AS A new minister, I once filled out an insurance form that asked: “Is your work dangerous?” Knowing what I know now, I should have answered “Yes.”
While ministry in the Church of England today may not involve physical danger, the vocational, emotional, and spiritual risks are significant and seem to be growing —and no insurance policy can cover those. These increasing challenges are making it difficult for many leaders to cope, and the impact of clergy trauma is becoming more apparent.
Trauma, experienced when ministry circumstances overwhelm one’s ability to cope, has become a critical issue that must start to be prioritised as part of vocations discernment, formation, ordination training, and ongoing support.
THERE is growing evidence that the experience of Christian ministry — a vocation intended to share the joy of co-working with Jesus — is becoming destructive for some clergy.
As the Church’s position in society has become more marginal, most clergy are feeling stretched by the demands of maintaining services for shrinking congregations, alongside the pressure to achieve numerical growth, something that is often seen as a measure of ministerial success.
Rising responsibilities, combined with declining parish income and fewer colleagues, often leave priests feeling overworked, stretched thin, and torn between their love for ministry and the reality of having to spend significant time on necessary but non-vocational tasks.
Informal discussions with ordinands reveal further anxieties around the likely reduction in stipendiary posts. They talk about concerns related to the increasing complexity of ministry, and their own vulnerability to making mistakes. These anxieties are compounded by their perception of declining clergy well-being — recently suggested as the leading reason for the fall in ordinand numbers (General Synod questions, July 2024, Q4).
Clergy have long experienced vicarious trauma — absorbing the emotional and spiritual weight of the pain that we encounter while supporting those who suffer. It is an occupational hazard. Remaining unaffected is impossible when we are called to “weep with those who weep” (Romans 12.15) and “bear one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6.2).
All clergy must find ways to navigate this emotional toll: avoiding both the extremes of the overwhelming empathy that leads to burnout, and the detachment that hinders genuine support for those we serve. In response, some dioceses have advocated regular supervision as a support mechanism for clergy, with initial programmes showing promising results.
Although yet to be properly studied, the consequences of unresolved ministry trauma seem to be increasingly evident, contributing to burnout, dropout, apathy, occupational mental-health struggles, substance abuse, moral failure, and even apostasy. While individual limitations may play a part, these new challenges stem from the complexity of responding to a declining Church in a society that has moved beyond Christendom.
CLERGY still love their calling, but some are finding the demands of today’s Church overwhelming. This highlights the urgent need for a deeper understanding of resilience and the development of non-anxious approaches to ministry.
In the face of such demands, resilience becomes not just a helpful trait, but an essential lifeline for the clergy. It is not born out of ease, however; rather, resilience is a by-product of walking through stress and challenges.
Resilience and challenges are deeply interconnected, shaping how both ordinands and experienced clergy can build the strength needed to face the demands of ministry.
The paradox of developing resilience is that, while overcoming difficulties is necessary for growth, too many can overwhelm. Like gaining physical fitness, improvement requires obstacles to build strength, but over-exertion leads to injury.
While theological colleges provide important foundations, the development of resilience should begin long before students arrive. Resilience is best nurtured early in parishes, when emerging ministers begin to explore their calling, by their being given the opportunity to develop confidence in basic ministry skills, and when learning to navigate ministry challenges in a supportive setting.
To stay healthy, experienced clergy must continue to strengthen their resilience as they meet new and evolving demands in their ministry. Likewise, clergy in training need to experience challenges in manageable doses that build their resilience without crushing them.
When reflected on with the guidance of experienced leaders, these experiences help to cultivate ministerial resilience.
Ideally, these initial assessments in parish life help potential ordinands to face manageable challenges, thereby beginning to understand their limits and developing the emotional and spiritual fortitude essential for ministry.
Recognising that true resilience is best cultivated in a supportive and encouraging environment, we must avoid the temptation to weaponise the concept by stigmatising those who are struggling. Nor is resilience a mandate to tolerate unjust situations or unmanageable burdens.
A vital question for any ordinand reference, therefore, should be: “Have they been tested?”
WHILE resilience is a personal trait, non-anxious behaviour is a leadership quality essential for the Church’s senior leaders. In times of uncertainty and change — whether in parishes, dioceses, or the national Church — the Church needs its leaders to be calm, steady, faith-filled, and emotionally stable.
Edwin Friedman introduced the concept of a non-anxious leader in the 1980s. In a Christian context, this idea goes far beyond simply staying calm: it means being deeply rooted in faith, closely connected to God, and fully committed to serving others.
It’s not about being free from anxiety, or avoiding fear, but about learning to navigate it faithfully, which fosters a stable, healthy culture and helps others to find their own sense of stability.
These traits are essential for leaders, but they can easily be overlooked in a busy modern Church. Is the Church becoming more focused on “professionalism” than on vocation and calling?
Christian leaders develop a non-anxious presence through mature spiritual disciplines that foster inner strength — the Christlike strength that is humble and self-aware, and deeply confident in the gospel.
Non-anxious leadership is as much learned through example as through teaching. Senior leaders must exemplify this resilient approach, as emerging ministers learn how to navigate stress and crises by observing the behaviour and responses of those they look up to.
ULTIMATELY, the strength being built is not about personal heroism, but is rooted in the strength of God, where “power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12.9), and in the cultivation of spiritual habits that sustain the cleric through difficult times.
To quote from the ordination service: “You cannot bear the weight of this calling in your own strength, but only by the grace and power of God. Pray therefore that your heart may daily be enlarged and your understanding of the scriptures enlightened. Pray earnestly for the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Aside from personal prayer and study of scripture, another key spiritual habit is to develop a group of trusted friends. One of the best pieces of advice that I can give any ordinand is to build close relationships with a few peers, and make a commitment to friendship, regular prayer, and mutual support.
Nothing is more flexible or deeply supportive than a small peer group, which forms naturally over time and provides the adaptability needed to navigate life and ministry challenges, and foster internal growth.
My own prayer triplet, which has lasted for 20 years, has been a lifeline through the highs and lows of ministry. Similarly, affinity networks, such as the Society of Catholic Priests or New Wine, are becoming increasingly important as spaces for clergy to share struggles, stay focused, and hold each other up. Practices such as this serve as a relevant reminder that priests are also presbyters who need one another.
RECOGNISING the significance of this topic in ministerial formation, my own college, St Hild, will explore questions related to trauma and resilience in our programmes this academic year. These discussions will be integrated into our missional leadership programme and other modules, serve as the focus of our week-long Easter School, and form part of our staff training.
Informal discussions with colleagues from other TEIs suggest that they, too, recognise this as an increasing need in ordinand preparation.
Flourishing in ministry relies on the integration of theology with real-world practice. In contextual training, in which ordinands build on parish experience while studying in college and learning through placements, this pairing happens naturally. But, whatever the training model, ensuring adequate time for this component is crucial, and should not be rushed or overlooked.
Of course, no training course can shield the clergy from the inherent traumas of ministry. And vocational risks require more than instruction and external safeguards. Resilience is not something that formal training alone can guarantee: it is a personal responsibility, and everyone must take ownership of it and nurture themselves. It is forged through lived experience, spiritual disciplines, deep engagement with scripture and prayer, and the fellowship of trusted peers.
Clergy can cultivate resilience and develop non-anxious leadership. Understanding this will equip them to navigate the trauma and uncertainties of modern ministry, keeping them anchored in a vision of God and the Church which transcends the many challenges that we all face, of both decline and growth.
The Revd Dr Christian Selvaratnam is the Dean of Church Planting at St Hild College and the author of The Craft of Church Planting: Exploring the lost wisdom of apprenticeship (SCM Press, 2022).