Clergy Recovery Network

We are excited to welcome you to our new web site. For the last 10 years we have been providing mentoring services to clergy and their families and this site represents some of the things we are learning. Here you will learn about us, how we might be helpful to you, and where else you may find help if you need it. We are glad you are here and want to encourage you to reach for all the grace you may need. Grace is still amazing and available for you.

This sight is designed for you. All of the categorized articles are deliberately interactive like Blogs so you may participate. We ask you to post and post again. Disagreement, continue reading » »

The adventure of a lifetime could be yours! The Horseback Adventure in Montana’s majestic Rocky Mountains is the ultimate in adventure and renewal for clergy. The dates this year are September 28, 2008 through October 6, 2008. The detailed daily schedule and all the particulars are found by clicking on the Adventures on Horseback link in the column on the right. Make application early. The spaces are tightly limited and the cost is minimal!

He was a stray. No one claimed him. He was cagey, fearful, wary. Even as cats go he was not nice looking. He was no cute kitty. Instead he was an obviously older cat. His ears were short. One eye constantly watered. He wasn’t nice either. He slinked around on the sly, trying to rob what food he could and avoid all human contact. Fear and survival dominated his demeanor. He lived on the edge of foliage always close to cover, never friendly or inviting

Sara and I responded to him as a threat to our pretty domesticated cats and with voice, dirt clods and gestures we put him on the run. When he entered our yard we sent him back to the wild. continue reading » »

The Sterling Wolery Memorial Fund is a fund established by the Clergy Recovery Network early in 2006. The purpose of this fund is to defray the expenses of small groups of pastors participating in Montana Horseback adventures under the auspices of the Clergy Recovery Network. continue reading » »

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 encompassing and easily becomes all consuming. Sorting out the incredible enormity of God’s charge in his clergy life is only part of the prioritizing problems every pastor faces. Other factors are also at work disfiguring the life works of clergy by the destructive affliction of work addiction. continue reading » »

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 case. Most ministry marriages are not models of Christianity let alone Christian marriage.

Emotional distance is more common than intimacy with clergy couples. The fishbowl pressures on pastoral spouses and children are enormous and they feel it keenly. Most continue reading » »