Besides looking out for antagonists in the church, narcissists in the pulpit, or spiritual abuse, the leadership needs to ensure that the church is a safe environment for the staff to work in. Recent surveys have determined that church workers experience significantly higher levels of stress than other professions. Approximately 1400 ministry leaders experience burn out and leave the ministry each month in the USA. Working in a church will always be somewhat stressful—any job that has high contact with members, their wishes and demands will see the shadier side at times. But putting the everyday people issues aside that are a number of things which need to be taken into consideration to make sure that people do not burn out of ministry, or get destroyed by adverse stress.

There are two kinds of stress—positive and negative. Positive stress (or eustress) will be a result of competent management and mature leadership. People are challenged to produce and achieve, but everyone works together and everyone is valued and supported. Positive stress enhances well-being and can be harnessed to enhance performance and fuel achievement. This kind of stress is good and healthy. Negative stress (or distress) is the result of a unhealthy work environment. Negative stress is also often typified by a lack of control over conditions at work. Unclear expectations, and unclear authority lines cause great confusion. Lack of empowerment to accomplish what is expected can have disastrous effects. For others it may be a bullying climate where threat, coercion or fear substitute for non-existent management skills. Employees may have to work twice as hard to achieve half as much to compensate for the dysfunctional and inefficient leadership. Negative stress diminishes quality of life and causes injury to health resulting in the symptoms of ill-health. When people use the word "stress" on its own, they usually mean "negative stress".

Let me first talk about what stress can do to a person’s health, and then talk about what things cause stress for church staff. It has been estimated that up to 80% of all physical illness is stress-related (Not a few doctors would maintain that it’s 90%). Many believe that stress is our #1 health problem in western society. Stress effects our metabolism in such a way that we function in a state of hyper-exertion. When we experience stress the hypothalamus gland in the brain is stimulated, this then acts on all the other glands in the body. The hypothalamus, sends messages to the pituitary gland, which in turn sends chemical messages to the nervous system and the adrenal glands which says that something is not right and needs urgent attention. The adrenal glands produce stress hormones, which severely tax the body's resources and can overload the mind's ability to cope. Once the stress response is activated, the body's energy is diverted to where it is needed, thus, heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate increase. All non-essential body functions are temporarily shut down or operate at reduced levels; these include digestion, growth, sexual systems (menstrual cycle, libido, testosterone production), immune system, storage of energy as fat, etc. In response to threat, glucose, proteins and fats are rapidly released from storage (in muscles, fat cells and liver) and energy becomes abundantly available to those muscles which will help you fight the danger or run away from it. Chemicals are released to help blood clot faster. In extreme cases bowels and bladder will spontaneously evacuate to lighten the load. Continued stress over a period of time causes stress hormone substances to continually to be produced. This can cause chronic ailments such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, a reduced immune system, depression, allergies and other health problems. Many degenerative diseases such as high blood pressure, ulcers, elevated cholesterol levels, heart disease, digestive disorders, sexual difficulties, and elevated sugar metabolism are precipitated by prolonged stress. One of every five healthy people respond to stress in a manner destructive to their cardiovascular system. Stress causes cholesterol levels to increase as much as, and sometimes more than, dietary habits do. High cholesterol factors heavily in the killers stroke and heart disease.

“Workplace stresses can double the rate of death from heart disease, according to a 2002 study of 812 healthy employees. High demands, low control, low job security and few career opportunities contributed to the overall stress measured in the study. ( Kivimäki, M. et al. (2002) Work stress and risk of cardiovascular mortality: prospective cohort study of industrial employees. British Medical Journal, 325, 857-860)

“One study found that workers who had little control over their jobs were up to 50 percent more likely to die during a period of five to 10 years than workers who had high-stress jobs but more decision-making responsibilities. (Amick III, B.C. et al. (2002) Relationship between all-cause mortality and cumulative working life course psychosocial and physical exposures in the United States labor market from 1968 to 1992. Psychosomatic Medicine, 64, 370-381.)

 

So what causes stress? Particularly what causes stress in the church, and what can the leadership do to ensure that the work environment is save for church-workers? Lets look at the most common factors of stress:

Lack of a clear job descriptions and defined chain of command. The less clear it is what your job is or what roles you are to play, the more stress you will experience at work. Without clear job descriptions, a pastor or church worker could spend days or weeks, doing what they think they have been called to do, and find out later that no-one in the church cares, or that leadership is opposed to what they are doing. Or they may be asked to perform certain tasks to only find out that others are opposed to those tasks being performed. There will even be times when two different people are working on the same things, because they thought it was their responsibility, and another thought it was theirs. Who calls the shots—the board?, the elders?, the assembly?, the pastor?, a leadership team? Who is responsible for what? These things must be clarified and understood. The clearer it is, the less stress that will be experienced by all involved. As we talked about in the chapter of church governance, the clearer the authority lines are, and what each person’s responsibilities are, the smoother things will go when problems and challenges arise.

