30 Reasons for Burnout in Ministry

It’s been nearly a year since graduating from Westmont – my first year exploring what it means to work full time and to live a life of ministry. Up and down, I’ve been far and near to Him.

At the end of last month, I woke up early on a workday and began writing. I wrote furiously and ended up with a long, numbered list of 30 things God has taught me in this past year about ministry – lessons I have learned through my weakness and obstinacy and because of His great love for me. I can say confidently that indeed I am small minded, pitiful, and unable without His abiding Spirit. I can do nothing without Him. And I hope to always become more confident in proclaiming His love in my life.

30 Reasons Why Ministry May Become Burdensome and May Lead to Burn Out

1. You have forgotten God’s love for you; yet, you forge ahead in ministry. You want to be “used by God,” and you forget that He has the relentless desire for an intimate relationship with you.

2. Additionally, you have forgotten God doesn’t want or need your good works without you first knowing His love. He wants to hold His child’s hand.

3. You aren’t supported by a community of saints. I want to say this is necessary for fruitful ministry, but then I think about missionaries who go to isolated communities overseas. Whether or not there is an immediate community of support, God will provide spiritual encouragement and tangible help for you if you are where He wants you to be. If not by brothers and sisters then by His Spirit.

4. You’re waiting for “doors to open” in one hallway when He wants you to start opening them in the building across the street. I do believe in the battling ram of prayer, and we must also be keen in knowing that faithful persistence follows God’s will not the agenda of a ministry program. Be willing to be led by His Spirit.

5. You’re following a ministry structure or an organization’s program that limits His power rather than reveals His glory. Many stories of this from this past year!

6. You are laboring from a place of guilt, feeling the need to perform and meet the expectations of an organization, others, and/or the unrealistic expectations you place on yourself. You begin using the word “sacrifice” often, feeling no joy in serving and dreading “doing ministry.”

7. You are not prayerful. The love you have for others and for your Lord is not birthed from crying out to Him that you are incapable of loving apart from your Father.

8. You are waiting to be “called” and feel lost and purposeless. You show up at His throne of grace but you won’t knell before Him till He gives you a definite assignment for your life. You will be waiting all your life, friend. Only in facedown surrender, when you are tearstained and pressed into the carpets, will His voice become clear to you.

9. You have an emotional/spiritual disconnect between faith and obedience. God has not yet woven together your belief in Him and given you the desire to please and live a life worthy of His calling. I think this may come from lack of understanding fully Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

10. You find yourself struggling with guilt for not doing enough in your limited time. You begin making excuses for yourself to do less rather than being joyful in the time you can give towards a specific ministry. Thanks to Mike Schwartz for helping me realize this, along with many other important things pals can teach each other.

11. You do not see your entire life as sacred and belonging to your Lord. Holy is the Lord. Holy is the time you spend in prayer. Holy is the time you spend with your roommates. Holy is the time you spend in the office. Holy and sacred are the lives to which we are called.

12. You don’t listen enough to The Glorious Unseen. Especially good on rainy Santa Barbara days with Trader Joes Christmas tea.

13. You are not confronting problems within your ministry organization or with those you labor with in ministry. You allow your bitterness and anger to fester, and this seeps toxically into your ministry. Righteousness becomes competitive. Stop at this point, confront, and reconcile. Thank you, Sarah Morris and Michael Schwartz, for encouraging me to do this better.

14. After a series of disappointments, you lose hope and become apathetic. You have forgotten that God is powerful, that He is jealous for His children, that He is moving even when you cannot see Him.

15. You cannot see your ministry as fruiltful without you. You have become so full of pride that God has been kicked out of the picture altogether. You need to place God back on the throne where He belongs. A good place to start is to practice praying for the people in your life and the place where you want to see God moving with complete reliance on Him, without mention of the work you will do.

16. You have fallen into a Spirit-less routine. You show up and leave without being transformed. There is no deepening sense of God’s love for you and for His people. Then you must fall before His throne of grace again and ask for renewal. He’ll give this to you, friend.

17. You suck at what you do. Really, you suck. You can pray for God to show you how to best use your gifts as instruments of His righteousness, and you can ask Him to teach you something new about Him and yourself in this place of being so uncomfortable. Then you can wait for your King on your knees where you first met Him. He’ll show up.

