Pastor Yudy Nina from Comunidad de Fe Church in Tampa, Florida, decided to accompany her husband to the summit because of the focus on mental health.
“This is a need that the church has, a huge need,” said Nina, who is currently studying for a master’s degree in pastoral care and Christian counseling. She sees her own community struggle with a mental health stigma that has been passed down through generations.
Olmeda said the mental health initiative was sparked at last year’s leadership summit, when her 20-minute planned presentation on pastors and mental health stretched to about an hour as pastors asked more and more questions.
“There is this desperate need to talk about this, and I think that they felt, okay, this is our permission to do this, almost like these boundaries were taken off,” she said.
The mental health initiative is just one branch of the Center for Ministerial Health, which will also focus on financial health, spiritual health, relational health and physical health.
Olmeda’s husband, the Rev. Charles Olmeda, will lead the financial health initiative at the center’s Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, headquarters, just about 20 minutes from the couple’s Transformation Church. Bethlehem is also Rodriguez’s hometown.
The NHCLC has released a survey of leaders representing more than 1,600 churches that found that 82% of pastors reported having debt that caused them stress; the same percentage said they needed a second source of income. About a quarter (73%) had incomes of less than $50,000 per year.
More than half of pastors (60%) said their financial situation was distracting them from their mission.
Through the financial health initiative, the NHCLC plans to provide financial literacy for pastors, with a focus on basic skills like budgeting, preparing for retirement and investing that can help in both their personal lives and their churches.
The NHCLC is also offering $2,500 matching grants of financial relief to member pastors who attend financial counseling. Those funds can be used to pay off debt, build an emergency fund or save for retirement.
The goal, Rodriguez said, is to help more NHCLC pastors transition from bivocational to full-time ministry.
The Lilly Endowment Inc. is providing financial support for the financial health initiative, and Rodriguez told the pastors gathered that the mental health initiative was the only one that had not received outside grant funding.
