Quote:
Originally Posted by russhutto
What are the contributing factors that cause said stress?
It can't be the actual "work" - I don't find anything stressful about playing music, arranging music, working out harmonies, leading the band, etc.
I would dare say that it might be the relationship dynamics between the WL and his supervisors (pastors/committees/etc).
I know for me the most stressful parts of any of my positions were those relationships. Kind of sad really.
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If the relationship with your senior pastor and leadership committee has always been the most stressful part of your job, you're either very lucky to have great jobs or very unlucky to have such difficult leadership. I'm not sure which.
Some other "contributing factors" that I've seen:
-the arranging, rehearsing etc might not be stressful in itself, but with tight deadlines and high expectations it can be VERY stressful
-long hours, lots of nights away from the family for rehearsals/evening services/classes/trying to finish arrangements/whatever other work gets thrown to you as the resident creative/artistic person
-dealing with volunteers and conflicting priorities - how many threads can you find on this board about dealing with volunteers, how to balance inclusion vs. excellence, etc?
-different members of the church requesting conflicting things musically - louder, too loud, do more hymns, do more modern music - especially when those people are elders, large donors or otherwise "powerful" members of the church
-all of the crap that goes on with church politics - not fun
-dealing with all of that while not being paid a living wage
All churches are different, for sure. I've known some worship pastors who were very well paid but I've known many who had to take a second job to make ends meet. It seems to me that a lot of the issues with politics are more present in older denominational churches with a lot of history (the family that's been at this church for 6 generations) but anyone can play the game. The 2.5 year average tenure statistic is very telling, and it doesn't take much reading here on the board to see that a bunch of folks are stressed about their job.