Character ethics are basic to ministerial ethics. William Willimon warns:

“the great ethical danger for clergy is not that we might “burn out,” … not that we might lose the energy required to do ministry. Our danger is that we might “black out,” that is lose consciousness as to why we are here and who we are called to be for Christ and his church.”

William H Willimon, Calling and Character: Virtues of the Ordained Life (Nashville: Abingdon, 2000), 21