In this article we explore two factors that combine to determine a person’s ministry wellbeing: their sense of effectiveness and emotional energy. Thriving in ministry happens when these two factors combine in a positive way.
Sense of Effectiveness: Each person will have a sense of their effectiveness with regard to the tasks and relationships of ministry. Rather than how effective in an objective sense a leader is in ministry, or how others might rate them, it is personal sense of effectiveness that is critical to whether a leader is thriving or vulnerable to burnout.
Emotional Energy: Each person also has reserves of enthusiasm and energy that may vary over time. Literature on burnout and thriving in ministry has highlighted emotional energy as the critical area. The degree of emotional exhaustion and to some degree mental exhaustion have been identified as key markers of burnout either impending or setting in.
Thriving in ministry happens when these two factors combine in a positive way with a high sense of effectiveness and low emotional exhaustion. A thriving leader feels highly effective in the tasks and relationships of ministry and has high reserves of enthusiasm and energy.
On the other hand, burnout happens when there is a low sense of effectiveness and high emotional exhaustion. A leader in burnout has a low sense of effectiveness in the tasks and relationships of ministry and feels chronically exhausted and unenthusiastic.
Combining ministry effectiveness and emotional exhaustion
NCLS Research has helped develop scales to examine these negative and positive phenomena in church leaders.
The Ministry Effectiveness Scale comprises five questions related to having a sense of effectiveness in the role:
- I have accomplished many worthwhile things in my ministry here
- I deal very effectively with the problems of the people here
- I can easily understand how the people here feel about things
- I feel that my pastoral ministry has a positive influence on people’s lives
- I feel that my teaching ministry has a positive influence on people’s faith
The Emotional Exhaustion Scale consists of the following questions:
- I feel drained in fulfilling my functions here
- Fatigue and irritation are part of my daily experience
- I am invaded by sadness I can’t explain
- I always have enthusiasm for my work (reversed)
- I have been discouraged by the lack of personal support for me here
- I find myself frustrated in my attempts to accomplish tasks important to me.
Scores on these two scales range from low (0) to high (10), with the highest scores representing strongest agreement with the statements.
When looking at these scales side by side you can see how one's sense of effectiveness is experiences alongside their degree of exhaustion.
Most leaders feel effective
Results show that most senior leaders in 2021 score well in the ministry effectiveness scale, with 97% scoring above the midpoint (5) on the scale and 67% scoring 8-10.
Most leaders feel energised rather than exhausted
Emotional exhaustion scores are more spread out, but a strong majority of leaders in 2021 (72%) are below the scale midpoint, indicating lower emotional exhaustion. Some 17% are above it, indicating they are more exhausted.
More information on leader resilience in ministry can be found in our articles:
How do leaders assess their ministry resilience foundations? and
Leader wellbeing: the impact of effectiveness and stress
