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.