MANY Presbyterian ministers were carrying the emotional scars of their ministry in silence, the church's general assembly in Belfast was told yesterday.
The Rev John Lockington, of the Gardenmore congregation in Larne, Co Antrim, said for some the cuts went so deep they would never heal.
"I know members of the ministry, and so do you, who have been through the dark night of the soul and they would love to have somebody down the line somewhere, who could comfort them," be told delegates.
The general assembly approved a resolution calling on its Divine Healing Committee to prepare a consultative condensed report of a survey it carried out last year into ministerial stress which showed as many as one in five clergymen were considering leaving the ministry.
Another motion called on the committee to report next year to the general assembly on what "specific actions need to be taken to help ministers cope with stress."
While all who spoke during the debate the liveliest of the day agreed the problem should be investigated, some, such as former Moderator Dr Rodney Sterrett, felt reaction to the reports were "over the top".
"We need to keep this in perspective and say that ministers are under no greater stress than people of other professions, for example members of the farming community at this time."
Mr Jack McKee, an elder from the Whitehead congregation in Co Antrim, took a similar line, arguing there would be unemployed people who "might relish the idea of a scale of occupational stress at a salary, of £14,000 a year and expenses.
The Rev Brian Boyd, of the Kells and Eskylane congregation, Co Antrim, told of his own feelings when forced to take time off work through stress.
"One of the real problems is that we who are ministers very often portray ourselves as having all the answers. Then suddenly we have no answers.
"Suddenly the faith we have in God seems to disappear. You wonder does He exist, does He love us, does He care for us, is there a future at all.
"If it were not for Him holding onto us, we would go right the way down to the abyss.
The Rev Ivan Hull, a member of the committee which carried out the survey, said emotional stress among the clergy was inevitable unless steps were taken to prevent it.
Earlier in the day, during a debate on church spending, the assembly was told it should "hang its head in shame" for allowing cuts in the grant to a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre. The Rev Henry Gray, minister of Granshaw, south Belfast, criticised the United Appeal Board's proposal to reduce the grant given to Belfast's Carlisle House centre from the £17,500 requested for next year to just £3,000.