
Are you emotionally healthy enough for ministry?
Men’s Retreat (Lake Aurora, 2015)
JOE HARVEY, DMin
Associate Professor
Johnson University Florida
jharvey@johnsonu.edu
Ministry & the Weary Well: Jeremiah 12:5
 Ministry is tough sometimes. Enduring faith is
needed!
 "If you have raced with men on foot and they have
worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If
you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in
the thickets by the Jordan? (Jeremiah 12:5 (NIV))
 You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!
Failure to Thrive
Survey 2005, 2006 (1050 participants)
Two pastor’s conferences held in Orange County and Pasadena, CA
1050
1000
948
808
800
790
802
590
600
400
200
0
Fatigue (weekly or Associate that Left
daily)
Ministry (burnout,
conflict, moral)
Would Leave
Felt: Not a Good
Marriage
Felt:
Battle Depression
Unqualified/Poorly
Trained
Why did they leave their ministry?
 Burnout, Discouraged, Stressed, Overworked
 Needs of Family & Children
 Conflict with Church Members or Staff
 Doctrinal Conflict
 Church Resisted Change
 Marital Conflict or Divorce
Pastors in Transition, Reported Feelings (36)
Signs of Burnout (extreme and sustained…)
Fatigue
Stress
Discouragement
Discord (Marriage, Family, Friends, others)
Hopelessness
Moral Failure in Ministry
If these conditions
persist, the stage is set
for moral failure—
especially sexual sin—in
the form of an affair or
use of pornography.
Loneliness
Isolation
Anger
Consider these factors in
the adultery of David
with Bathsheba.
Moral Failure
Sanctified Zombies
 “In order to genuinely own up to the
effects of self-neglect, we must first own
up to our reality as persons. The tragic
and pervasive problem of ministry is
that … many well meaning ministry
aspirants forget who they are apart from
any religious activity … They become
holy dead persons walking” (Kirk Jones,
Rest in the Storm).
FIVE FACTORS for LONG-TERM MINISTRY
(Wheaton/McMinn)
HOBBIES
TIME OFF
PRAYER
EXERCISE
LONGTERM
MINISTRY
MARITAL
FULFILLMENT
The Power of Past Pain
Moses responds to God’s call with fear
because he looks at the challenge through
the lens of his past failure and pain.
NIV Exodus 4:13 But Moses said, "Pardon
your servant, Lord. Please send someone
else.“
The story that we believe most, most
defines us, whether it is true or not. How is
your past emotional pain shaping your
present faith journey?
Sources of Emotional Pain
Everyone has been
shaped by past
pain. Our challenge
is to identify how it
is affecting us now.
Our past pain will
always describe us,
but unexamined
pain has the power
to define us!
Family of
Origin
Physical
Suffering
Personal
Sin
EMOTIONAL
PAIN
Shared
Sins
Life
Events
Movie Poster Image: “Open Water”
A couple is accidentally left behind
during a SCUBA driving outing. The
sharks are in the water and there is
no place to hide. They are left in a
state of hopelessness, just waiting
for the worst to happen. Tragedy is
inevitable!
Unredeemed pain (whether acknowledge or not), plus
stress, leads to disaster! It’s just a matter of time.
Emotional Pain Creates a Living Story
 “People normally and
naturally live inside the
story of their past pain. It
shapes the present and
predefines future
possibilities.”
Source: Me (“That’s what I said!”)
 “The story that most
defines us is the one that
we believe most, whether it
is true or not.”
Unredeemed Pain Expressed in Behaviors
Common Compensations (visible)
4.3
Common Inner Pain (hidden)
Inadequacy
Performance
(earn)
Avoidance
(hide)
Pride
(tunnel vision
of self)
Shame
Rejection
Success by outworking others
Diligent service
to outweigh
past failures
Have trouble
saying “no” to
even
unreasonable
requests
Stick to areas
of past success,
avoid ambiguity
Unwilling to
take a tough
moral stand,
excessive
tolerance
Feel awkward in
group setting,
arrive late and
leave early
Preoccupation
with your own
needs and
interests
Judgmental
toward the
failings of
others
Constantly
looking for the
approval of
others
Hidden Stories
Our emotional brokenness
often leads to a private selves—
ones that we hide from our
friends and family.
Consider Judas Iscariot! He was
living two lives: one good and
one bad. In time, the bad,
hidden life became public.
Judas didn’t suddenly become a
betrayer. He had be practicing
betrayal all along.
Redeeming Our Hurts
Reaction
Pain happens! We react by
creating a strategy to keep from
feeling that pain again.
Misalignment
Our strategies don’t
resolve our pain and
may be not aligned with
God’s will.
No Analysis
Lie (false self)
We create a plan to live within
God’s intentions for us and
consider the influence of pain.
Our norm
becomes
our
normal.
Unawareness
We are uncritically processing
our present through our past.
We identify biblically
where our thinking and
feeling is not aligned
with God’s will.
We trace
our
behavior to
our pain.
Awareness
THE PIT
Action
Alignment
Analysis
Truth (true self)
We acknowledge our brokenness.
PAIN
PROTECTIVE LIFE LESSON
RESULTING BEHAVIORS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
JUSTIFICATION
Symptoms of Emotionally Unhealthy Spirituality
 Using God to run from God
 Ignoring the emotions of anger, sadness & fear
 Dying to the wrong things
 Denying the past’s impact on the present
 Dividing our lives into “secular” and “sacred” components
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, Peter Scazzero, 24-37
Symptoms of Emotionally Unhealthy Spirituality
 Doing for God instead of being with God
 Spiritualizing away conflict
 Covering over brokenness, weakness and failure
 Living without limits
 Judging other people’s spiritual journey
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, Peter Scazzero, 24-37
So, here’s the thing…
 Spiritual Health is Related to Emotional Health
 Thriving in ministry requires emotionally healthy spirituality:
combining theology, “psychology” and spirituality.
 Read Psalm 131.