Lack of empowerment. The worst scenario is heavy responsibilities with no authority or decision making discretion. This combination has been proven to be a key factor in the development of cardiovascular disorders as well as contributing to many other physical and mental problems.

“Over the last number of years, a new model of job stress developed by Robert Karasek , has highlighted two key elements of job stress that has been supported by a growing body of evidence. Karasek's "job strain" model states that the greatest risk to physical and mental health from stress occurs to workers facing high psychological workload demands or pressures combined with low control or decision latitude in meeting those demands. Job demands are defined by questions such as "working very fast," "working very hard," and not "enough time to get the job done. Job decision latitude is defined as both the ability to use skills on the job and the decision-making authority available to the worker.”

“Lack of control over work, the work place, and employment status have been identified both as sources of stress and as a critical health risk for some workers. Employees who are unable to exert control over their lives at work are more likely to experience work stress and are therefore more likely to have impaired health (see Sutton & Kahn, 1984, for a review, and Sauter et al., 1989). Many studies have found that heavy job demand, and low control, or decreased decision latitude lead to job dissatisfaction, mental strain, and cardiovascular disease.” (Eric Digest– Stress in the Workplace)

The authority and ability to get the job done, must be proportional to the expectations of the job. There is probably nothing more frustrating, than having expectations to accomplishing certain tasks, and not having authority to utilize the resources that are needed to complete the task. Knowing what needs to be done to reach the goal, but having to always ask permission, or fight for resources can drive a person to either despair, or anger. Both of these responses reinforced over time, are detrimental to health. Expectations, without the decision making ability to get the job done, may be the greatest causes of stress in the church. This will be particularly true for the driven, type A individual, who is focused continually on getting to the goal, but is blocked or frustrated, and feels out of control. Continually having to ask permission for every aspects of the job, exasperates and wastes precious time. The role of church leadership, particularly that of pastor/teacher, is to equip and empower the saints for the work of the ministry (Eph 4:11-15 ). That means to aid a person in discovering their spiritual gifting and passions for ministry, giving them the tools and training to reach out in ministry, and then give them their God-given authority and responsibility to get the job done within a clear framework of accountability.

Inability to influence decision making (powerlessness). A person needs to feel in control of their own job and the things that impact upon it. Feeling powerless to control ones own career places undue continual stress upon staff.

Lack of feedback and support. There must be feedback by those with appropriate authority as to “how am I doing?” Not knowing if people are pleased or not; not knowing if you are doing the right things or not; not knowing if the rug is going to pulled out or not…. This uncertainty is stressful. It is the responsibility of church leadership to provide appropriate feedback to the senior pastor, and make sure that he is doing the same for the staff and key leadership in the church. There must be recognition for a job well done—that will go a long way in relieving stress on the job. There must be a sense of job security, and the sense that a job done well will be rewarded.

Frequent clashes with superiors. Whenever there is a clash of values in the workplace there will be tension. I have observed first hand how a mismatch between a pastors values and that of the church’s staff and members caused continual, almost daily conflict between the pastor and the staff and other leadership. Unfortunately those who work most closely with the conflicted individual will experience the most stress. Fighting unnecessary battles over and over again is very destructive to emotional health.

Bullying. If there is any form of spiritual abuse occurring in the church, you can be sure that there is also bullying going on. If the abuser is the pastor, you can count on the staff being bullied if they do not meekly go along with all that is asked of them. Working with a bully is extremely toxic. It gets to the point that even the prospect of going to work, or the thought or sound of the bully approaching immediately activates the stress response, but fighting or flight are both inappropriate. Long range the negative effects of being bullied are disastrous.

“With bullying, the injury is caused by an accumulation of small events rather than one major event. The related diagnosis of Prolonged Duress Stress Disorder (PDSD, which is PTSD over time) may be more appropriate. However, whereas PTSD is in DSM-IV, PDSD is not - yet. PDSD, or Complex PTSD as it is now becoming known, is a more appropriate diagnosis for people who experience distressing events every day, such as the emergency services (eg fire, ambulance and police officers etc), as well as those in abuse situations.”

The effects of working with a bona-fide narcissist can also produce the same PTSD/PDSD effects if a staff member is trying to protect the church from the narcissist. Sort of like trying to hold their thumb in the dike forever. Bully or narcissist, whenever a staff member begins to dread contact with another staff member or the pastor, something must be done to alleviate the situation.

No place to voice complaints. After a stroke brought on by a couple of years of high stress working in a church, a lady was asked by her doctor about where she worked that she would be under such stress. “In a church,” she replied. “Oh, that explains it,” he said. “ That’s the worst! Who do you complain to, when the pastor is your boss? No-one right?” Having an outlet is critical. The church must have in place a number of critical processes—1. Outside resource people for the staff to talk to about problems. 2. A proper grievance and dispute resolution. 3. Competent and gifted intercessors that each staff person has uplifting them in prayer. These are discussed elsewhere in this book.

