Articles for tag: Burnout

January 1, 2024

Jerry Harris

Avoiding Leadership Burnout

By Jerry Harris  All church leaders are dealing with stress right now. Stress can come from every area of our lives.   You might be under pressure, facing big changes, feeling a lack of control, shouldering heavy responsibility, or feeling uncertain about the future. You might be facing multiple issues simultaneously or feeling the effects of past experiences.   Your stress might be triggered by illness, injury, parenting, infertility, bereavement, abuse, marriage, divorce, relationships, or caregiving. You might have lost your job, or be seeking a new job, or just started in a new role. Perhaps you retired recently. You might be

July 1, 2022

Ben Cachiaras

What Should the Church Do about the Mental Health Crisis

What Should the Church Do about the Mental Health Crisis

By Ben Cachiaras We have a problem. Emotional well-being is in serious decline. It’s a palpable crisis that was bad before the pandemic. The isolation, social upheaval, polarization, and massive changes with work, school, and life have exacerbated the crisis, creating an extended ambiguity and heightened stress that’s a perfect cocktail for burnout and emotional struggle. (I first heard it put that way by Paul Alexander, president of Hope International University.) No wonder the World Health Organization’s recent scientific brief states that the global prevalence of anxiety and depression has increased 25 percent since the pandemic’s arrival in early 2020.  

April 5, 2017

Christian Standard

Feeling Spent?

By Jim Tune I encounter a lot of beat-up people. The general anxiety level in society is high, and it”s easy to feel anxious even in the best of times. Throw in financial, relational, and other stresses, and it”s easy to feel overwhelmed. Whenever I encounter beat-up people, or feel like one myself, I like to remind myself of Isaiah”s picture of Jesus: “A bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench” (Isaiah 42:3, English Standard Version). The image of a bruised reed and a faintly burning wick may seem strange at first.

July 13, 2016

Christian Standard

Give Yourself a Break

By Jim Tune I heard about a pastor who took a day off. He set his e-mail to respond automatically with this message: “I”m out of the office today. I”ll respond to your e-mail upon my return.” When he returned to work, he found this e-mail: “Don”t bother. You”re a loser for taking a day off. People will probably die and go to Hell because you thought you needed a day off. Do you think God takes a day off? Are you better than God?” Of course, the e-mail was a joke. The man who wrote that e-mail is a

December 1, 2014

Christian Standard

6 Things Successful Leaders Do Early in the Morning

By Michael C. Mack Rising early is a common trait among many successful and influential people, says Forbes online (www.forbes.com). The Forbes article mentioned early risers such as Margaret Thatcher, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Robert Iger (CEO of Disney), all of whom were or are out of bed between 4 and 5 a.m. The Forbes writer, however, overlooked another very successful and influential leader who often rose early, Jesus. Here are four items from the Forbes list and two from Jesus about what these successful people focus(ed) on while most are still in bed: 1. Exercise. A prework workout will

November 30, 2014

Michael C. Mack

Seven Things a Facilitator or Teacher Should Never Do

By Michael C. Mack 1. Depend on any resource more than the Bible. 2. Lose sight of your goals. Your main goal is to make mature disciples, not to teach a great lesson. 3. Teach more than you shepherd. Don”t forget that knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 4. Try to lead using someone else”s gifts. Be yourself. God gave you specific gifts to use in building up the body of Christ. He gave others their gifts for the same reason. 5. Get into debates about little things. Check out 1 Timothy 6:4 and 2 Timothy 2:14 about this

November 12, 2014

Christian Standard

When You Leave Your Soul Behind

By Jim Tune Author Lettie Cowman wrote about a traveler visiting Africa who hired a group of guides. Determined to make her journey a swift one, she pushed her team to cover many miles the first day. On the second day, though, the attendants she had hired remained seated and refused to move. Frustrated, she asked the leader of her hired hands why they would not continue the journey. He replied that on the first day they had gone too far, too fast, and now they were waiting for their souls to catch up with their bodies. Cowman reflected, “This

October 17, 2014

Christian Standard

I Brake for the Lord”s Supper

By Mark Atteberry   You probably don”t recognize the name Jacob German, but he should be famous. In 1899 he was the first to experience something that has become a common occurrence “” so common I suspect most of the adults reading this have experienced it, probably more than once. On May 20, 1899, German was stopped for speeding. A taxi driver for the Electric Vehicle Company, German was tooling around New York City at the wildly inappropriate speed of 12 mph. People were aghast he would be so reckless. If they”d had driver”s licenses in those days, his almost

