Visiting Researcher Gail Cafferata shares new research in Pastoral Psychology

When a pastor faces closing a church, what are the toughest challenges? How do these challenges affect the pastor’s level of stress and well-being? Can respectful relationships within the congregation and with colleagues in a denomination’s middle administrative body (judicatory) buffer stress? How can the diverse ways individuals navigate these changing relationships expand a sociological view of the contemporary church? CPT Visiting Researcher Rev. Dr. Gail Cafferata offers insight to these questions in her recently published article, “Respect, Challenges, and Stress among Protestant Pastors Closing a Church: Structural and Identity Theory Perspectives.”A laptop allows a full-text view-only version, and a mobile device a more limited view. For further information or questions about this research, please contact Rev. Dr. Cafferata at gailc@bu.edu.