Lack of understanding/caring leadership. The chapter on narcissism in the pulpit describes the apex of uncaring leadership—but uncaring leadership in any form is destructive and stressful. Without agape love everything becomes useless ( 1 Corinthians 13).

Excess expectations and overly long work hours. An unbalanced life eventually crashes. Unfortunately church workers can have so many expectations that they begin to work longer and longer hours. It is the responsibility of church leadership to make sure the pastor maintains balance, and that he is ensuring that the rest of the staff is doing the same. Proper boundaries need to be encouraged for everyone. Check if staff are having to take work home with them, or if they are having to put in overtime to get the job done. If either are the case there is a problem.

Inadequate time to complete tasks to personal standards or to the standards of a perfectionist pastor. The height of this will again be evidenced in working for the narcissists, particularly as they continually provide double messages to their staff. Things like—”everything must be done with excellence,” with you shouldn’t spend so much time on those same tasks.” Take for example a church secretary whose responsibility it was to produce an excellent, error free bulletin every Sunday—each week should would meticulously work on the bulletin, checking it over and over for mistakes (even taking it home) and then submit it to the pastor for his approval and checking. Each week he would give it back saying it was just fine, but almost every Monday he would complain about all the mistakes made, even the pettiest of details. When confronted by another staff person, he responded, “Oh I never check it over the first time. I enjoy finding the mistakes later after it is printed, and then pointing them out.” How much stress do you think that secretary endures in that one area of her job alone? It it behoves church leadership to ensure that staff has a place to voice their concerns about this sort of thing, and that systems and structures are in place to correct abuses.

Unremitting and prolonged pressures. Continual demands to accomplish more, do it better etc. will eventually wear the strongest person out, particularly the overly responsible. Again, feedback mechanisms and channels need to be in place.

Confusion caused by conflicting demands. This can be caused by either bad leadership or by confused authority lines. A narcissist will always bring about the former, but any leader who changes his/her mind often and does not have a clear sense of vision and direction can change expectations often enough to cause adverse stress. Confusion over multiple authority lines also is destructive. Examples could be— a staff member receiving differing instructions by 2 superiors (ie.—the office administrator instructs secretarial staff to do certain things, and the pastor instructs them to do differing things); or a pastor is instructed by the elders to follow one course of action, and the board of directors requests another.

Unresolved prolonged conflict. Conflict is often endemic in the church, and staff can get caught up in the sides and issues, and will almost always be effected by that it. In the simplest form the conflict may involve just 2 church members or families, but the continual hearing of the complaints one against the other, and the lobbying for support continually brings irritation to pastors and staff. Failure to resolve issues will ensure that they rear their ugly heads over and over again. A culture of avoidance often ensures that eventually an explosion results. It is imperative that the church leadership has proper grievance and conflict policies in place, and that trained leaders can provide mediation and arbitration when necessary. Often the pastor and staff will be the object of conflict and this makes resolution all the more critical. Utilizing avenues of outside resources can prove extremely useful at these times, particularly if the conflict is between pastor and staff, or pastor and board/or elders.)

Conflict can become church wide if there are conflicting values between the pastor and the congregation. The Alban Institute writes:

“Churches are voluntary religious associations. Their stability depends in equal parts upon consensus about the vision and purposes of the congregation and upon the satisfaction members get from participation. Consensus refers to an agreed-on set of values, norms, perceptions and behaviors that make up the portrait of that particular church. This network of beliefs and behaviors is in every church.

“Subjectively, it supports the credibility of important notions about life's meaning and the place its members occupy in the world. These notions continue to feel valid and right because in large measure other members continue to uphold them.

“Any threat to the consensus predictably floods the congregation with tension, a mixture of fear and excitement, leading to a crisis.

“To achieve inclusion, the pastor must be perceived as one who values the existing consensus, and yet one who has earned the right to test its adequacy and play a part in changing its nature. He must be recognized as a trusted person, capable of giving and receiving straight talk.” (Reprinted from Stress, Power, and Money by J.C. Harris, by permission of the Alban Institute, Inc., 7315 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 1250W, Bethesda, Maryland 20814-3211. Copyright © . All rights reserved.)

