Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Project Portfolio

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry (DMin)

Department

Seminary

First Advisor

Darcy Hansen, DMin

Second Advisor

Robin Pyles, DMin

Third Advisor

MaryKate Morse, PhD

Abstract

The Need, Problem, or Opportunity (NPO) that grounds this Project Portfolio is the widespread experience of personal loneliness and social isolation among pastors. While pastoral ministry is inherently relational, many clergy serve in emotionally demanding roles that limit their capacity to cultivate mutual, non-instrumental friendships, leaving them vulnerable to exhaustion, isolation, and diminished vocational sustainability.

Research conducted through collaborative design workshops, one-on-one interviews, surveys, and engagement with biblical, theological, and contemporary social research revealed that loneliness among pastors is not merely a social deficit but a spiritual and formational concern. Key insights include the distinction between loneliness and social isolation, the impact of rolebased relationships on clergy friendships, and the formative power of friendship when intentionally framed as a spiritual practice. The research further suggests that embodied, communal experiences are more effective in addressing pastoral loneliness than content-based or solitary interventions alone.

This project emerges from the author’s ministry context as a congregational pastor serving in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and is informed by personal experience of pastoral isolation as well as denominational engagement within the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina. While contextually rooted, the project is ecumenically applicable to pastors across diverse traditions.

The Doctoral Project is a retreat-centered intervention designed to cultivate spiritual friendship as a framework for pastoral formation. The three-day retreat integrates theological teaching, contemplative practices, solitude, and facilitated covenant groups organized around friendship with God, self, and others. To support sustained formation, the retreat is paired with a yearlong weekly devotional resource. Together, these elements offer a holistic and sustainable response to pastoral loneliness, equipping pastors to practice spiritual friendship as a means of resilience, renewal, and faithful ministry

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