SEATTLE, WA (November 13, 2009) – The average lifetime length of service for an active pastor in the Evangelical Covenant Church is only 11 years, according to statistics recently compiled by the denomination’s pension plan. Hardly a lifetime.
Those numbers reflect a trend across denominations of pastors ending their parish ministry careers earlier than ever, says Dave Wells, an ordained Evangelical Covenant Church minister and a licensed marriage and family therapist. The inability of ministers to deal with increased demands upon them is a primary culprit.
“The work of the pastor has always been demanding, but I think the expectations from both pastor and parishioner have never been greater.”
“The work of the pastor has always been demanding, but I think the expectations from both pastor and parishioner have never been greater,” says Wells.
To help ministers deal with those demands, the North Pacific Conference recently initiated its Care Pastor Ministry and hired Wells part-time to serve as its coordinator.
A similar pastoral care program was put in place in 2001. Called “The Sanctuary Project,” the program was led by NPC consultant Ron Magnuson, a retired Covenant pastor living in Michigan. Magnuson spent a considerable amount of time in the Pacific Northwest and enlisted several seasoned Covenant pastors in the conference to be point persons.
But the Sanctuary Project was “under-utilized,” according to Wells, and ended a couple years ago.
“Pastors and staff often forgot it was there,” says Wells. “It’s sort of the nature of counseling. It takes a lot of courage for someone to make the phone call to a counselor, to come in and talk about what may be considerable discomfort in one’s life.”
The new Care Pastor Ministry is designed to be more intentional. Its goal is to offer a confidential and collegial relationship with every pastoral staff person in the conference.
“It takes a lot of courage for someone to make the phone call to a counselor . . . to talk about what may be considerable discomfort in one’s life.”
“Our goal is huge,” says Wells. So far, nine ministers have agreed to serve one-year terms as care pastors and more are being sought.
Those currently involved are Donn Anderson, Diane Anderson, Ray Bartel, Henry Greenidge, Allan F. Johnson, Mark Larson, Jon Martin, Fred Neth and Gary Peterson. Each of the care pastors will maintain regular verbal contact with their appointed colleagues, which means either a phone call or a brief personal visit.
“As care pastors,” says Wells, “we want to offer the possibility of a caring, authentic relationship with every pastor and staff member. This will look different for each pastor. Monthly contact would be ideal, but the last thing I want to do is add one more thing to a full Day-Timer.”
In his 17 years of pastoral ministry, Wells has served Covenant churches in Mexico, the Midwest, and the Seattle area. He has also worked as extended interim at several churches in the conference. A graduate of North Park University, Wells has his Master of Divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary and his Master of Science in Counseling and Family Therapy degree from Seattle Pacific University.
Wells figures he will spend 5-10 hours a week coordinating the ministry and making contacts himself. The rest of the week is devoted to his counseling practice. He works full time for Samaritan Center of Puget Sound (formerly Presbyterian Counseling Service), spending three days a week in his office at Newport Covenant in Bellevue, and two days a week at the main location in Seattle. The agency consists of a diverse group of therapists, pastoral and mental-health counselors, and psychologists.
Wells’ personal vision is to live with a passion for Jesus, but also to be informed by the science of human behavior.
“God uses us as he has made us, but it is so helpful to know these things about ourselves – and self care is always important.”
“Pastors feel called to ministry because they love Jesus, and want to serve him through full-time work,” Wells says. “But they may later discover limitations of their temperament or personality.
“One thing I have noticed is that outgoing (extroverted) pastors often find it easier to do the work of pastoral ministry because the work can actually energize them further,” he adds. “Introverts, on the other hand, after a Sunday morning or a weeknight of ministry, might feel more drained. God uses us as he has made us, but it is so helpful to know these things about ourselves – and self care is always important.
“Many pastors today are leading their congregations on low,” Wells says. “It’s Friday night and the lead pastor may have the task of an unfinished sermon, hospital visits he hopes to make, a congregational meeting to prep for, a wedding the next day, and his boy is playing football. These are all good things, but it can be a very full plate.
“My prayer is that the care pastor can be a gentle and encouraging presence in the lives of our conference pastoral staff. I hope we can have such a relationship as to ask, ‘How’s your self-care going? Do you have time with good friends? What are you doing that’s fun? Are you taking care of yourself inside and out?’
“A pastor’s work can be deeply rewarding. But it can also be draining. By God’s grace he or she can be about the tasks God gives and find joy and strength as well. The care pastor may be the needed timely support.”
To read more about issues related to care for pastors, see the article “Lives in Balance” in the current issue of The Covenant Companion.
Editor’s note: Rick Lund serves as news editor for the North Pacific Conference.
