Pastor and People

The March issue of Tabletalk magazine arrived in my mailbox this past week. I was very interested in the monthly theme: Overcoming Spiritual Depression. I am so glad to see Dr. R.C. Sproul and others see spiritual depression as a true issue in the pulpit as well as the pew. Spiritual depression affects every Christian at some point in their lives. In his monthly article, Dr. Sproul says,

The dark night of the soul. This phenomenon describes a malady that the greatest of Christians have suffered from time to time. It was the malady that provoked David to soak his pillow with tears. It was the malady that earned for Jeremiah the sobriquet, “The Weeping Prophet.” It was the malady that so afflicted Martin Luther that his melancholy threatened to destroy him. This is no ordinary fit of depression, but it is a depression that is linked to a crisis of faith, a crisis that comes when one senses the absence of God or gives rise to a feeling of abandonment by Him…The presence of faith gives no guarantee of the absence of spiritual depression; however, the dark night of the soul always gives way to the brightness of the noonday light of the presence of God.

The four main articles in the magazine include:

- The Dark Night of the Soul by R.C. Sproul
- The Heart of Depression by Edward T. Welch
- The Gospel Cure by Elyse Fitzpatrick
- The Light in Dark Places by Derek Thomas

If you are not a current subscriber to Tabletalk magazine but are dealing with spiritual depression in your own life I would encourage you to purchase this issue. You can read more about this topic by visiting some other articles I have written on pastoral depression:

A Dirty Little Secret - Pastoral Depression
Difficult and Costly - Pastoral Depression
Dealing with Pastoral Depression
Piper: Can Christians Be Depressed?

The common belief as to why pastors would struggle with depression is that they’re either in sin or need the “demon of depression” beat out of them. Many believe that all depression is satanic at its root. That’s hardly what we need people whispering as we walk down the hall. Many conservative Christians consider depression to be evidence that a person is “not right with God.”

However, there are numerous Biblical references and examples given for depression. It is likely that the first humans, Adam and Eve, experienced depression after they sinned against God in the Garden in Eden. Abraham dealt with depression when he did not see the promise of a child in his wife Sarah in Genesis 15. Jonah was depressed because the city of Nineveh repented and turned to the Lord in Jonah 4. David, King of Israel, having committed adultery was depressed until he confessed his sin. He said in Psalm 32:3-4, “When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer.” Also in Psalm 38:6, 8, “I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long…I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.” Then of course there is Jeremiah the “weeping prophet.” The Bible is filled with examples of individuals, though greatly used by God, dealt with periods of depression in ministry and family situations.

New Life Ministries suggests ten tips for managing depression.

1. Don’t expect too much from yourself too soon, as this will only accentuate feelings of failure. Avoid setting difficult goals or taking on ambitious new responsibilities until you’ve solidly begun a structured treatment process.
2. Break large tasks into small ones, set some priorities, and do what can be done as it can be done.
3. Recognize patterns in your mood. Like many people with depression, the worst part of the day for you may be the morning. Try to arrange your schedule accordingly so that the demands are the least in the morning. For example, you may want to shift your meetings to midday or the afternoon.
4. Participate in activities that may make you feel better. Try exercising, going to a movie or a ball game, or participating in church or social activities. At a minimum, such activities may distract you from the way you feel and allow the day to pass more quickly.
5. You may feel like spending all day in bed, but don’t. While a change in the duration, quality, and timing of sleep is a core feature of depression, a reversal in sleep cycle (such as sleeping during daytime hours and staying awake at night) can prolong recovery. Give others permission to wake you up in the morning. Schedule “appointments” that force you to get out of the house before 11 a.m. Do this scheduling the night before; waiting until the morning to decide what you’ll be doing ensures you’ll do nothing.
6. Don’t get upset if your mood isn’t greatly improved right away. Feeling better takes time. Don’t feel crushed if after you start getting better, you find yourself backsliding. Sometimes the road to recovery is like a roller coaster ride.
7. People around you may notice improvement in you before you do. You may still feel just as depressed inside, but some of the outward manifestations of depression may be receding.
8. Try not to make major life decisions (such as changing jobs, or getting married) without consulting others who know you well and who have a more objective view of your situation.
9. Don’t expect to snap out of your depression on your own by an exercise of willpower. This rarely happens. Many churches and communities have depression support groups. Connect with people who understand depression and the recovery process.
10. Remind yourself that your negative thinking is part of the depression and will disappear as the depression responds to treatment.

