Clergy Recovery Network

The most common solution proposed to help pastors share their secret struggles is the establishment of accountability groups. This is deemed important because as Gayle Haggard shares in her book, Why I Stayed, “Secrets are what empowers sin.” To effectively curb sin in ministry professional souls and lives the solution is accountability. Right? Probably not. [...]

I have only heard Gordon MacDonald speak one time. It was in the early summer of 1988. His talk encouraged me emotionally during a very painful period in my private life. His subject? The Private Life of the Public Person. I identified profoundly with him because my secret struggles were just surfacing. After he spoke [...]

by Dale O. Wolery and Dale S. Ryan It doesn’t seem that complicated. He is drowning, arms flailing. Throw him a rope. If he grabs the rope. Pull him out. Simple. Rescue complete. But in real life it seldom works that simply. There are complications. Lots of them.

Enrichment, the ministry professionl’s journal published by the Asssemblies of God, has recently published one of Dale Wolery’s articles. It is called, Healing for the Broken Ministry Marriage. Rick Knoth, the Managing Editor of Enrichment, came to this web site, saw some articles he liked and asked Dale to write the article. We invite you [...]

Serving God is daunting. God’s call on a minister’s life honors him in such a way he tries hard, maybe harder than required to do all he can to please God and those God entrusts to his care. The breadth of God’s call and God’s commission to the Church and especially its leaders is all [...]

When a minister stands to speak as God does on the subject of marriage, most listeners assume he and his wife practice what he preaches in the privacy of their home. Because of the stressful nature of the pastorate, the generational breakdown of family relationships and the driven nature of professional leadership this is seldom [...]

The darkness of depression drains light and life from a soul and damages its close relationships. This is especially true for clergy who become depressed. Ministers share the good news of the Gospel implying this good news will alleviate unwanted sadness, bring joy and provide hope. But, like every other depressed human, these emotionally positive [...]

Who do you tell? What should you tell? When should you tell? As a secret life begins to unravel it is difficult to know what to say, when to say it and to whom you should tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

A recent perusal of a major denomination’s regular publication, its written mouthpiece, contained lots of photos. Some were if its highest ranking leaders. It also contained pictures of recent seminary graduations, special denominational conferences and obituary pictures. If the text of the publication was ignored and the pictures searched for a unifying theme it would [...]

Emotional pain was in her voice but her body hurt too. Her story poured out and she kept saying, “I am so afraid, I am so afraid.” The force of her husband’s angry aggression had sent her hurtling to the floor with her head bouncing off the end of the bed frame. She wondered aloud [...]