When a Pastor Needs a Pastor:

Pastoral ministry is holy work—but it is also emotionally demanding, spiritually exhausting, and often isolating.

When a Pastor Needs a Pastor is a clear, compassionate guide for pastors and clergy navigating burnout, depression, compassion fatigue, and the unspoken toll of ministry. Written for ministers across Christian traditions and faith contexts, this book addresses the mental health needs of clergy with honesty, theological depth, and practical wisdom.

Too many pastors are taught to sacrifice themselves for the church. They are expected to be endlessly available, spiritually resilient, and emotionally invisible. This book tells the truth: pastors bleed, too. And no calling requires self-destruction.

Grounded in pastoral experience and public theology, When a Pastor Needs a Pastor centers the lived realities of Black pastors, LGBTQIA+ pastors, disabled pastors, chaplains, and faith leaders who carry both sacred responsibility and systemic pressure. It explores clergy burnout, moral injury, grief, depression, vocational fatigue, and the struggle to ask for help in church cultures that reward overwork.

Inside, readers will find:

• Language to name burnout and emotional exhaustion without shame

• Theological permission to rest, seek therapy, and set boundaries

• Honest critiques of church systems that normalize self-erasure

• Practical guidance for building pastoral care and support networks

• A vision of ministry rooted in dignity, sustainability, and survival

This is not a book about quitting ministry. It is a book about staying alive within it.

Ideal for pastors, seminarians, chaplains, denominational leaders, and anyone supporting faith leaders, When a Pastor Needs a Pastor reframes care as essential, not optional—and insists that asking for help is an act of faith.