Date of Award

2-20-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Department

Seminary

First Advisor

Darcy Hansen, DMin

Second Advisor

Jeney Park-Hearn, PhD

Third Advisor

MaryKate Morse, DMin

Abstract

The Perilous Role of the Pastorate in the American Church

Top-tier leadership in any ministry organization is, by and large, a dangerous endeavor in the American Church, with the role of pastor being the most dangerous. Peter Drucker, business, and management expert, states the four most challenging jobs in America are the following: President of the United States, hospital administrator, a university president, and a local church pastor.1

The Struggle Despite Seminary Training

Despite traditional seminary training pastors in non-denominational churches feel ill-equipped to cope with daily, seasonal and heartache stressors, leaving them wondering if they are accomplishing anything of measurable value.2 This leads to burnout and a resignation within their heart or resigning from the position altogether.

Building Resilience and Hope for Pastors

The intention is to examine causes of these stressors and what can be done about them so that pastors can build resilience and hope in their ensuing ministry. There will be an assortment of ways to process their pain and grief. This project and artifact aim to show different ways that pastors can effectively defuse and dispose of potentially explosive and hazardous emotional sensations in their heart, mind, and body. When a pastor knows how to stay on an emotionally healthy path, they can build greater resilience and resolve while serving in a relentlessly toxic church culture.

1 Monty Hale, By the Stream (Mustang, OK: Tate Publishing, 2014), 1.

2 “Pastoral ministry statistics,” Pastors are People Too, last modified 2016, https://pastorsarepeopletoo.org/statistics/. Reported from David Ross and Rick Blackmon’s workshop, “Soul Care for the Servants” of Fuller Institute of Church Growth research study in 1991 along with other surveys in 2005 and 2006.

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