Clergy Spiritual Vitality
According to a survey taken by the Center for Health at the United Methodist Board of Pensions and Benefits, spiritual health for clergy has much to do with “feeling God’s presence in church events and daily life”. Maintaining a healthy spiritual life while facing the demands of practicing ministry is so difficult that even Jesus had to get away to keep in touch with God on several occasions such as in Luke 6:12 where it says, “And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus went out into a mountain to pray…” John Wesley suggested that spiritual wellness was the foundation of wholeness when he said, “The love of God, as it is the sovereign remedy of all miseries, so in particular it effectually prevents all the bodily disorders the passions introduce, by keeping the passions themselves within due bounds; and by the unspeakable joy and perfect calm serenity and tranquility it gives the mind; it becomes the most powerful of all the means of health and long life”. (John Wesley, Primitive Physick, 1947)