission and 63% said they were poorly equipped for rural ministry.
• 15% said they were burnt out and 55% said they were on the borderline of burnout.Some snapshots of the Australian church and people (l996 NCLS)
• 70% of Aussie non-Christians said they have attended a religious service of some kind in the past year.
• 55% of Australian churches are stable, 18% declining, 24% are growing 38% said they had high levels of newcomers
• There are a large number of people just drifting out of the church eg 15% of Uniting Church people drifted away from their church between 1991 and 1996 and 7% of Baptists and 27% of Pentecostals.
• The number of people who switch churches is also significant eg 19% of Baptists switched to other denominations and 19% came from other churches to Baptists while 27% switched to Pentecostal churches and 8% of Pentecostals went to other churches

The characteristics of growing churches:

• a sense of vision or direction
• a focus of those beyond the church
• people being invited to church
• empowering leadership
• the young being looked after
• contemporary worship
• a sense of community
• a lively faith
• people were moved towards commitment
• new congregations being started and new services

Characteristics of leaders that are keys for growth. The age of the minister and how long they have been in a church has little bearing on growth. Effective leaders have an outward focus, a vision for the future, an ability to achieve goals, they inspire people, they listen to attender's ideas and they put a high priority on growing people's gifts.

So who wants to be a pastor? It is very difficult to minister today amid the enormous changes going on and with many different expectations as to what a pastor is to do.

25 key issues

Rowland Croucher then facilitated a session where the group identified the 25 issues they perceived to be the key ones in their ministry with pastors. Some of the causes of those issues were identified and possible solutions explored.

The issues included: low self esteem, finding a source of help, lack of boundaries, lack of interpersonal skills, pastors' neglect of their own spirit, isolation and loneliness, burnout, lack of 'success', handling of conflict/confrontation, anxiety, inability to enjoy the whole of life and to take 'Sabbath', pain overload, fulfilling expected roles, anger, guilt, depression, sexuality issues, grief and loss not worked through, spouse issues.

Bishop Arthur Jones, the Bishop of Gippsland, shared in a session which many felt was the highlight of the conference where he reflected, in both a humble and humorous way, on life and ministry. He reflected on some keys to his ministry:

I listen hard to people.

I get to know people's histories.

I rejoice with people in their achievements.

I affirm people.

I keep sitting with people.

He shared the importance of having a 'Rule of life' to live and minister by and said if we didn't have a rule of life we would exist rather than living. For him that included:

I will listen to people compassionately this day

I will practice the presence of God this day

I won't do anything against my conscience this day

I will say a few prayers morning and evening this day

I will read the scriptures this day

Spirituality and mentoring

Jill Manton and John Mallison shared in sessions on spirituality and mentoring as keys for ministers.

Jill opened up the Biblical understanding of 'Sabbath taking' for ministers and shared how in the Bible the Sabbath highlighted the Celebration of Creation, Liberation of God, Resurrection of Jesus and that as we take seriously building into our lives as ministers the rhythm of the Sabbath we come face to face with the wonder of the unconditional love of God and are able to celebrate Him. She also unpacked some of the ways ministers can live this out recognising that it is still very difficult to do in an activist and performance-oriented society and church.

John asked us to reflect on the people who had significant influence on our lives and the characteristics of those people and outlined some of the keys for mentoring. His new book entitled, Mentoring to develop disciples and leaders, is now available.

Sexual and ethical issues

Greg and Mereyem Brown, who are full-time counsellors in Queensland, led a very significant session on sexual and ethical issues, starting with a specific case study to highlight the issues. They shared some of the causes as they saw them of the problems facing clergy in areas of sexual misconduct and ethical impropriety:

Inadequate approach to sexuality generally within the church.

Lack of ethical culture in the church especially in the areas of intellectual property issues, due process, natural justice, conflict of interest, confidentiality-related issues, abuse and misuse of power, lack of ethical sensitivity in ministers (lack of ability to recognise, understand, reflect upon and resolve ethical dilemmas)

Reluctance/inability/lack of mechanisms for (especially male) cIergy to discuss their sexual journey and concerns.

Role issues:

relative autonomy and subsequent lack of accountability, blurring of emotional/relational boundaries, draining nature of ministry which draws clergy away from family and spouse (where intimacy needs can be properly met), content of pastoral care often related to sexual issues, context of caregiving (client's home/deserted church building often leads to boundaries being trangressed.

Personality issues:

sexually dysfunctional people drawn to ministry, need some clergy with a particular mix of personality type, have to present as always being competent, not wanting to refer, unwilling to seek help for self or others, resistant to peer accountability and professional supervision.

Inadequate ethics training during preparation for ministry so poor understanding of the dynamics of transference, lack of awareness of limits to their competence as counsellors, problems of lack of professional distancing, lack of appreciation re the dynamics and effects of power and lack of ability to maintain professional boundaries. They shared also the need for every clergy person to have a personal code of ethics and for help for the clergy to develop such a code.

Stress and burnout

Rowland Croucher led this session. He began by outlining with group input the classical statements re pastors and burn out. eg need to take a day off, four weeks' annual leave, understand your personality, understand the output/input ratio emotionally, have a hobby, have fun, sleep well, have a good diet, have a mentor but these only address the symptoms not the causes. Stress has a lot to do with who we are. Stress and burnout is more a function of the way we were nurtured as children and teenagers. Most men do not experience the strength and tenderness of a father and the time needed with their fathers to grow to be whole men. As a result many male pastors do not function well as pastors being driven by the need for affirmation, the need to do better/to succeed in their church than their peers are doing ie numbers, finance, buildings, programs.

The result when mid life crises come is that they realise that affirmation doesn't feed their souls only their regrets and so burnout and stress take their hold.

The final session of the conference was given over to reflecting on what all we had shared said about the training of pastors.The evaluation of the conference showed the overwhelming support for future conferences probably annually.

Geoff Rowse