Gwen Wagstrom Halaas, M.D., Clergy, Retirement, and Wholeness: Looking Forward to the Third Age. Alban Institute, 2005. Referenced in: Minister Self-Care LifeandLeadership.com Summary In one of the few books of its kind, Wagstrom draws from her experience as a family physician, medical educator, and director of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s (ELCA) Ministerial Health and
Gary Fenton, Your Ministry’s Next Chapter: Restoring the Passion of the Mid-Career Pastor. Baker Books, 2005. Referenced in: Minister Self-Care LifeandLeadership.com Summary Not every minister experiences a crisis in mid-life, but most do become more reflective. Fenton offers very helpful perspective on issues of the mid-career pastor. Some mid-life pastors succumb to the insidious tendency
William Bridges, Transitions: Making Sense of Life’s Changes. Second edition, expanded and updated. De Capo Press, 2004. Referenced in: Minister Self-Care LifeandLeadership.com Summary Bridges writes this long-time best seller out of his own experience in the 1970s where he left an enviable career as a respected professor and entered a period of great uncertainty about
Bruce G. Epperly and Katherine Gould Epperly, Four Seasons of Ministry: Gathering a Harvest of Righteousness. Alban Institute, 2008. Referenced in: Minister Self-Care LifeandLeadership.com Summary The authors offer great insight into how ministers may realize their greatest contribution in each phase of their lives. They express these phases as four seasons of ministry: Springtime –
Stephen Arterburn and John Shore, Midlife Manual for Men: Finding Significance in the Second Half. Bethany House, 2009. Referenced in: Minister Self-Care LifeandLeadership.com Summary This volume from Stephen Arterburn, while addressed only to men, and not exclusively to ministers, provides excellent counsel for male ministers whose need for professional direction and self-care may be elevated
Judith A. Schwarz, Blessed Connections: Relationships that Sustain Vital Ministry. Alban Institute, 2008. Referenced in: Ministry Burnout, Preventing and Overcoming LifeandLeadership.Com Summary Schwarz believes the startling statistics about ministry burnout and failure point to a breakdown in primary relationships with self, God, and others. The first three chapters discuss the development of an authentic self,
Gary R. Collins, Editor, and Louis M. McBurney, M.D., Author, Counseling Christian Workers: A How-To Approach. Resources for Christian Counselors, Volume 2. Thomas Nelson, 1994. Referenced in: Ministry Support Systems LifeandLeadership.Com Summary Part I of this resource covers the same issues as McBurney’s older volume, Every Pastor Needs a Pastor. Parts II and III are
Louis M. McBurney, M.D., Every Pastor Needs a Pastor. Self-Control Systems, 1978. Referenced in: Ministry Burnout, Preventing and Overcoming LifeandLeadership.com Summary This text is over 30 years old, and the ministerial role has changed over that time. But the conditions of the ministerial role and the spiritual and psychological dynamics of ministers described herein remain
Gary D. Kinnaman and Alfred H. Ells, Leaders That Last: How Covenant Friendships Can Help Pastors Thrive. Baker Books, 2003. Referenced in: Ministry Support Systems LifeandLeadership.com Summary Ministers usually have scores if not hundreds of acquaintances, but often lack even one real friend. Members of their churches often regard themselves as the minister’s friend, but
Gary L. Harbaugh, Rebecca Breneis and Rodney R. Hutton, Covenants and Care: Boundaries in Life, Faith, and Ministry. Augsburg Fortress, 1998. Referenced in: Ministry Support Systems LifeandLeadership.Com Summary The scope of this work is broader than covenant support groups for ministry self-care, addressing how such covenants help one enliven their service to family, congregation, and
