CHICAGO -- The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is examining clergy burnout and what lay people are looking for in a pastor as part of a nationwide study on pastoral leadership.
The ELCA is participating in a study by the J.M. Ormond Center at the Duke University Divinity School, in Durham, N.C., as part of the "Pulpit & Pew" project. More than 1,400 clergy across the United States were surveyed in 2001, according to the ELCA News Service.
Early findings show a great deal of job satisfaction among ELCA clergy, said the Rev. A. Craig Settlage, the denomination's associate executive director for ministry. Seventy percent of the ELCA clergy, however, said they are having trouble bringing the gospel to the people.
"I still believe there are very few areas of work that provide as much satisfaction and sense of significant work being done than pastoral ministry," Settlage said. "Somehow the word has gotten out that people are unhappy, underpaid, under stress. We need to say there is another picture, another part of the story."
The ELCA is emphasizing conflict management programs to help its clergy deal with problems within their local congregations. Such problems often are cited as reasons for pastor burnout, Settlage said.
