Transcription
[Music] Few years ago, I taught a course on stress and productive ministry to ministry students. At the beginning of the class, we looked at the Genesis creation narrative with a view to see how God went about creating. In the midst of this discussion, one pastor adds, “Why is God dillydallying? If it was me, I would do it all at once.” This statement reveals a great deal about his style of doing ministry. He did it all without taking time to pause, to assess, or to rest, and he paid a price for it.
Not long after the course ended, he sent me an article from his hometown newspaper. It was a story about him burning out. Providentially, he had an understanding and compassionate district superintendent who arranged for him to take a sabbatical and get the counseling he needed to get beyond burnout. But what is burnout? One author, Yellow Pines and her associates, described it as a condition that results from constant or repeated emotional pressure deriving from an intense involvement with people over a long period of time. You see, burnout is a people malady. It derives from the emotionally taxing work with others that human professionals like pastors and counselors perform. It results when there is an absence of coping mechanisms for addressing the constant stress derived from serving others. It can also result when there is inadequate coping.
Christine Maslach and her associates developed a commonly used instrument for assessing burnout. It described it—described it—as involved in a composite of three components. First, burnout includes emotional exhaustion. This is where the individual’s emotional resources become taxed beyond their capacity significantly. One study found that the role-related stressors attached to ministry were positively correlated with emotional exhaustion on the Maslach Burnout Inventory. In other words, the higher the number of role-related stressors, the higher the level of emotional exhaustion. Second, burnout involves a high level of depersonalization. This is where the caregiver develops callous attitudes towards those that they serve. Finally, burnout involves a lower sense of personal accomplishment; that is, there is a lowered level of satisfaction.
In my own study and through a review of a number of studies on burnout and ministry, I would like to suggest that emotional exhaustion is the key variable. Once ministers become overtly exhausted emotionally, it becomes easy for depersonalization to set in over time and for one to experience a lower level of satisfaction in ministry. So how does one avoid burnout? Let me suggest a few things.
First, I think it’s important to recognize the warning signs of burnout. Herbert Freudenberger, the man who coined the term, suggested that the burnout process begins with an inordinate desire to prove oneself at work, and this very quickly turns into a compulsion to work and to make these high expectations. Individuals begin to take on more work, and they become obsessed with handling everything by themselves. This intense focus on work slowly crowds out everything, and getting this exclusive focus on work, individuals begin to dismiss important needs such as sleep, eating, and relating to family or friends. Have you begun to see these beginning signs? If so, it is very critical to stop and take action. Unfortunately, even while experiencing these early signs, many are not fully aware of these changes and their meaning. They have become so accustomed to the grind of ministry, they often fail to notice these subtle changes that are taking place within them. Additionally, ministers can become so other-centered in doing ministry that personal introspection becomes almost non-existent. Paul’s injunction to take periodic stock of one’s life is absolutely important to becoming aware, but it is also important to have caring persons who act as social supports. Other persons more readily see the changes going on in the minister. These are persons like Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, who saw the changes in Moses and cared enough to honestly bring him face to face with his reality. Every pastor needs a Jethro-like person. I find that ministers’ spouses often serve this role, but they are also often ignored.
Once you become aware of the problem, it’s important to take responsibility for the problem and assume power and control over your life. Assuming power means at least two things. First, it means taking one’s human limitations seriously. For example, it’s necessary to realize that one cannot work without appropriate time periods. It also means realizing that a minister cannot do all the work of ministry; he or she needs to delegate some aspects of ministry to others. Second, it means taking decisive steps to address one’s critical needs. This includes taking time to address one’s spiritual needs. Ministers need to realize that a first priority in ministry involves being with Jesus and not simply doing for him. It also means creating space for and tending to one’s physical and emotional needs, and it involves taking time to address relational needs and making time for the important people in your life. In short, avoiding burnout means developing balance in one’s life. In Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster refers to this balance as holy leisure. For him, holy leisure refers to having a sense of balance in one’s life, an ability to be at peace with the activities of the day, an ability to rest and take time to enjoy beauty, and an ability to pace ourselves. This is the kind of balance that helps one to flourish or thrive in ministry, and flourishing means the end of burnout.
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