CLERGY BURNOUT : Recovering from the 70-hour Work Week and Other Self-Defeating Practices

In this highly accessible book, Fred Lehr clarifies the nature and practice of clergy codependence. In short, insightful, and highly readable chapters, filled with many examples and stories from his own life and those he has counseled, Lehr identifies the typical forms codependence takes in the life and ministry of clergy:

the chief-enabler, the one who keeps things functioning;

the scapegoat, the one on whom everything's blamed when it goes wrong, the one who's responsible;

the hero, the example, the pure and righteous one;

the lost child, the one no one really knows or cares about;

the rescuer, the one who saves the day, makes the visit, fixes the problem, makes everything all right again;

the mascot, the cheerleader, the one who offers comic relief, brings down the tension level after a heated discussion.

Fred Lehr is a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and founder and manager of Renewal Ministries, a ministry of training and consulting about church systems, church leaders, and church professionals. His practice emphasizes conflict management, change management, healthy boundaries, stress management, and healthy congregations. He founded and directed the Church Renewal Center, a specialized treatment program at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania, designed exclusively for church professionals.