How to Prevent Burnout

prevent burnout

Avoid Burnout

Pastors and other church leaders are leaving the ministry at an alarming rate. According to one recent survey 1,700 ministers are leaving the ministry every month or over 20,000 a year, that’s   a very troubling statistic.  The reason they are leaving is because of “burn out”.   The survey list several factors

As a pastor or church leader you don’t have to, nor should you experiece “burn out” in ministry.   God has called you to have a long, effective and fulfilling ministry.  That doesn’t mean you won’t have any challenges or difficult seasons in your life of  ministry, it simply means you can work through every situation with grace and strength finishing the race God has assigned you. His grace is sufficient. (2Corinthians 12:9)

While God is always there to help you, you have to take responsibility for your life and ministry.  You need to use wisdom in how you manage and prioritize your time.   Here are 7 tips to help prevent burnout;

1) Maintain a regular and heathy prayer time.  Sermon prep time does not count.  You can only minister effectively and consistently if your spiritual tank is full.  You need the spiritual “minmum daily minumum to daily spiritual food.  Mana from heaven.  You can not stay strong spiritually on yesterdays manna.  Are you daily spending time with the Lord?

2) Pace yourself.   I have watched too many, of what I call  “bottle rocket” ministers,  they start out with a lot of passion and zeal only to fizzle.   It has been said, “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, well neither will your ministry.  Ministry is not a sprint it is a marathon.   If you try to sprint a marathon you will not finish.  It requires “pace”.  Yes  you need to have a high work ethic and we need to represent God with excellence,  but you also must know when it is time to rest and relax.  What do you need to change with your pace?

3) Maintain balance in your life.   Make sure to keep family and personal time in right priority mixed with church and ministry responsiblities. Prioritize your spouse and children by making sure they know how important they are compared to your role as a pastor/leader.  What good does it do to gain the world for Christ, but lose your family.  Are you keep family a priority?

4) Accept the fact you can’t please everyone.  This is a difficult thing for us to except as pastors.  We all want to be liked and appreciated.  However, as a leader it is impossible to please everyone.  You need to accept that and then do the best you can in making the tough decisions.  You need to realize at the end of the day, there is One who you should please – God.  Do you struggle with trying to please everyone?

5) Take Care of Yourself.  Staying in shape physically and mentally is important.  Get proper rest, eat a healthy diet and  regularly excercise.  Here is something I heard someone in ministry for many years say, “divert daily, withdraw weekly, and abandon annually.”  Excellence advice in staying fresh.  Are you doing that?

6) Cultivate interests that are not directly related to pastoring.  Engage in activities in which you’re not in charge. Sports, gardening, fishing, carpentry, reading, biking, camping, boating, hiking, etc.  This is a must to divert energies in a different direction.    There is a side benefit, it will provide some great testimonies and illustrations for your messages and teachings.

7) Connect with others.  Don’t become isolated.  There are other pastors in your community or neighboring cities who need to connect as well.  Seek them out and invest in developing relationships with them.  When you do it gives God an opportunity to create friendships, alliances, and opportunities that will help you stay on course.  Are you feeling isolated or alone?
Watch for signs of the early stages of burnout.  Like – ministry becoming a job and not joy, feeling more irritable, anxious, worrisome, frustrated than normal, loss of excitement and  passion about your ministry.   If any of those describe you, it might be time for a spiritual pick-me-up.  Never doubt your call to the ministry or the importance of what you are doing.   Stay fresh and on fire!

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