It is a problem that plagues ministry today. A disease that destroys. An epidemic.
Burned out pastors.
Mark Driscoll did the research a while back:
- Fifteen hundred pastors leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, spiritual burnout, or contention in their churches.
- Eighty percent of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years.
- Fifty percent of pastors are so discouraged that they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other way of making a living.
And perhaps the most devastating:
- The majority of pastor’s wives surveyed said that the most destructive event that has occurred in their marriage and family was the day they entered the ministry.
How screwed up is that?
I won’t pretend to be an expert on burnout, I’ve only been doing full time ministry for a few years, but I have seen and heard some stuff I use to focus my ministry.
Scripture would point us to the story of Moses and Jethro. Moses was trying to do everything - Jethro came along and basically said “delegate!” Ultimately Moses’ obedience in delegation was what paved the road for one of Israel’s most defining moments - God delivering the law to the people.
Bottom line in Scripture - Delegation creates space for God to move.
I’ve sat under Ed Young for nearly a decade now and one thing that has remained a constant is his foundational belief in the power of volunteers. Keeping a small staff forces us to utilize volunteers. It is moving the ministry to the masses.
Bill Hybels would point us to self-leadership. My duty to keep myself on track. I am a follower before I am a leader. I need to ask myself, am I having my quiet times? Eating right? Exercising? Creating time to dream?
Is my life operating in such a way that I can be the leader God designed me to be?
Ultimately all of these steps can (and will) be met with excuses. “I have to do it myself.” “It’s just a season.” “I don’t have the volunteers/staff.”
However, I have not been able to find a pastor who has created space for God to work, pulled others in ministry around them and made the leadership of self a priority and is still burned out.
See all of Mark’s post: Death By Ministry. | Check out the website for Anne Jackson’s book: Mad Church Disease.
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