Is It Burnout, or Something Else?

‍Research from Barna indicates that many pastors and church workers are on the brink of burnout.. An even larger amount have considered or are considering walking away from their ministry roles altogether. Obviously there are serious issues church workers deal with and, with eternity on the line, the job is extremely stressful. But I can’t help but wonder if there’s something else going on.

I’m not a therapist. If you feel like you are on the brink of burnout, you should seek clinical help. If, however, you are a modern church leader, I’d challenge you to ask yourself if your issue is something different. Perhaps it’s not a clinical issue at all, such as anxiety or depression. What if you’re really not overworked? What if it's a more surface-level cause that requires a different solution than seeing a counselor?

What if instead of burning out, you are…

…Bored

Are you really just bored? As I reflect on times in my ministry journey where I’ve felt like I was on the verge of burnout, I realize many of those times I was just listless. I was still trying hard — not quite to the point of “mailing it in” — but certainly wandering a bit passionless in my role. In a way, everything had become too easy and I was inwardly unchallenged.

Solution: Find Your Passion

If this sounds like you, it’s critical that you find something within your ministry life to be passionate about. Zealots don’t burn out. When you find your passion, you’ll likely experience a renewed energy to live out that passion.

To find your passion, reflect on what you enjoy. Explore new areas of ministry activity. Take time to consider your strengths and the things that have historically made you happy. Keep a journal and take note of your mini mountain-top experiences.

Once you find your passion, you’ll feel less boredom and less burnout.

…Lonely

Too many church leaders are without genuine community. Sometimes you might feel loneliness as burnout, especially if you don’t have someone walking alongside you in the struggles and difficult times.

Solution: Find Your People

It sounds like a simple solution, but finding your people can be one of the most difficult “tasks” a church leader can undertake. First, it takes time. Second, when you spend all of your time pouring your life out in service to people, there’s not a lot of time left for filling your own cup so that you can be a good friend. Third, it’s difficult to have friendships amongst the people you serve and lead.

If you’re spending all your time in community with the people you serve and lead, you’re going to have a difficult time finding deep friendships. Instead, you need to find a hobby or getaway that doesn’t involve people you lead, so you can share that interest with others who share that hobby.

Consider joining peer groups of people who share your ministry experience, but that have no connection to your personal ministry. Attending a conference such as the Modern Church Leader Conference is a great way to make these connections.

Find volunteer opportunities that are away from your church. Sometimes the best friendships are formed when serving together with others.

There are many ways to “find your people,” but making those connections and being intentional about growing them is critically important in avoiding that burnout feeling.

…Lacking Vision 

Different from boredom (which is solved by finding your passion), a lack of vision is more about missing a clear view of the future to drive your passion toward. If you don’t know what to do, it’s easy to feel like there is something missing. If you don’t know where you are going, it’s tough to arrange the areas of your life in a meaningful way.

Proverbs 29:18 tells us where there is no vision, the people perish. We all need our own internal guiding goal to strive for. Without it, our souls are at risk of peril. It should be something worthy of our gifts and talents. When that is missing, everything else becomes a priority and our lives can feel like burnout.

Solution: Ask God to Help You Dream Big

Get away, out of the monotony of the daily grind, and ask God to rekindle the vision within you that he has planted. Ask him to give you a glimpse of the plans he has for you…for your future and for hope. Once he answers, write it down as a means of clarity and commitment (Habakkuk 2:2-3). Align your entire life around it and chase hard after it.

…Stagnant‍

Perhaps you know the vision God has given you and you’re not bored, but instead you are paralyzed. You’re in a catatonic state and it feels like you’re stuck. Maybe it’s from fear, maybe it’s overwhelm, maybe it’s from a missing skill or an unknown next step. Whatever it is that has you stalled and stagnant can sometimes be mistaken for a feeling of burnout.

Solution: Move!

Often times the right thing is less about what to do, but rather to just do something. Take a step. Move! Do anything. Any action is better than stagnation.

…Out of Integrity 

Lacking integrity often feels burdensome and can lead to feelings of burnout. Whether you’re in an active sin pattern, or you have more subtle integrity issues, the torment inside your soul is likely eating away at you.

There are many ways I’ve seen this manifest itself. The pastor who should be working 40-50 hours per week, sneaking away a bit too often to play golf. Or, the church worker who subtly steals supplies from the church supply closet. The leader who gossips too quickly about confidential matters. The resentful church staffer who 'quiet quits' because they do not earn as much as other team members..

Solution: Stop!

Whatever is causing your integrity problem, stop! Don’t do it anymore (or, if you’re not doing something you should be doing, get busy doing it). Even as you’re reading this, you probably know what that thing is inside of you that is morally questionable. Stop it before it destroys you!

