Pastors’ Emotions: The Effect of Emotional Regulation on New Zealand Baptist Pastors’ Work-Related Affective Well-Being

There is a wide body of research on the impact of stress on pastors’ physical, psychological, and emotional well-being. However, we are unaware of any published studies exploring how using emotional regulation (ER) strategies influences pastors’ work-related affective well-being (AWB). This article seeks to address this gap by reporting the findings of a study that utilised a Critical Realist methodology to identify the causes and conditions producing New Zealand Baptist pastors’ AWB. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 pastors. The interviews were analysed thematically, and then through the process of abduction, the utilisation of ER strategies was identified as a plausible explanation for the variation in pastors’ AWB. We found that Baptist pastors utilise a range of adaptive and maladaptive ER strategies. In our view, pastors who utilise adaptive strategies experience long-term positive benefits for their AWB. We suggest it would be beneficial for pastors to engage in psychoeducation on ER, contextualised for pastoral ministry, to help increase their utilisation of adaptive strategies.