September 8, 2014

Christian Standard

Here’s Where Change Begins

By Becky Ahlberg There is no one in the world you can change but yourself. No one. That is the consistent””some would say incessant””mantra at My Safe Harbor, a ministry begun by Anaheim (California) First Christian Church that helps single mothers break the dysfunctional cycle of broken homes. You can manipulate, coerce, or even try persuasion, but in the end, a person must want to change, and she must do it herself. And yet, so much of our emotional energy is spent both believing in and pursuing change in others. We think if we could change the people around us,

November 25, 2013

Christian Standard

Coming ‘Home’: When Missionaries Come Off the Field

By Carla Williams They were so vulnerable and wounded, barely able to look me in the eye. They”d gone into missions directly after college, bright with hope and the thrill of obedience. With sincere love and determination, they”d adopted an unreached people group. Thousands of dollars had been sacrificed for their language study and living expenses. And here they were, three years later, looking so lost and alone, feeling all the weight of their supposed failure. When many missionaries come off the field, churches and families don”t know what to say and the missionaries themselves don”t know how to move

August 6, 2012

Christian Standard

Confronting Burnout in the Ministry (Part 2)

By Daniel Sherman Burnout is one of the fiercest foes of pastoral ministry. It robs a pastor of needed energy and creates an atmosphere characterized by cynicism and futility. But it”s neither inevitable nor permanent. Still, one must be on guard and have appropriate weapons to confront burnout. Last week we discussed the definition and the cause of burnout. We learned a minister is suffering burnout when he (1) feels exhausted; (2) becomes cynical, removed, emotionally distant from people and ministry; and (3) believes he is not making any difference””that all his work is in vain. A burned-out person will

July 30, 2012

Christian Standard

Confronting Burnout in the Ministry (Part 1)

By Daniel Sherman “I”m exhausted! I don”t think I can endure one more day.” You might be surprised at how many ministers feel this way. If you are a minister and you are worn-out, you are not alone. Church leaders need to be a constant source of support and encouragement for a minister so he doesn”t become a member of the “former ministers” group. But we need to be careful not to equate exhaustion with burnout. Exhaustion may be a symptom of burnout, but it isn”t burnout. Burnout is a gradual process of loss during which the mismatch between the needs of

September 26, 2010

Christian Standard

2010 NACC: The Why Behind Our Ministry Mistakes

By Vince Antonucci Why do we make the mistakes we make? Why does the senior minister have an affair with his secretary? Why won”t the youth pastor confront the student struggling with the not-so-secret sin? Why won”t the elder agree to the change that obviously needs to be made? Why does the preacher spend all his time counseling until the fatigue becomes too much and he leaves the ministry? Obviously, every situation is different, but in almost every case, most of the mistakes we make in ministry result from a lack of self-awareness. What do I mean by self-awareness? Well,

May 16, 2010

Christian Standard

Journey to Hope

By Mike and Kari MacKenzie JOHN I don”t want to be here! I don”t want to be here! I don”t want to be here! That was the only thought going through my mind as my wife and I silently drove up the long, twisting mountain road to the counseling retreat for pastors. Yeah, I admit things had been a little rough lately with conflict in the church and declining attendance. It had been a little harder to find that old passion for prayer, preparation, and preaching. I hadn”t been getting sleep lately, but God said in his Word it wouldn”t

May 13, 2009

Christian Standard

The Final Challenge

By Mark A. Taylor Every sports fan knows the importance of ending well. We remember games won in the ninth inning, come-from-behind victories cinched in overtime, runners prevailing only in the final lap. All the game was important, but victory was sure only in the final seconds. Every gardener knows a successful harvest is the point of planting. Neat rows of new sprouts are attractive, and beautiful blooms on healthy vegetable vines are encouraging. But if by summer”s end the plants dry up, rot away, or become the food of garden pests, what real good is a garden? So it

September 10, 2006

Name Withheld

church conflict

When It Was Better Not to Fight

A minister recounts a painful season of church conflict triggered by leadership burnout and false accusations. He shares hard-won strategies—silence, Scripture, trusted support, counseling, and perseverance—that helped him endure and ultimately move toward healing.

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