18. You are not reading His Word. How can you not be filled with inspiration by His Spirit when reading the history of God’s faithfulness to your people and are you not encouraged by the cloud of saints who have also identified as bondservants of Jesus Christ and have been so empowered by His precious blood? I don’t know . . . maybe this only excites me?

19. You do not have a mentor or close friend to debrief with about your struggles that you don’t know how to easily share with others. You need wisdom more than you know, especially if you are a leader. Perhaps, you’ve made excuses for too many years to not come before others who are wiser and ask them to teach you things. Take the risk, take the time to be humbled by simply asking and sharing.

20. You have lost respect for those who you partner with in ministry. You have become the quiet rebel of the team. In your frustrated brooding, you become increasing angered and isolated. You assume you will not be heard rather than asking God to lead you to a place of humility and love to confront the things you cannot agree with. You are deceived into thinking passivity will lead to a more fruitful ministry than dealing with the things that suck. If God has given you a prophetic role in your team, don’t sit in the corner judging. Rather make it known what He’s telling you in love.

21. You expect so much from yourself and from what YOU will yield from your ministry fields. You’re easily discouraged or frazzled when something doesn’t go as planned. Give it up. You think too highly of yourself and too little of your Lord. Life goes on, and you must be so much more prayerful and reliant on Him.

22. You biforcate your life between what is holy and what is just life. You glorify the juicy religious parts of your life and you cast away the peel seeing it as unimportant. You don’t realize God wants it all. We must be brought completely into rightness with God. Identify where in your life you’re being apathetic and erase the religious boundaries on your life for full consecration. This is somewhat repetitive #11.

23. You have sin in your life that you are ignoring. You tend to focus so much on the goodness you do in your life, the healthy portion of your life, and you fail to address the disease festering on your toe. The toe matters and it infects the entire body. This is definitely repetitive of #22.

24. You are the spiritual rebel. This makes you feel awesome at times because you like being the one who is different, but it also makes you feel so lonely and uncared for. Never stop seeking out those who are like-minded. And so much more during this time, you must be in God’s company constantly. There is at least One who you can talk with about things you care about.

25. Your room is a ridiculous mess. The practical things in your life, the small things you must deal with to maintain a functional life, are in complete chaos. Take time to maintain your friendships, do the dishes, and do your taxes. Maintaining responsibility in the everyday, small things can actually be a good spiritual disciple.

26. You’re overcommitted. You’re working full time, involved in too many peoples lives who expect you to be their best friend, you told a non-profit that you’d do their PR pro bono, your weekends are full of meeting people and other busyness. You no longer find satisfaction in the things you do because you’re always running on low. Slow down. Pray about everything. Be filled with the Spirit who will give you again the capacity to love and the strength to move from desperation into worship.

27. You’ve forgotten how to rest. You’re confusing inspiration from the Spirit with the agitation you now feel to be constantly in motion. Sabbaths are so important. You need to keep these for the pleasure of God. He is so jealous of this time with you. It’s more selfish to choose another lunch date that could wait till next week over your unrushed time of devotion to Him.

28. You’re burned out beyond belief. Just thinking about any activity throws you into depression and anxiety. You just need to stop thinking about activities altogether at this point. You’ve been deceived into thinking of God as a taskmaster rather than the loving God He is.

29. You work incredibly hard and do not know anyone who labors likes you do, but your efforts go unnoticed. Remember who you are wanting to please, why you labor, and take joy in carrying your cross rather than comparing it with others.

30. You are lacking all motivation in life. You’re so overwhelmed and lost. Open the Bible and cry out to Jesus for His Spirit to turn your heart back to Him. He will reveal to you His purpose and direction. Proclaim what you know of your Lord. He’s there, He wants to be glorified, He loves you, He’s awesome, you’re redeem. Start with the tiny bit of faithfulness remaining and with the handful of truths you know.

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Currently!
. . . so grateful to have had breakfast with Jan Sy this morning.
. . . listening to Jon Foreman’s “Southbound Train” in preparation for going to Oceanside tomorrow morning! And really looking forward to celebrating Easter with Mike and the Schwartz family.
. . . reading A.W. Tozer’s God’s Pursuit of Man
. . . missing family as usual on holidays.
. . . blessed to have played the violin at New Life Church for their Good Friday service this evening.
. . . reflecting on Christ’s broken body on the cross.

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~ by helkuo on April 23, 2011.