Posted on July 24, 2026 by Rita Burley, LISW
Church Worker Wellness
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Church workers often carry more than full calendars. Along with meetings, sermons, counseling, and administrative responsibilities come the concerns of the people they serve. It’s easy for those burdens to accumulate, leaving the mind feeling crowded and restless. One simple practice that can help create greater clarity and peace is putting your worries on paper.
Have you ever felt relief after writing a simple shopping list? Nothing has changed — you have not bought the groceries yet — but your mind feels calmer. That small moment points to something important: the brain relaxes when scattered thoughts are organized and placed somewhere outside of itself.
The same principle can help with worry. When stressors are written down, sorted, and prioritized, they often feel less overwhelming and more manageable.
Our brains are not designed to hold endless, unorganized information. Unfinished tasks, emotional concerns, and looming decisions create cognitive load — the mental effort of trying to keep every concern active in the mind. Writing things down provides cognitive offloading, meaning the mind no longer has to rehearse every concern to avoid forgetting it.
This also connects with the Zeigarnik effect: unfinished tasks tend to stay active in our awareness. A written list does not solve everything, but it can begin to “close the loop” by giving the brain a clear place to return.
A shopping list feels calming because it organizes scattered thoughts, reduces the fear of forgetting, and creates a sense of readiness. The task has not disappeared, but your relationship to it has changed. Uncertainty becomes structure.
Writing out worries can work in a similar way. Instead of carrying a cloud of concerns, you create a visible list that can be sorted, named, and approached one step at a time.
Research on expressive writing, including work associated with psychologist James Pennebaker, suggests that putting thoughts and feelings into words can reduce emotional distress, improve clarity, support problem-solving, and decrease rumination for many people.
From a brain-based perspective, writing engages the prefrontal cortex — the part of the brain involved in reasoning, planning, and organization. This can help calm the amygdala, the brain’s emotional alarm system. In simpler terms, writing can help the “thinking brain” support the “worry brain.”
When your mind feels crowded, try this simple exercise:
Write it down.
List your worries, stressors, or unfinished tasks without editing yourself.
Group and prioritize.
Sort them into categories such as work, relationships, finances, health, or home.
Choose one next step.
Identify one small action you can take, such as making a phone call, sending an email, or scheduling an appointment.
Name what is outside your control.
Recognizing what you cannot change can help reduce mental looping and free you to focus on what you can do.
Writing is most helpful when it creates movement, not simply emotional release. For some people — especially during periods of intense distress or trauma activation — unstructured writing can increase rumination or emotional overwhelm.
To keep the practice helpful, set aside 10–20 minutes, organize what you write, identify one next step, and pay attention to how your body and mind respond. If writing leaves you feeling more distressed, pause and turn to grounding practices, prayer, physical movement, or support from a trusted friend, pastor, or counselor.
When writing is done with structure and intention, people often notice that their thoughts feel less chaotic, their problems seem more manageable, and their anxiety softens — even before everything is solved.
Writing your worries down will not remove every burden, but it can help you carry them differently. By creating space for clearer thinking and purposeful action, this simple habit can become one small way to care for the mind God has given you as you continue to care for others.
Our church needs healthy workers. Lutheran Family Service knows the importance of proactive wellness and encourages church workers to prioritize mental health just as much as physical health. We have years of experience serving church workers in LCMS congregations and schools. If your congregation, yourself, or a church worker you know would benefit from the support of Lutheran Family Service, refer to or contact us today.
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