Are Professional Boundaries in Ministry Weakened by Email?
Email creates special professional boundary problems for the minister who gives out his or her email address. Here are several ways that ministry boundaries can be blurred when ministers communicate with congregation members by email. First, it is a breach of time boundaries and may undermine effective time management. Emails can be written and replied to at times when the ministry relationship is not in effect. All non-family relationships have times when they are in effect and when they are not. Emails seem like an efficient way to communicate…and they are. And that’s a potential problem because people can ‘spam’ ministers with a stream of communications which they expect the minister to answer. This affects the minister’s ability to control his or her time. And the lack of efficient time management is an important cause of burnout among ministers. Second, email confidentiality doesn’t exist…unless the content is encrypted. Emails can be read along their transmission route over t
