Hello {{first_name}}
A quick one between issues.
A couple of weeks back, Karen Stuckey sat down with Neil Johnson on Vision Christian Radio's 20twenty programme to talk about Church Support Australia. It's a 13-minute segment, worth a listen on the commute or while you're getting dinner ready.
She said one thing worth mentioning. When Neil asked why pastoral burnout is so high, Karen called it "a support gap, not a faith gap."
That's the line. It's not that pastors and administrators are running out of faith. It's that they're running out of practical support: someone to share the load, systems that work, permission to stop carrying everything alone. The Australian research backs it up. A 2023 study by clinical psychologist Valerie Ling found that 35% of Australian ministers had seriously considered quitting in the previous year. The reasons were loneliness, family impact, and work stress. Not a faith problem. A structure problem.
That gap is what Church Support Australia exists to help close.
While I'm here, a small heads up. We're rebuilding the Church Support Australia website over the next couple of months. Things will look a little different when you next visit. The fortnightly newsletter stays exactly where it is, in your inbox every other Monday, with the Story, Takeaway, and Toolbox you've come to expect.
One more thing. If you know a pastor, bi-vocational pastor, church administrator, or a volunteer who's carrying the operational load of their church mostly on their own, send this email their way.
Hit forward. Or use the share link below. The more people we can reach with this, the more useful all of this becomes.
Thanks for journeying with us.
Jackson