Tag: Clergy

“I’ve found the boxing gym to be a wisdom place.”

“I believe God wants more Jonahs—honest, reluctant souls who, when kicked often enough, maybe even thrown up occasionally, will answer the call to stand up and say that God is ‘gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.'”

The Florida Times-Union published a lengthy story yesterday on clergy burnout and how to avoid it. We’d like to have from clergy among our readership about what wears you down and how you attempt to take care of yourself.

His work here is done. With a congregation of nearly 3,400, up from a foundering flock of just a few hundred when he took over in 1994, the Rev. William MacDonald Tully, 65, is retiring from active duty at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church on Park Avenue and 50th Street.

“Jesus is truly present in the breaking of the bread and … where 2 or more are gathered he is there. That’s religion AND Jesus. May God make us worthy of it all.”

The problem is that the median tenure of a rector in the Episcopal Church is about five years. The search process takes 18 months for most places. That means that many congregations end up without settled clergy leadership for 1/3 of the time. Those delays suck the momentum away.

Monolithic “hierarchy,” with all its labor-saving devices, can still amount to places and processes where no one really wants to learn how the sausage gets made, or how long it can take for placements to occur.

There have been some very thoughtful comments lately on The Lead as we think about the future of the church. In addition to sincerely thanking

The General Ordination Examinations begin this week. What was your experience? Stories of terror or humor? What strategies do you suggest for getting through the