Spiritual Well-Being

Among clergy, better spiritual well-being now is associated with lower depressive symptoms later

Our findings underscore the importance of maintaining strong spiritual practices, not just for immediate well-being but also for managing long-term mental health and stress.

Read Our Research Summary

Resources

Loved and Cared For: A Handy Guide for P/SPRCs Who Want to Support Their Pastor Well

This guide is intended to help P/SPRCs engage in practices which support their pastor feeling loved and cared for. The ideas in this guide can be explored in more detail as a committee through the resource Keeping the Faith.

Fully Alive: A Resource to Guide Clergy Towards Four Behaviors of Flourishing

A comprehensive resource for clergy and faith leaders that defines Christian flourishing, guides clergy to assess their current well-being, distills four identified behaviors of flourishing into actionable steps, and creates room for reflection.

Keeping the Faith: Conversations to Strengthen the Bond Between Pastors and Church Leaders

Addressing tough topics is essential for healthy churches & pastors. This guide offers tools to help P/SPRC committees and their pastors come together for difficult conversations and offers skills needed to live together in healthy community.

Deepen Your Discernment with the Daily Examen

The Daily Examen is a method of prayerful reflection on the day's events to see where God has been present and discern God’s current direction for you. It is a simple but powerful prayer that can be practiced by anyone, including congregations.

Love Thy Neighbor with Loving Kindness

Loving Kindness Meditation is an effective tool for building compassion during times of stress. In this resource, we share stories from clergy who have used this meditation practice to care for their own health, while caring for others.

Pastor & Parish: A Learning Resource for Staff/Pastor-Parish Relations Committees

Combining videos, workbook content, guided discussion and complementary readings, this six-session series for United Methodist staff-parish relations committees offers guidance on how to create a covenant to guide their work as a ministry.

List of Recommended Well-Being Practices for Clergy

Evidence-based practices designed to increase your resilience, protect against burnout, and free up energy to do God's work with a renewed sense of creativity and insight.

Research Summaries

Spiritual Well-Being Protective Factor against Depressive Symptoms

Stressful work can lead to feelings of discouragement. Our study among UMC clergy in North Carolina showed that depressive symptoms often arise before work-related distress, with spiritual well-being acting as a buffer against these challenges.

Childhood Abuse Associated with Greater Spiritual Struggles in Seminarians—What We Know and What Can Help

For students with significant trauma in their backgrounds, struggles with God can further amplify struggles with mental health. Addressing both together rather than separately can aid the path to healing.

Reports & Briefs

The State of Clergy Wellbeing in 2023

This report highlights top-level findings from the 2023 Statewide Clergy Health Survey. While many health measures remained stable, two key areas were identified for improvement: sleep and vigorous exercise.

Clergy Health Trends: Spiritual Wellbeing 2008-2023

In this report, readers will find trends on three dimensions of spiritual wellbeing for United Methodist Church (UMC) clergy in North Carolina: spiritual wellbeing in daily life, spiritual wellbeing in ministry, and satisfaction with one’s ministry.

Witnessing the Wounds: BIPOC Clergy in the United Methodist Church Reflect on Their Callings, Careers, and Pastoral Experiences

Amid clergy burnout and civil unrest, a group of seventeen Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) clergy were asked questions regarding their call stories, ordination experiences, and careers in the North Carolina United Methodist Church.

Blessings of Retirement

We took a closer look at how things are going for clergy who have been serving for decades, those who are 55 and older, and those who have retired. And guess what? The life indicators look good in each case!

Journal Articles

2025
Kim, E. T., Lee, B. H. J., & Proeschold-Bell, R. J. (2025). Does Flourishing Mental Health Improve Perceived Quality of Life? Journal of Happiness Studies, 26(6), 95. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-025-00929-w

2024
Upenieks, L, Eagle, D.E., & Holleman, A. (2024). Childhood Abuse and the Mental Health of Seminary Students: The Mediating Role of R/S Struggles. Review of Religious Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/0034673X241302420

2023
Proeschold-Bell, R.J., Eagle, D.E., Tice, L.C. et al. (2023). The Selah pilot study of spiritual, mindfullness, and stress inoculation practices on stress-related outcomes among United Methodist Clergy in the United States. Journal of Religion and Health. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-023-01848-x

Upenieks, L. and Eagle, D.E. (2023). “Divine Struggles Among Those Doing God’s Work: A Longitudinal Assessment Predicting Depression and Burnout and the Role of Social Support in United Methodist Clergy.” Sociology of Religion. https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srad014

2021
Proeschold-Bell, R. J., Stringfield, B., Yao, J., Choi, J., Eagle, D., Hybels, C., Parnell, H., Keefe, K., & Shilling, S. (2021). Changes in Sabbath-keeping and mental health over time: Evaluation findings from the Sabbath Living study. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 50(2), 123-138. https://doi.org/10.1177/00916471211046227

2019
Hough, H., Proeschold-Bell, R.J., Liu, X., Weisner, C., Turner, E.L., & Yao, J. (2019). Relationships between Sabbath observance and mental, physical, and spiritual health in clergy. Pastoral Psychology, 68(2), 171-193. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-018-0838-9

Milstein, G., Hybels, C., & Proeschold-Bell, R.J. (2019). A prospective study of clergy spiritual well-being depressive symptoms and occupational distress. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 12(4), 409-416. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/rel0000252