By Deborah Bruce
I recently attended a conference on the sociology of religion. Here are highlights from two of the many fascinating presentations:
Age—How Old Do You Feel?
Petra-Angela Ahrens explored the difference between actual age—how old the calendar says you are—and subjective age—how old you feel. She found that the two don’t usually coincide. On average, people feel five years younger than they actually are. But interestingly, religion makes a difference. Religious people feel six years younger than they are, on average, and non-religious people feel four years younger than they are. Furthermore, Ahrens found that subjective age is a better predictor of satisfaction with life than actual age. Her research provides another confirmation that religion plays a powerful role in people’s lives.
Clergy Burnout—Stress or Lack of Balance?
Leslie Francis and Mandy Robbins discussed a balanced affect model of clergy burnout. This model suggests that burnout occurs when the negatives of ministry outweigh the positives. While many pastors experience substantial stress and perhaps personal exhaustion in pastoral ministry, those negatives do not lead to burnout if there are sufficient positive outcomes to balance the negatives. High satisfaction with ministry and a personal sense of accomplishment can offset the stress that pastors experience.
Two avenues for preventing burnout emerge from this model: (1) decrease the stress and exhaustion that pastors experience, and (2) increase their sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.
It may be a challenge to think about your satisfaction in ministry separate from the stress that your call brings. But doing so may help you discover new ways to find and maintain a sense of balance in your life.
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Go for someone who makes you smile because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright.
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