{"id":21328,"date":"2010-08-18T01:28:12","date_gmt":"2010-08-18T01:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/127.0.0.1\/site\/2017\/2\/1985\/ny_times_letters-the_pressures_faced_by_todays_clergy\/"},"modified":"2010-08-18T01:28:12","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T01:28:12","slug":"ny_times_letters-the_pressures_faced_by_todays_clergy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=21328","title":{"rendered":"NY Times Letters&#8211;The Pressures Faced by Today\u2019s Clergy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here is one <i>(please note the author)<\/i>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>G. Jeffrey MacDonald ascribes clergy burnout to \u201ccongregational pressure to forsake one\u2019s highest calling.\u201d\u009d The real problem is the provider versus consumer mentality.<\/p>\n<p>Ministry is not solely the work of professionally trained clergy. Rather it is a shared enterprise in which lay people are equal partners. Clergy burnout occurs because both parties lose sight of this fact. The result is clergy who believe that they must meet everyone\u2019s needs while playing the role of a lone superhero, and members of the laity who are either infantilized or embittered because they cannot make meaningful contributions to their church.<\/p>\n<p>Embracing a circular ministry model that values and uses the gifts of laity and clergy while sharing power and authority engages everyone in the work of reconciliation. The big questions are: Will the clergy be able to give up their ascribed power? And will the laity be able to step up to the challenge of their baptism?<\/p>\n<p>Bonnie Anderson<br \/>\nNew York, Aug. 9, 2010 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2010\/08\/15\/opinion\/l15clergy.html\">Read them all<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here is one (please note the author): G. Jeffrey MacDonald ascribes clergy burnout to \u201ccongregational pressure to forsake one\u2019s highest calling.\u201d\u009d The real problem is the provider versus consumer mentality. Ministry is not solely the work of professionally trained clergy.<span class=\"ellipsis\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/?p=21328\">Read more &#8250;<\/a><\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":794,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,39,104,435,184,177,129,108,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-life-church-life","category-culture-watch","category-health-medicine","category-ministry-of-the-ordained","category-parish-ministry","category-pastoral-theology","category-psychology","category-religion-culture","category-theology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/794"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21328\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kendallharmon.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}