Burnout: The Myth & The Reality

Within my short time in vocational ministry the topic of burnout has come up again and again. Its major context is to not let it happen to you in ministry. There have been many books and articles written on the topic with tactics of how not to burnout, warning signs that you may be burning out, and the like. Within pastoral ministry and church work alike many people will burnout and some even to the point that they will never be the same towards the Church. This is sad, but an all too true reality whether we recognize it or not. I want to address a myth concerning burnout in the church and than a reality concerning burnout in the church.

The Myth: if someone works too hard he/she will eventually burnout. Working hard is good for us as long as it's healthy- remember work was created/mandated before the fall in Genesis 3. Not working hard or making excuses to not work hard is called being lazy. I know many people who work very hard every day and have done so for the past 20 years. My father-in-law owns a plumbing business and has worked very hard his whole life- he hasn't burnt out from plumbing. Just like lawyers don't burnout from trying legal cases. Ditch diggers don't burnout from digging ditches. So you see, burnout does not come from working hard. So where does it come from?

The Reality: as John MacArthur brilliantly put it- burnout comes from constantly trying to meet unmeetable goals that are placed over you. Example: your a sales manager at a retail store and you do about $200,000 in business annually. Your boss comes to you and says $200,000 a year is good, but this year we need to do $1,000,000 in business. This is an unattainable goal for your particular company, but you work like crazy to meet the goal- you stay late, work nights and weekends, recruit and train new employees, etc. You begin to get tired from the long hours- you realize you have neglected things that were once important to you like family, exercise, eating right, sleep- and you start hating what you are doing. You begin to burnout and eventually leave the company. Now this is a loose illustration of a point I am making, but the truth of it can be carried over to church workers, pastors, lay people, business execs etc.

Is burnout killing your church, staff, congregation, volunteers, etc.? Trying assessing the goals that you have placed over those whom you are leading- you may be surprised at what you find.