Description
With the clear understanding that clergy leaders need and deserve support as they shepherd the mission of their congregations, this book by Thad Austin and Katie Comeau acknowledges that clergy care providers play a critical role in supporting pastoral staff. These pastoral care providers offer support across five sectors: frontline providers such as couselors/coaches, denominations/networks/associations, funders and granting organizations, pension/benefit/insurance, and continuing education institutions. When working together well, this support network can create a strong foundation for clergy to perform their role for congregations. This book is packed with data about the types of providers available to care for clergy and data about their accessibility.
Authors Austin and Comeau speak to the results of a research study illustrating that clergy care providers often lack the proper training, experience, qualifications, and semantic alignment to support clergy as effectively as possible. Caring for Clergy paints a clear picture of the gap between practitioner and client. The book invites us all to receive this new awareness and join in the conversation to create a more supportive environment for clergy.
Features
- Methodology
- Survey results
- Bibliography
- List of abbreviations
Practical Applications
- Take steps to redirect your congregation's culture of "clergy self-care" toward one of "clergy care" to help support the spiritual, physical, and mental health of your clergy and, thereby, of your congregation and its mission.
- Read this book to understand systems and providers available to care for clergy in your area, and evaluate it against your current clergy care structure.
- Create a clergy care team or map of available care providers who can be readily and reliably available in providing spiritual direction, mental health counseling, leadership coaching, and other areas important to your clergy team to prevent pastoral burnout before it becomes critical.
