"If You Drew a Venn Diagram, It Was All One Circle": Organizational Identification and Enmeshment in Church Workers

Church workers often face tensions in their roles, negotiating their identities as both workers and followers of religion. Guided by organizational identification and enmeshment, this study examines the enactment and consequences of worker-follower identity tensions, drawing from interviews with church workers who have recently left their roles. Analysis revealed participants were encouraged to enmesh their identities, guilted or induced to identify, compelled to be "always on" and a direct reflection of the church, and attempted to resist using their faith. Theoretically, this study conceptualizes discursive and relational enmeshment, which explains inducements to identity conflation. Additionally, it offers implications for chronic-conflicted identification (resulting in exit or burnout). Practically, it addresses ways to avoid harmful d/Discourses and increase accountability for leadership.