Who Ministers to Ministers?: A Study of Support Systems for Clergy and Spouses

Book, 1987, 98 pp
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Clergy and their spouses experience the same kinds of joy, pain and brokenness as their parishioners. Where do they turn for help? What keeps them from finding the support they need? What support systems work for them?

Barbara Gilbert brings research, experience, and extensive reading to her answers to these questions.

This author asks what is keeping pastors from looking for help and accepting it. The common "helper/helpee" view of the clergy role isolates them. Scripted as "Lone Rangers," male clergy seem reluctant to depend emotionally on anyone but their wives--who absorb their husbands' problems but have few places to go with their own. Often these cultural and ecclesiastical scripts are compounded by low self-esteem, which discourages clergy from caring for themselves.

Here are forceful arguments for more functional and faithful "metaphors for ministry."

TypePrint
AudienceLeaders
LanguageEnglish
PublisherAlban Institute

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