The Rev. Fred Wooden remembers a time when ministers’ responsibilities were rather straightforward: Preach a sermon that kept a majority of the congregation awake, visit the sick, and officiate at weddings and funerals.

Nowadays, ministers are shouldering a heavier workload that, for some, is taking a toll on their health and personal lives.

“The pressure to perform has gone up,” said Wooden, whose three decades in the ministry include five years as senior minister of Fountain Street Church in downtown Grand Rapids. “But the financial resources to create performance have not gone up.”

The foray into multitasking often includes futilely trying to meet hundreds, sometimes thousands, of people’s expectations, continual fundraising campaigns, juggling bookkeeping and administrative responsibilities and chairing one too many committees.

Social media adds to the mix of responsibilities. Today, clergy often are expected to be on Facebook, write blogs and add high-tech touches to spice up worship services.
The pressure to perform is showing its detrimental side.

Recent studies indicate clergy have more stress-related health problems than the general population and work longer hours — an average of 51 hours a week, according to one study.

In what researchers say is the largest and most detailed comparison of the health of clergy with that of the general population, Duke University’s Clergy Health Initiative found in a study published in July that United Methodist Church ministers in North Carolina had higher-than-average rates of obesity, diabetes, blood pressure, asthma and arthritis.

Read More: http://www.mlive.com/living/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/11/stress_in_the_clergy_todays_mi.html