The protestant church has developed a serious denial of problems. We – clergy and laity – think we can’t talk about what’s wrong in our lives because we fear being judged by one another so much. At some point, we need to learn to start sharing honestly so that we can hold one another up. This alone might not solve all the problems, but will go a long way toward opportunity for healing.

Perhaps a more frequent spiritual infilling could be one answer to the problem of pastor burn out.

I think that the spouses of those in ministry have a role to play. My husband is a Youth Director, and often on the drive home from our regular meeting he talks about how he feels he has failed that night. Its my place to encourage him (not falsely) about the night. I point out what went really well and some of the small joys of the evening. I also try to encourage him about where he might be able to improve and where we might be able to make some positive changes. For any person who is married to someone in vocational ministry, I think its important to truly be a partner. A big part of the “job” is to encourage our spouses. I consider it a blessing to share the burden of ministry with my spouse.

Sometimes this is easier said than done, and spouses can become burnt out by ministry as well. So it is equally important to have support outside of your marriage from people with whom you can be brutally honest.

I have one caution. A pastor friend of mine went through a severe period of depression. At first he diagnosed it as a spiritual problem. Things only got worse. He came to realize that his depression had a physical component, and he went under a doctor’s care and became gradually became better. This also took away some of the guilt that he wasn’t spiritual enough to avoid depression.

Not all depression and discouragement is due to a lack of abiding in Christ. Probably a lot is due to this, but some can be attributed to other causes. If a pastor is experiencing clinical depression, we need to be careful not to make him feel that he has failed spiritually.

By the way, I was really encouraged to hear Haddon Robinson say that discouragement is part of preaching. Even as we abide, we’ll likely be a bit depleted and discouraged at times.

The works of Thomas Murton, St. John of the Cross or St. Theresa of Avila might offer insight. My intuition is that pastors, by nature of what they do are called to a level of holiness, through relationship, that exceeds the understanding and experience of those to whom they minister.