Pastoral ministry is a demanding and stressful vocation, and the empirical and anecdotal literature on ministry has often emphasized this negative outlook. More recent work, however, has shifted toward a more positive emphasis on personal characteristics that might help pastors be more resilient. The present study examined the interplay of identity demands, social support, and self-regard in accounting for both positive (positive affect and life satisfaction) and negative (negative affect and burnout) outcomes. Self-compassion, which was measured using the short form of Neff’s (2003) Self-Compassion Scale (SCS-SF), was herein reconceptualized as being comprised of two types of self-regard: self-compassion and self-criticism. Regression analyses with data collected from 200 United Methodist pastors indicated that social support and self-compassion (in descending order of importance) explained a significant proportion of the variance of the positive outcome, while self-criticism, social support, demand, and gender explained the negative.

This study examined the role of both valued living and person–organization values-fit in clergy well-being utilizing an archival sample of 845 Wesleyan clergy in a cross-sectional survey design. Linear regression analysis indicated that clergy successfully living out their values in ministry work was associated with higher ratings of flourishing and lower ratings of burnout. Furthermore, mediation analyses indicated that job engagement is one of the mechanisms for both these main effects. Additionally, moderation analyses indicated that the degree of values fit between clergy and their congregation moderated the association between valued living and flourishing such that valued living was most important in environments of poor fit. Overall, this exploratory study offers important insights into the multiple roles of values in clergy well-being and provides the foundation for further investigation. Implications of the findings, as well as clinical considerations for promoting valued living with clergy, are discussed.

No abstract