KINGDOM MATTERS
Research project focuses on
clergy wellness
Calling clergy for a project on being well
Broken Walls lives
up to its band name
Unique First Nations band
has beautiful mission
THE PRIMARY MINISTRY of the three-member Christian band Broken Walls
( www.brokenwalls.com) is to break
down the walls between the First
Nations people of Canada and non-Aboriginal people. The band, based
in Tyendinaga Territory in Ontario,
has toured the world, combining the
distinct sounds of Native American
rattles, a pow wow drum and Mohawk
wind flute with contemporary
instruments.
While they love to play their music
for an audience, connecting with
community members and building
relationships is a top priority. With
nine albums under their belts, Broken
Walls is gaining a reputation of great
respect among
Aboriginal
people across
North America
and around the
world.
“I go in and
figure out the
[local] customs,
and in general speak to the church
population and make them aware of
the issues,” says Jonathan Maracle,
the band’s founder and lead vocalist.
“Broken Walls is a tool to help build
relationships.”
The band has done several two-
week trips to isolated communities
in Alaska. “We sleep on the floors of
gymnasiums and present our suicide
prevention workshops,” says Maracle,
who believes building relationships
and visiting the same communities
over and over is crucial to this kind
of ministry. “There’s no microwave
solution. We have to be in it for the
long term, for the next generation and
the generation to follow.”
–LISA HALL-WILSON
CONVERSATIONS OVER SEVERAL
years with clergy and the pastoral
teams who support them led
Wanda Malcolm to devise the
Wycliffe Wellness Project
( www.wycliffewellnessproject.com).
Launched in July 2014, the project
aims to understand what gives
clergy the most stress – and the
most satisfaction.
“In interviews with clergy
about what they
found most stressful
about ministry life,
they could easily
describe ministry’s
greatest stressors,”
says Malcolm, a
clinical psychologist
and professor of
pastoral psychology
at Toronto’s Wycliffe
College. Clergy often
report that “the more
satisfying something can be, the
more stressful it is if it doesn't go
well,” she says.
Malcolm likens the survey to
a kind of “vocational wellness
checkup” that’s completely
confidential. It’s also not the most
common research method, since
the project will unfold over a period
of ten or more years. “People’s
experience changes over time.
Even at the best of times you only
get a snapshot, so participating
several times will give a series of
snapshots.”
Survey participation is
voluntary, and clergy can opt out
at any time, but Malcolm hopes
the information clergy receive
about their vocation along with
the confidential postsurvey
conversation will encourage them
to continue participating.
Malcolm is still looking for
participants who should be either
active in a church or working
as chaplains in schools, prisons,
hospitals or the military. They must
complete a set of questionnaires.
Afterward, participants are invited
to have a conversation with one of
the research team to discuss what
the results mean.
It’s not possible
to nail down one
thing that causes
stress, Malcolm says.
“Personality is part of
it, but doesn’t capture
it completely. You
could be even-keeled
and get a really
tough parish and the
experience could be
desperately stressful.”
Malcolm hopes
the research will help in a
number of ways – insight and
encouragement for clergy
themselves, plus invaluable
research to pass on to students
preparing for ministry life. Once
sufficient data are collected to
produce a statistical analysis, the
results will help point the way to
best support clergy wellness.
But Malcolm says the real value
is sharing feedback with individual
clergy and seeing the light come
on. In the conversations she’s had
so far, “Participants find it easy to
see which area to zoom in on … to
focus on making a difference … and
to think how they might engage in
the satisfying things more often,
those things that nurture their
well-being as a person.”
–ALEX NEWMAN
Wanda Malcolm heads
the Wycliffe Wellness
Project.
63%
PERCEN TAGE OF
CANADIANS WHO
REJECT RELIGION
WHO SAY THEY ARE
UNCOMFORTABLE
AROUND PEOPLE WHO
ARE RELIGIOUSLY
DEVOUT (ANGUS REID
POLL, 2015)
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