Lehr, Clergy Burnout

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Fred Lehr, Clergy Burnout: Recovering from the 70-hour Week and Other Self-Defeating Practices. Augsburg Fortress, 2005.

Referenced in: Ministry Burnout, Preventing and Overcoming

LifeandLeadership.com Summary

Lehr is a Lutheran minister (ELCA) and a church consultant through his organization, Renewal Ministries. Lehr approaches the issue of burnout through the lens of codependency which typically expresses itself among ministers in one of six forms (see summary below).

In the first part, he describes codependence, the codependent tendencies of Myers-Briggs temperaments (NF, SJ, NT), how codependence may be institutionalized in congregations, and how codependency affects one’s spirituality. In part two, Lehr shows how the Gospel’s message of hope, unconditional love, and an open future offer healing. He then suggests paths toward spirituality maturity, balance, and healthy boundaries. The appendix includes a helpful assessment tool. This is a very readable and useful volume.

From the Publisher

In this highly accessible book, Fred Lehr clarifies the nature and practice of clergy codependence. In twentytwo, short, insightful, and highly readable chapters, filled with many examples and stories from his own life and those of others he has counseled, Lehr identifies the typical forms codependence takes in the life and ministry of clergy: (1) the chief-enabler, the one who keeps things functioning; (2) the scapegoat, the one on whom everything’s blamed when it goes wrong, the one who’s responsible; (3) the hero, the example, the pure and righteous one; (4) the lost child, the one no one really knows or cares about; (5) the rescuer, the one who saves the day, makes the visit, fixes the problem, makes everything all right again; (6) the mascot, the cheerleader, the one who offers comic relief, brings down the tension level after a heated discussion.

About the Author

John Frederick (Fred) Lehr is an ELCA pastor (graduate of Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, and Drew-D.Min). He is the founder and Manager of Renewal Ministries, LLC, a ministry of training and consulting for church systems, church leaders, and church professionals with special emphasis on conflict management, change management, healthy boundaries, stress management, healthy congregations, and more. The author has suffered from many of the codependent behaviors of church leadership he describes in this manuscript. For eight years he worked at the Church Renewal Center, a specialized treatment program at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania, designed exclusively for church professionals. Many of the people he worked with had problems that stemmed from their codependence. His D. Min. project was on stress management and spiritual wellness. He continues to expand his ministry as the founder and manager of Renewal Ministries LLC.



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