Beyond Burnout
A Clergy Care Handbook for Moral Injury and Faithful Discernment
- Church Leadership & Ministry
- Publisher: Wipf and Stock
- Published: 2026
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Publisher's Description
Beyond Burnout: A Clergy Care Handbook for Moral Injury and Faithful Discernment addresses a growing reality in ministry: many pastors are not simply exhausted. They are morally strained, spiritually conflicted, and carrying institutional pressures that rest alone cannot resolve. This book argues that burnout language is too narrow to describe what clergy are experiencing. Moral injury more accurately names the wound that forms when conscience, calling, and institutional demands collide. Drawing on pastoral theology, lived experience, and Reformed theological resources, Beyond Burnout offers a practical framework for understanding this deeper strain. Designed as a handbook, it equips clergy and judicatory leaders with tools for discernment, practices of care, and theological clarity. Rather than offering quick fixes, it helps pastors examine the moral weight they carry and respond faithfully without abandoning their vocation. Beyond Burnout invites church leaders to move past survival and toward integrity, resilience, and sustained faithfulness in ministry.
Endorsements (1)
“Dr. Smith takes on the provocative issue of moral injury among clergy, including the difficult matter of what to do when those inflicting the injury are well-intentioned yet unaware. This book is well suited to our times, where pastors frequently have to choose between naming injustice and keeping the peace. Beyond Burnout is certain to make a significant positive difference for clergy and church leaders alike.”
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