By Mark A. Taylor
Any of us could create situations that might lead to burnout among our Christian leaders. But burnout-afflicted ministers are not at the mercy of forces around them. They can control several steps that will lead to restored health.
Ryan Connor this week makes some suggestions. R. Loren Sandford offers more in his book Renewal for the Wounded Warrior: A Burnout Survival Guide for Believers (Chosen Books, 2010). His advice for growing out of burnout can also help many of us from falling into it in the first place. Some of his ideas:
“¢ Break the personal obligation pattern. Are you a leader who feels “personally obligated” to everyone in your care? Are you afraid to say no for fear of being disliked? Do you harbor the mistaken notion that terrible things will happen to those you”re leading unless you”re personally involved in all their decisions and actions? Sandford suggests that leaders learn to say no, refuse to go to routine meetings called by others on their day off, and risk disappointing others for the sake of their own health.
“¢ Break the self-sacrifice pattern. This is demonstrated by workaholism and lack of exercise. Some ministers believe, “If I”m not working to exhaustion, I”m not working hard enough.” Other ministers take time for themselves, for their families, for their hobbies, and for exercise””and they live to minister effectively for a lifetime.
“¢ Break the self-abuse pattern. Eat regularly. Eat well. Choose healthy foods. Avoid the habit of on-the-go fast-food meals grabbed between appointments. Make meals a pleasant event in the company of others.
Take your day off; remember God”s command to observe the Sabbath. Realize that 60-hour workweeks are not noble; they are set-ups for collapse.
“¢ Break the isolation pattern. Can you relate to the following observation by Sandford? “Most patterns of government practiced in the modern church keep the pastor isolated and deprive him of any real power to lead.” Sandford decries the notion that church is a democracy and bemoans the pattern of some congregations who choose elders to “ensure dissenting voices in high places.”
Sandford”s solution is to recruit full-time and part-time staff members whom he regards as elders. “Together we lead the church in spiritual matters,” he writes, while an administrative board works with them on “matters financial and contractual.”
Many of us would balk at such an arrangement, but it seems clear that dysfunctional minister-elder relationships lead to minister burnout as much as any other factor. And of all the precursors to burnout, this, for many will be the most difficult to avoid.
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