There are not only physical aspects to pastoral depression but also deep spiritual ones. The work of a pastor is a task of great magnitude. Mark S. Camp speaking of pastoral depression said, “Here are frail creatures of dust, mere mortals, given life by the Holy Spirit, and called to be overseers of the church which Christ purchased with his own blood. Such a high yet humbling call, for it is a call that is often difficult and costly.”

The trials pastors face are varied and numerous; some are common to all pastors, others peculiar to certain men for one reason or another. One thing is sure - unless trials are dealt with correctly, they will result in pastoral depression. There seems to be three main areas in which trails arise that can lead to depression.

First, there is the area of the pastor’s private life. A pastor will quickly find out that his time is not his own. There are the demands of study, prayer, visitation, counseling, meetings, and telephone calls to be made. Any pastor who takes his task seriously can soon find himself physically exhausted. With the great need in finding spiritual food for the congregation to whom he ministers, he may neglect to take the necessary spiritual meat and drink for himself. The result of this concludes in a pastor being on the verge of spiritual starvation.

Secondly, there is the area of the pastor’s immediate family. Financial needs are often pressing him as he struggles just to pay the bills. He may find himself seeking additional employment which of necessity must take away a great amount of time from the work he has been called to accomplish. He must also spiritually feed his wife and children.

Thirdly, and most extensively, there is the congregation. One of the main contributors to a majority of depression among pastors is the church’s role in the pastor’s life. There is always a sickness here, a death there, financial worries here, divorce there, apathy here, stunted growth there. Dealing with wayward people in the congregation while others fight to gain a place in the leadership of the church. All of these are the struggles of a pastor and these struggles soon will send him into depression and deep anxiety. The pastoral ministry can often seem like the job of a firefighter, running here and there trying to put out little brush fires.  As a pastor enters depression, they feel trapped and alone because the church isn’t able to care of them. They unconsciously feel they have to keep their struggle to themselves. If they were to open up and share their struggle, they often fear they would be rejected by the church leaders and labeled as weak, incompetent, and unspiritual. Pastors also fear what might happen if the congregation hears of their struggle. Often pastoral thoughts go something like this, “Would they accuse me of abusing drugs or alcohol? Would they take me seriously as I tried to lead them when I was broken myself?” These are thoughts that paralyze a pastor as they deal with their depression, and they often fell they have no choice other than to walk through their depression alone, which, of course, is a disaster. Little does the pastor know, the congregation can began to see this cancer eating at their life.

One of the greatest threats to those in church leadership is burn-out and depression. Although many pastors may fell alone in this area, you are not alone. In the September/October 2000 edition of Physician Magazine, Dr. Walt Larimore, vice president of medical outreach at Focus on the Family, along with Rev. Bill Peel reported, “surveys indicate that 80 percent of pastors and 84 percent of their spouses are discouraged or are dealing with depression. In addition, more than 40 percent of pastors and 47 percent of their spouses report that they are suffering from burnout.” In many cases, pastors don’t know or understand that they are depressed. They may think they have been burning out, but don’t understand the fine line between burnout and depression, a line that can be crossed unknowingly.

The nature of depression among pastors makes it difficult to identify. Often, those in ministry are depressed before they even realize it or are able to deal with it. Meanwhile, the shadows of depression haunt their lives and dismantle their ministries one day at a time. Even more difficult is the fact that once a pastor is diagnosed with depression, many churches are not safe places in which they may find support and healing.

Depression among pastors is still a dirty little secret that many churches don’t wish to disclose, address, and cure. This combination of late detection and church denial is lethal. E. Glenn Wagner speaking on pastoral depression says, “I believe that the church can curtail this epidemic, and I insist that it must if we’re to have any hope of healthy pastoral leadership in the future.”

Cliff Graves of the Fair Oaks Presbyterian Counseling Center in Fair Oaks, California says the array of depressive symptoms is varied. It can include persistent sad, anxious, or empty moods - feelings of hopelessness, pessimism - feelings of guilt worthlessness, helplessness - loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities that you once enjoyed, insomnia, early-morning awakening, or oversleeping - appetite and/or weight loss or overeating and weight gain - decreased energy and drive, fatigue - morbid or suicidal thoughts or attempts - restlessness, irritability - unaccountable tearfulness or crying - difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions, persistent physical symptoms that do not respond to treatment. Not everyone who is depressed experiences every symptom listed and the severity of the symptoms varies widely. Graves says if someone you know experiences at least three of these symptoms for more than two weeks, you have reason to suspect depression. If untreated, symptoms can last for weeks, months, or years. However, if properly addressed, it is very treatable.