Prejudice regarding your age, gender, sexuality, race, or ethnicity. Prejudice needs to be dealt with quickly and met with firm resolve. The most common form of prejudice observed in the church will be around male/female differences. There are still strongly held notions that leadership in the church is to be male only. Often you will see female staff being paid less than male staff, but accomplishing more. Authority will often be restricted from the fairer sex, and artificial lids kept on them denying specific roles and responsibilities. I would strongly encourage church leadership to study up on ‘women in leadership’ in the church. My own studies, and the teaching of the same revolutionized my own views. Way too much culture and bad exegesis has been brought to bear on scriptural interpretation. There is a lot of very good writing and solid exegesis clarifying some of the problem texts of the new testament available, and I would encourage its study. (see the appendix for a list of resources)

Uncomfortable workplace. Adverse temperatures, poor lighting etc. I know of one church in which the pastor continually turned the thermostat down to 60 degrees in the summer and left his windows open in the winter time. The rest of the office staff would have to wear sweaters in the summer and run heaters in their offices to be comfortable. In an office of 6 it was clear that 1 person had a problem, but he was a narcissist and the boss and couldn’t have cared less about the others.

Unrealistically high self-expectations (perfectionism) A person can become his/her own worst enemy when it comes to stress. Personalities that focus on attaining perfection, or being the savour of the church, will experience stress and may eventually suffer burnout. This is particularly exasperated for type A individuals.

Poor communication (skills or processes). Bad communication or continual disruption of clear communication leads to all sort of unnecessary problems. Often poor communication is a result of bad authority and poor accountability structures. Sometimes it is just the result of bad leadership and administration.

 

Let’s look at the flipside and talk briefly about the characteristics of a positive work environment which will reduce stress and promote health in the church. The following has been adapted from Stress research and the workplace in general, and adapted to the church:

Strong Focus on the church member and seeker. Keeping a vision of what they will look like when the ends of the organization are realized.

Empowerment & Autonomy . Focused in on developing leadership and letting them loose to get the job done.

Encouraging Entrepreneurship/Risk. Letting people take risks and go in new directions, trying new things and breaking new ground.

Leadership Working as a Team. Plurality of leadership is a profoundly Biblical concept. God was opposed to the kingdom concept right from the start (Saul). Eldership in the new testament is always in the plural.

Creativity & Innovation. People need to be able to pursue their artistic and creative talents. This brings a vibrancy and energy to the work place.

Culture of Trust & Respect. Mistrust and disrespect are toxic and must be eliminated. Leadership must spend both corporate and personal time together. Trust is earned over time and is a by-product of character. Bad character should never be allowed in leadership at any level. The qualifications listed in Timothy and Titus for both deacons and elders is made up mostly of character issues. Notice that there is no requirements of specific spiritual gifts or abilities in these lists.

People Development at all levels. “Equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry.”

Forums & Circles. There needs to be a continuous communicating with the members regarding dissemination of the vision and of getting feedback.

Continuous Improvement. A sense that things are improving, and that you have had a part in that is health producing.

Change Management. There must be an understanding of how change best occurs, and how to bring change about. God never changes, but how he interacts and gets things done is never static. Mankind as well is never static and constantly changing and must be reached in new and differing ways. The church that does not change and adapt its processes while maintaining its unchangeable truth will fall into dormancy.

Communicating a Vision. This is one of the most important roles of the Senior Pastor, and of leadership as a group.

Clear Values & Objectives. The values of the leadership and the congregation must mesh together, and be clearly visible to all newcomers. The staff must be on the same page on most issues or their will be conflict or a denial culture that will eventually burst.

Participation & Involvement. The wider and deeper this goes, the healthier will be the church.

Open Communications & Networking. No culture of secrecy or exclusivity.

Shared Learning & Knowledge. We are all parts of one body, and each part needs the other parts to function properly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Job Stress Help: http://www.jobstresshelp.com/

Job Stress Resource Center: http://stress.about.com/cs/workplacestress/a/jobstress.htm

Managing Job Stress –WebMD Health: http://my.webmd.com/hw/mental_health/tp21125.asp

Job Stress, Early Warning Signs:http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=21218

National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/stress/

The Job Stress Network: http://www.workhealth.org/

Work Related Stress (great booklet) http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg281.pdf

Eric Digest: http://www.ericdigests.org/1998-2/stress.htm

The Workplace Stress Epidemic: http://www.channel4.com/health/microsites/0-9/4health/stress/saw_work.html

Working Yourself to Death: Stress on the Job: http://www.cfah.org/factsoflife/vol8no9.cfm

Introduction to physiology of stress: http://www.health-concern.com/Articles/

introduction_to_the_physiology_of_stress.htm

Centre for Stress Management—Physiology of the stress response:

http://www.managingstress.com/articles/physiology.htm

Israel, B. A., House, J. S., Schurman, S. J., Heaney, C., & Mero, R. P., (1989). The relation of personal resources, participation, influence, interpersonal relationships and coping strategies to occupational stress, job strains and health: A multivariate analysis. Work & Stress, 3, 163-194.

Jackson, S. E. (1983). Participation in decision making as a strategy for reducing job-related strain. Journal of Applied Psychology, 68, 3-19.

Lazarus, R. (1991). Psychological stress in the workplace. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 6, 1-13