Greatest Mental Challenge
When asked to narrow it down to the area of mental challenges they most need to address today, stress, distractions and discouragement top pastors’ list. More pastors identify stress (31%) as their greatest mental challenge in ministry than any other challenge. Nearly 1 in 4 pastors (23%) say distraction is their greatest mental challenge in ministry, and 18% say discouragement.
Fewer identify loneliness or lack of friendship (9%), depression (2%) or lack of contentment (2%) as the mental challenge they most need to address today. And 15% of pastors say they’re not sure or none of these are their primary mental challenge in ministry.
“Being a pastor is stressful,” McConnell said. “It’s important for pastors to learn healthy ways of maintaining their mental health amidst the variety of pressures that continue to come their way. Ignoring stress is not the answer. Resilience requires investment.”
Once again, younger pastors are more likely than the oldest pastors to say stress is the primary mental challenge they face in ministry, and is when the use of products like CBD cartridge can help in this area. Whereas 37% of pastors ages 18 to 44 and 33% of pastors ages 45 to 54 say stress is their greatest mental challenge, 23% of pastors over the age of 65 say the same.
Pastors of large churches are also more likely to identify stress as their greatest mental challenge than pastors of smaller churches. While 41% of pastors of churches with attendance greater than 250 say stress is their primary challenge, pastors of churches with attendance of 0-49 (22%) and 100-249 (31%) are less likely to agree.
“While the Word certainly calls us to lean on the Lord in times of trouble, Scripture also reminds us we are not an island,” said Ben Mandrell, president and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources. “When the weight of feeling overwhelmed seems too much to bear, I encourage pastors to seek the help of trained professionals to help navigate mental challenges.”
This article originally appeared here.
