Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Foreword by The Bishop of Shrewsbury, The Rt Revd Mark Rylands
- 1 Introduction: shaping rural theology
- PART 1 PERSPECTIVES FROM THE BIBLE
- PART 2 PERSPECTIVES FROM ORDINARY THEOLOGY
- PART 3 THEOLOGICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
- PART 4 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
- PART 5 LISTENING TO VISITORS
- PART 6 LISTENING TO THE COMMUNITY
- PART 7 LISTENING TO CHURCHGOERS
- PART 8 LISTENING TO CHURCH LEADERS
- PART 9 SATISFACTION AND STRESS IN MINISTRY
- 27 Burnout and the practice of ministry among rural clergy: looking for the hidden signs
- 28 How happy are rural Anglican clergy?
- 29 Perceptions of stress on those in rural ministry: listening to church leaders
- Contributors
- Sources
- Subject Index
- Name Index
27 - Burnout and the practice of ministry among rural clergy: looking for the hidden signs
from PART 9 - SATISFACTION AND STRESS IN MINISTRY
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Foreword by The Bishop of Shrewsbury, The Rt Revd Mark Rylands
- 1 Introduction: shaping rural theology
- PART 1 PERSPECTIVES FROM THE BIBLE
- PART 2 PERSPECTIVES FROM ORDINARY THEOLOGY
- PART 3 THEOLOGICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
- PART 4 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES
- PART 5 LISTENING TO VISITORS
- PART 6 LISTENING TO THE COMMUNITY
- PART 7 LISTENING TO CHURCHGOERS
- PART 8 LISTENING TO CHURCH LEADERS
- PART 9 SATISFACTION AND STRESS IN MINISTRY
- 27 Burnout and the practice of ministry among rural clergy: looking for the hidden signs
- 28 How happy are rural Anglican clergy?
- 29 Perceptions of stress on those in rural ministry: listening to church leaders
- Contributors
- Sources
- Subject Index
- Name Index
Summary
Abstract – A sample of 318 stipendiary male clergy in the Church of England who held responsibility for rural parishes completed a modified form of the Maslach Burnout Inventory together with a questionnaire designed to assess their practice of ministry. The data suggest that an unacceptably high number of rural clergy show signs of emotional exhaustion from their ministry and that burnout is reflected in many subtle ways in the practice of ministry.
Introduction
Clergy working in the rural ministry have been seen as an occupational group under stress. Russell (1993) noted that the demands placed upon clergy in multiparish benefices (with a lack of clarity about their roles, and no easily definable boundaries) created an increasingly stressful ‘work environment’. The Archbishops' Commission on Rural Areas (1990), Faith in the Countryside, also identified the additional pressures which rural living placed upon the clergy in comparison with their urban and suburban colleagues. Further analyses published by the Church in Wales (1992) and Bowden (1994) also reached the conclusion that clergy working in rural parishes were subjected to factors which resulted in increased stress and burnout.
A study conducted by Francis and Rutledge (2000) used a modified measure of the three dimensional model of burnout proposed by Maslach and Jackson (1986). The first aspect of this model of burnout relates to emotional exhaustion, where workers find that they can no longer continue to give at an emotional level. Emotional exhaustion is often associated with such expressions as ‘I don't care any more’, and ‘I don't have any feelings left’. The second aspect relates to depersonalization.
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- Information
- Rural Life and Rural ChurchTheological and Empirical Perspectives, pp. 316 - 324Publisher: Acumen PublishingPrint publication year: 2012