{"id":19820,"date":"2016-07-18T16:25:09","date_gmt":"2016-07-18T23:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/?p=19820"},"modified":"2017-10-17T10:59:22","modified_gmt":"2017-10-17T17:59:22","slug":"avoid-church-ministry-burnout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/2016\/07\/avoid-church-ministry-burnout\/","title":{"rendered":"Burnt To The Crisp &#8211; Church Ministry Burnout"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Whether you are a pastor, worship leader, on the worship team or a volunteer, we all can suffer from church ministry burnout. If we are not careful, we can easily overwhelm ourselves to the point of exhaustion. Church ministry burnout not only affects us physically and emotionally, but spiritually as well. When we let ourselves get to this point, we can lose sight of why we are serving in the first place. Here are some helpful tips on how you and your team can avoid church ministry burnout.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>How to Avoid Church Ministry Burnout<\/h2>\n<span class='bctt-click-to-tweet'><span class='bctt-ctt-text'><a href='https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sharefaith.com%2Fblog%2F2016%2F07%2Favoid-church-ministry-burnout%2F&#038;text=An%20ounce%20of%20prevention%20is%20worth%20way%20more%20than%20a%20pound%20of%20cure.&#038;related' target='_blank'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">An ounce of prevention is worth way more than a pound of cure. <\/a><\/span><a href='https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sharefaith.com%2Fblog%2F2016%2F07%2Favoid-church-ministry-burnout%2F&#038;text=An%20ounce%20of%20prevention%20is%20worth%20way%20more%20than%20a%20pound%20of%20cure.&#038;related' target='_blank' class='bctt-ctt-btn'rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Click To Tweet<\/a><\/span>\n<p>I saw the toaster in my kitchen billowing smoke with the alarms warning me to get out. The fresh slice of Country White I was so looking forward to eating\u00a0was now as black as charcoal. Some people like their bread toasted that dark, but for me it was inedible.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t want to take this metaphor to the extreme, but there are certainly some strong similarities between burnt-out ministry leaders and crispy pieces of bread.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some things that come to mind:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Both were exposed to stressful elements for too long: No rest!<\/li>\n<li>The temperature controls were set too high: No boundaries!<\/li>\n<li>The bread was the wrong size for the toaster. Some things don\u2019t fit: Wrong job! A bagel is the wrong size and gets stuck.<\/li>\n<li>We ignored the warning signs of the smell and the smoke: Lack of self-awareness.<\/li>\n<li>We forgot that we put bread in the toaster: Too busy!<\/li>\n<li>The toaster itself was dysfunctional: The environment we work in has issues.<\/li>\n<li>The smoke alarms need new batteries: Lack of trusted friends to make us aware of our condition.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Dictionary.com defines burn out like this: \u201cPhysical or emotional exhaustion, especially as a result of long-term stress or dissipation.\u201dAnother way it could be defined is: \u201ca chronic lack of enthusiasm and low motivation for things that we must get done in our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Or the way we all might say it if we get to this point is:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t have it to give anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just don\u2019t care!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is a dangerous place to be. We need to discover the ways we can prevent this because it can take a long time to recover from it. An ounce of prevention is worth way more than a pound of cure. We are losing too many in the ministry to this condition and we all need to be made aware of what we can do if we are burning out so that we can alter our course and get help. Or, when we see it in others, we can intervene and intercede.<\/p>\n<p><em>Church Ministry Burnout<\/em> is not <em>Church Ministry Stress<\/em>. They are different and have major differences in how they affect our physical, emotional, spiritual and mental health.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/g.co\/kgs\/epWfU0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dr. Archibald Hart<\/a> lists the distinct differences between the two here:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-19821 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/burnout.png\" alt=\"Church Ministry Burnout - Worship Leader Burnout - Worship Leader Stress \" width=\"830\" height=\"410\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogrouting.sharefaith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/burnout.png 830w, https:\/\/blogrouting.sharefaith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/burnout-300x148.png 300w, https:\/\/blogrouting.sharefaith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/burnout-768x379.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 830px) 100vw, 830px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5;\">You can also self-test <\/span><a style=\"line-height: 1.5;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.leadingworshiptogether.com\/uploads\/1\/0\/9\/3\/10930751\/burnout_inventory.pdf\">here<\/a><span style=\"line-height: 1.5;\"> to see if you might be heading in this direction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>There are literally hundreds of articles written on this subject, and from everything I\u2019ve read, there are a handful of causes that stand out from the rest as to why we\u2019re flaming out.