Jimbo's Jots

Recently I sat with a group of youth pastors for a monthly gathering. Most of our time is spent in conversation, specifically about ministry. Various topics are thrown out in September and later brought back into play to bounce around. The topic of this month was “How Do We Avoid Ministry Burnout?”

I’m also part of several minister focused groups on Facebook so I thought I would reach out to these groups about ministry burnout. In short, here is what I conclude based on a small number of responses. If you are with your job for a long period of time (10+ years), you have most likely experienced some form of burnout. Ministers are not the only people that experience burnout. Let me add this as well, this is highly unscientific as I have done no specific research.

Burnout could be defined as feeling overwhelmed, overstressed, overstretched to the point of being stuck. Maybe you’ve been like this. Perhaps you’ve experienced this with life in general, not just at work. Between work deadlines, kids school functions, keeping up with household chores, we get stuck. We get to the point of not moving, lack of interest in anything and angry. Does this sound familiar? “I wanted to withdraw from people, at work, in the church, my teens, family, etc. Felt overwhelmed and alone. Felt angry. Resentful.” (JR, youth pastor in Texas) Several confirmed that they experienced the same emotions.

The next question is then, “How did you deal with your burnout?” Here is what we concluded from our discussion and with input from my online friends:

• Retreat – sometimes you just need to get away from it all. Find some quiet place to re-center by going on a hike or even just rest. Jesus was often going off to be alone.
• Retreat with God – yes, whenever Jesus did retreat, he spent time in prayer. There are other spiritual disciplines that can be used with solitude such as prayer and Bible reading.
• Open to Share – Often what happens for those in ministry is we have a “lone wolf” approach to doing ministry. We will tackle all of the issues, plan the activities, do all of the teaching, attend the school functions of our students. This mentally is exhausting if you don’t have someone to talk to. Many of my friends have spiritual mentors to follow up with and work through some of these issues.
• Counseling – Sometimes you get feeling so overwhelmed and stressed that you might need to seek out the input of a professional counselor. There are some great therapists that are willing to listen, offer different insight and sit with you through the all of this. One of my youth minister friends said that she sought out counseling through two different episodes.

Are you experiencing some burnout? Are you feeling overwhelmed, overstressed and overstretched? I have an open door if you are wanting chat. I have been there, but I also offer a chance to get things off of your mind and heart that are creating more anxiety than freeing you.

Be blessed! Be a blessing!