In my 30+ years of studying churches in North America, I’ve watched far too many pastors and church leaders burn out, sometimes leading to moral failure. Based on my interviews with others who’ve walked this path, here are some steps to move in that direction if you want to become that next burned out leader.
- Do all the work yourself. No one else can do it as well as you can, so why waste time by delegating the work to others?
- Get so consumed with internal church work that you stop evangelizing. Spend your ministry putting out fires in the church. Let somebody else invest in lost persons and see God save souls.
- Find no time to be alone with God. Your job keeps you busy almost 24 hours a day, it seems, so let your sermon preparation be your only time with God. No need to set aside quiet time for prayer and study.
- Base your vision on somebody else’s success. Read books written by successful pastors. Go to conferences. Then try to adapt everything in your church to somebody else’s ministry.
- Focus on a few church leaders in your congregation, and do whatever it takes to keep them happy. After all, they have the most power and influence in the church. It makes sense to please them and meet their expectations.
- Keep your eyes on the greener grass. You need hope, and it’s easiest to see that as you look elsewhere. . . even if it also exhausting to be looking in multiple directions.
- Don’t listen to anybody. Even if you have family members or friends who lovingly encourage you to take better care of yourself, don’t listen. They don’t understand the weight you bear as a church leader.
- Get out of shape. Eat out a lot, try everybody’s dessert at fellowship dinners, and don’t exercise. Being a good church leader doesn’t leave enough time to go to the gym.
- Always see the negative. Somebody has to see the full picture–including the bad–so be that person. There’s always some negative behind any good thing that happens in ministry.
- Seclude yourself. Relationships in the church are time-consuming. They’re risky. Instead of investing in people, let your office become your safe place.
- Refuse to take a day off. Sure, the church wants you to take some time off – but you’re too committed to do that. You might even make sure others know that you never take time off.
- Spiritualize your reasons for never taking a vacation. You probably need to overspiritualize them to convince your own family why you can’t take a week off, but do whatever it takes to make your case.
- Threaten to quit most Mondays. Like yesterday. If you let yourself get discouraged the first of every week, your fall into burnout won’t be as painful because it won’t be a long one.
- Don’t invest in any younger leaders. You know better than anybody that you don’t really have time to pour yourself into others–even if doing so might be one of the joys of your week.
- Don’t admit that you’re burning out. If you find yourself at any place in this list, just ignore it. You’ve got ministry to do.