\u00a0 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.leadingworshiptogether.com\/articles.html\">(This site has many articles related to burn out and ministry in general.)<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s start with the <em>why you do what you do<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Did you volunteer for this position or were you pressured into it? Are you seeking the approval of people? Do you feel that you\u2019re the only one who can pull this off? What is your motivation to continue and how are you going to maintain it? Are you depending on your own strength or God\u2019s? \u00a0Are you willing to solicit the help you need or are you afraid that it will display weakness or lack of skill? Galatians 1:10.<\/p>\n<p>If we don\u2019t find a balance between the workload and the time away from it, we won\u2019t last. This is especially true with ministry leaders and volunteers. We get so caught up in serving others that we don\u2019t have time to worship, to pray, to sit in His presence, to be in the Word or in fellowship. I know this is true of me. I\u2019ve heard from so many worship leaders and techs that they either don\u2019t have or take the time to pray. Make the time and whenever that is, make certain that you keep the appointment. Don\u2019t be late. It\u2019s in these times that we will find the purpose of our calling, our position.\u00a0 Here is where you\u2019ll find the \u201cwhy you do what you do\u201d!<\/p>\n<p>Prayer is also\u00a0where we will find our strength and wisdom. He will supply all of our needs. He is Jehovah-Jireh. We can cast our cares and burdens on Him. We can make our requests known to Him and He will hear us. It is here where we will find our peace, the kind that transcends our imagination. I am preaching to me right now in case you\u2019re wondering. This is just as much a reminder to me as it is to you. Don\u2019t let the prayer time be the only time you pray. Remember what Paul said: \u201cPray unceasingly\u201d and don\u2019t let your work interfere with that. We can pray at any time, at any moment, with our eyes open, while we\u2019re working or not.\u00a0 We have access to the One who can supply everything we need in life but we often don\u2019t appropriate it.<\/p>\n<p>We also need to <strong><em>\u201cget away\u201d<\/em><\/strong> from our obligations at work or in ministry. This is especially true of volunteers who serve. The majority of churches\u2019 worship and tech teams are staffed with volunteers. Typically, this means someone who is a worship leader or a sound operator has a full-time job outside the church and is working perhaps on a weeknight for rehearsal or mid-week service and the meetings on the weekend. In some cases, the volunteer is working non-stop for a week at their job, the weekend at church and then another week at their vocation. How long can we endure this schedule before we are toast?\u00a0 <strong>Get away!!<\/strong> Hopefully, you won\u2019t need a poltergeist to scream, <strong><em>\u201cGet out!\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Schedule rest, vacation, time for family and NO work. If you are the only worship leader, drummer or sound operator, find people you can train up to lighten the load.<\/p>\n<p>You may be saying: <strong><em>\u201cthere is nobody else\u201d<\/em><\/strong>! Really? If you died tomorrow, you don\u2019t think the church would be able to find someone to replace you?\u00a0 So before you die, burnout or leave the ministry, <strong>recruit, train, mentor your replacements or your substitutes.<\/strong> The more the merrier. Share the burdens and the rewards.<\/p>\n<p>I liken the controls on the toaster to setting boundaries. You need to protect yourself and your family, your friends, and co-workers from physical and mental harm and one of the best things you can do to ensure that, is to be able to say <strong><em>\u201cNO!\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I said earlier to cast your burdens and cares on the Lord; but why would you want to add more burdens and cares when you don\u2019t have to? Know your limits. Know what you can do without negatively affecting you or those in your life. Don\u2019t be guilted into something that will just wear you out. Let it go!<\/p>\n<p>Surround yourself with support. Form working relationships with your co-ministers outside of work, outside of the church so that you have a better understanding of who they are, what they do, what their hobbies are, where they are weak and strong, what talents they possess, how they are wired, where they live and what they like to eat. Likewise, they will\u00a0also find out all these things about you in the process. By knowing you well, they\u2019ll be able to determine changes in you that you might not see yourself.\u00a0 Trust them to sound the alarm to you if, and when, they see these changes surface. Hopefully, you would do the same for them. Trust is the keyword. Trust doesn\u2019t happen without having a strong relationship in the first place. George MacDonald says it this way: <strong><em>\u201cto be trusted is a better compliment than to be loved.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Keep the lines of communication open with your leaders, your peers, those you are leading, family, and friends. Be accountable to someone close to you that you trust and can confide in. Don\u2019t shut them out!<\/p>\n<p>Much of the time,\u00a0our church or our work environment can be dysfunctional. You will have to determine if where you are is a healthy place for you to be. If the toaster doesn\u2019t work and is always burning the toast, you need a new toaster. In 1987, my first house burned down due to a faulty toaster. My wife was walking our one-year-old when it happened. His room would\u2019ve been right above where the flames tore through the house. Fortunately, he was not taking a nap at the time\u00a0and no one was hurt. Praise the Lord. The house was rebuilt. However many things were lost and the damage done could have been averted if I was more aware of the problem.