BBT Offers Workshop at Caring Ministries 2000

One of the workshops at the Association of Brethren Caregivers' Caring Ministries 2000 Conference in June will feature Cinny Poppen, Assistant Director of Interpretation, discussing the results of a survey conducted by BBT last summer. More than half of all Church of the Brethren pastors responded to questions about wellness: what positive steps they take to assure good health and what stresses and problems particularly affect clergy.

Cinny Poppen is the Assistant Director of Interpretation for BBT

Poppen noted that as a group, pastors consider themselves very healthy and their congregations very supportive. However, at least 40 percent checked loss of leisure time, heavy feelings of obligations to others, and guilt about taking time off work as significant problems. Seventy-five percent indicated the education of congregations and church boards would be a helpful next step. Pastors indicated support for actions that would contribute to denomination-wide awareness and understanding of their wellness issues.

During the workshop, participants will have a chance to complete a wellness assessment tool entitled Life's Odyssey, developed by Karen Carrier, BBT's consultant on holistic health. A focus on the well-being of pastors fits in well with the overall conference theme of "Be Transformed in Body, Mind, and Spirit."

For a copy of the report on pastors' wellness, call Cinny Poppen at 800-746-1505, extension 376.