Support, spirituality, and self-care for clergy and lay ministers
SOME years ago for Search Canon Maurice Elliott wrote an article for Search entitled, ‘Self-Care for Clergy: Theory and Practice’. It was subsequently reprinted as an Appendix to the 2013 Report of the Commission on Ministry to that year’s General Synod. Unfortunately, to my mind it didn’t get the attention that it deserved or the topic merited. In it he argued that ordination should lead to a, ‘way of life that is God given, Christ-centred, spirit-enabled and ecclesially sanctioned’ – a joyful experience in short; but for many too often it ends in misery with a sense of being abandoned by the Church through lack of support and resources.
* Full article available in printed copies.
Leslie Stevenson
Is Archdeacon of Meath and Kildare and rector of Portarlington.