\u00a0 Find the place where you are encouraged; the place that is dedicated to you and not just to the things that need to be done; where they will pour into your spirit and physical well-being; that will support you with resources and help\u00a0you\u00a0fulfill your calling; will thank you for your service and reward you in tangible ways: a weekend away, a night out with your wife, a gift card, a Thank You!<\/p>\n<p>In other words, a place that cares for you more than what you do.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re in a leadership position, you can help prevent your team from church ministry burnout by doing for them the things you would want done for you. Always apply the Golden Rule!<\/p>\n<p>Many of you know that when you\u2019re working, you\u2019re really not worshiping.<\/p>\n<p><em>For further reading click the following:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.apokata.com\/Powerpoint\/Self%20Care%20prep3.pdf\">Self-Care: Preventing Burnout in Ministry Robert Brennan<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whether you are a pastor, worship leader, on the worship team or a volunteer, we all can suffer from church ministry burnout. If we are not careful, we can easily overwhelm ourselves to the point of exhaustion. Church ministry burnout not only affects us physically and emotionally, but spiritually as well. When we let ourselves [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3575,"featured_media":19822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[2307,4154,4135,405],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19820","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-christian-lifestyle","8":"category-church-resources-church-resources","9":"category-church-leadership","10":"category-pastor-how-to"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogrouting.sharefaith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/BurntToTheCrisp.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v14.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Burnt To The Crisp - How to Avoid Church Ministry Burnout<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Whether you are a pastor, leader, on the worship team or a volunteer, you may be suffering from church ministry burnout. Here are tips to avoid burnout.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/2016\/07\/avoid-church-ministry-burnout\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Burnt To The Crisp - Church Ministry Burnout\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Whether you are a pastor, leader, on the worship team or a volunteer, you may be suffering from church ministry burnout. Here are tips to avoid burnout.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/2016\/07\/avoid-church-ministry-burnout\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sharefaith Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SharefaithPage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-18T23:25:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-10-17T17:59:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogrouting.sharefaith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/BurntToTheCrisp.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@WorshipMD\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@sharefaith\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Sharefaith Magazine\",\"description\":\"The Best in Church Leadership, Worship, Tech and Gear!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/2016\/07\/avoid-church-ministry-burnout\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogrouting.sharefaith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/BurntToTheCrisp.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Worship Leader Burnout - Worship Leader Stress\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/2016\/07\/avoid-church-ministry-burnout\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/2016\/07\/avoid-church-ministry-burnout\/\",\"name\":\"Burnt To The Crisp - How to Avoid Church Ministry Burnout\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/2016\/07\/avoid-church-ministry-burnout\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-18T23:25:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-10-17T17:59:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4a97730fea73cb15fbf8fb5a40715b82\"},\"description\":\"Whether you are a pastor, leader, on the worship team or a volunteer, you may be suffering from church ministry burnout. Here are tips to avoid burnout.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/2016\/07\/avoid-church-ministry-burnout\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4a97730fea73cb15fbf8fb5a40715b82\",\"name\":\"Doug Gould\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/189f6751807607f6801636e81e17a2481032f123d63c5932ed7ac053e03082a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Doug Gould\"},\"description\":\"Doug Gould is a veteran of the Pro Audio and Music Technology Industry for almost 30 years, serving in management roles at Shure, Tascam and E-Mu Systems and has been a worship leader, musician and tech at various churches for almost as long. He is CEO and Founder of Worship MD (Market Development) a consulting firm that helps professional audio and music technology manufacturers build relationships with the church through education.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WorshipMD\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9jHXE-59G","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3575"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}