…Confused

Sometimes the issue leading you toward burnout is much less sinister. Maybe you’re just confused. Perhaps you have so much going on, with so many good options available, you just don’t know what to do. Or, you’ve tried something that you were confident was the right thing to do, but it didn’t work and now you’re confused about what to do now.

The feeling of confusion can be frustrating. It can lead to feelings that are very similar to burnout.

‍Solution: Get a Coach

The solution is to get a coach, mentor, or advisor. Find someone who has been through what you’re going through and ask them how they got through it. Seek out guidance on what steps to take. Find some clarity for your confusion.

…Lazy

Have you ever known someone who is just plain lazy. Are you lazy yourself? Laziness is a specific integrity issue that plays into a character trait. Lazy people will lie to themselves to convince themselves they are overburdened and that they deserve a break. The inner conflict caused by the knowledge that there’s stuff to do, but choosing to allow others to do it can lead to a feeling of burnout.

I’ve known lots of ministry leaders who have grown lazy over their years of ministry and instead of accomplishing what they should be, they choose to procrastinate and do very little.

Solution: Get busy!

Get your butt up off the sofa and do the thing that needs to get done. You’ll feel better about yourself having accomplished something and you’ll have taken the important first step in overcoming the habit of laziness.

…Busy 

On the opposite end of the spectrum from laziness is busyness. It’s good to be busy about the mission and vision God has called you to. But that’s not what I’m talking about there. Many church leaders, in the absence of knowing what to do, will set about doing unimportant things. They fill their lives with activity instead of meaning. Emptiness of schedule is viewed as an enemy. And that hurried, schedule-filling, unimportant activity can lead to burnout.

Solution: Slow Down

If this tendency plagues you, force yourself to slow down. Refuse to be busy just for the sake of doing something. Listen to hear from God about what is important and create margin to do those things — and those things alone. Ruthlessly tear away all that entangles you.

…Busy

Some church leaders are truly busy with legitimate, important tasks that need to be done. Preparing and preaching the sermon, leading staff, going to small group, vacuuming the auditorium on a Saturday afternoon, making your ProPresenter slides, copying the bulletin, preaching a funeral, setting up for the big event, doing a hospital visit. All these things are important and need to be done. But if you are trying to do them all, you’re going to feel very much like you’re in clinical burnout.

‍Solution: Delegate

Fortunately, the solution to keep from burnout when you’re legitimately busy is to delegate. Unfortunately, proper delegation is difficult. You have to first realize that you are not the sole hinge on which all ministry swings in your church. You also have to accept that God can and will accomplish his purposes without you. Let go of your sense of self-importance, have some humility, and give away some ministry (isn’t that what Ephesians 4 is about anyway).

Yes, I know…nobody can do it as well as you, which leads me to the next point:

…Perfectionism

Perfectionism is exhausting. It’s overwhelming to (falsely) believe that you are the only one who can get something done right. It’s dangerous to think that if we’re going to do something, it has to be done right, or perfectly.

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Note that we’re not talking about excellence here. Excellence in ministry is good. It’s noble. It’s praiseworthy. But the sin of perfectionism is unhealthy. If you have a perfectionist personality, be cautious lest it drag you into the pride of thinking you alone can accomplish the task. Such mentality will burn you out.

Solution: Embrace Good Enough

Now, let me start here by saying that I hate the phrase “good enough” because it’s often an excuse for many of the things we’ve mentioned above, such as laziness or apathy. That’s not what I’m advocating here.

There comes a point where you (or the people you lead) have set realistic goals, you’ve done the thing with excellence, and though it’s not perfect, it’s time to release it to God for him to see to completion. Once you can develop the discipline of embracing this state of “good enough,” you’ll feel a burden lift from you and you’ll be able to walk in the healy identity God desires for you.

…Not Called

Occasionally I run across someone in ministry who wasn’t called into ministry in the first place. Maybe it seemed like an easy career choice or a good way to make some money. Or perhaps the person started out serving out as a high-level volunteer and just naturally transitioned into a ministry career that God never intended for them to pursue.

If you are doing a job as a church leader that you weren’t called to, you will likely be miserable (similar to how you will be miserable if you’re called to a ministry vocation and you choose to ignore it).

Solution: Get Out

If you aren’t called into vocational ministry, get out. Find something else to do (you’ll likely even be able to make more money doing it). Yes, volunteer at your church. Yes, do the work of ministry that God calls all individuals to. Yes, be a light. But if you’re not supposed to have a church job, stop working at the church.

Closing Thoughts

Many other conditions can mimic burnout for modern church leaders, such as feeling uninspired, underappreciated, or neglecting personal growth. Hopefully the examples above show you how to overcome feelings of burnout that might not be clinical in nature. More often than not there is a misalignment in the core areas of life leading to the feeling of burnout. It’s important that we identify these core misalignments and course-correct before we chart too far off course.

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