Five Ways To Burn Out Faster

by Rev. Mark E. Tidsworth, Founder and Team Leader

There is no sure fire way to burn out. After counseling, and then coaching clergy and church staff my entire ministry, I’m amazed at how resilient we are. How many times have I marveled at how one perseveres in circumstances that look desperate? My only conclusion is that the sustaining power of God through Christ is just that… sustaining.

Simultaneously though, so many of us experience burn out at some point in our vocational journeys, even when we are centered in Christ. Were being a faithful person the cure all for burn out, there would be far fewer burned out among us. God won’t rescue us from our own unhelpful tendencies at times, requiring us to exercise good judgment and develop healthy practices.

So, I’m careful when writing about burn out, lest those who are currently struggling use this to blame themselves wrongfully. When we are struggling, blame and shame are not helpful. On the other hand, I’m also aware that those who are not currently burned out or have not yet experienced this affliction, may use an article like this to prop up ego and a sense of superiority. Again, not helpful.

So, with those disclaimers noted, it’s clear there are behaviors and tendencies that can make us more vulnerable to burning out in vocational ministry. When observing and partnering with clergy and church staff long enough, certain tendencies increasing risk become clear.

Isolation

When I served as a pastoral counseling center director, I remember a research project by the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, identifying those therapists who are more likely to be sued for ethical violations. The two factors they were able to identify were those with a PhD (thought they were the experts who did not need peer supervision) and those working in solo practices (few opportunities to discuss cases or receive feedback or to have anyone looking over one’s shoulder). These two factors add up to isolation. Those clergy and church staff persons who practice their craft without participation in coaching groups, support groups, or groups of any kind are more at risk. Those without an anam cara (soul friend), make themselves vulnerable to burn out. Isolating is a strong move toward losing one’s soul to burn out.

Relying On Unrenewable Energy Sources

When one wants to burn out, don’t depend on God’s strength, but instead rely on:

Personal initiative – Though the most effective pastors are high in personal initiative, those who can sustain in ministry are powered by their connection to Christ, not their own stamina.

Strong work ethic – There are clergy and church staff who don’t give an honest day’s work due to their poor work ethic, unfortunately. Yet there are others who rely on their personal diligence and discipline for ongoing strength. Though helpful, this energy source is limited.

Personal charisma – Again, though helpful when aligned with Christ, this energy source can run dry over time, or indulges the ego until the ego is running the pastor or church staff person.

Creativity – Helpful too, yet needs its roots in the creativity of God through Christ. There will come a day when the stressors overwhelm inspired creativity. What then?

Stop Learning

No, this practice won’t undermine one’s ministry… today. Instead, it will slowly erode one’s energy and vigor for ministry over time, like a slowly dripping faucet draining its water supply. Fortunately, there are so many ways to engage learning in post-pandemic land that none of us need indulge this tendency. Proactively selecting how and what one might learn is more the challenge. Even so, you know how busy ministry becomes. Usually this tendency happens not because we don’t want to learn, but out of benign neglect, tending to the urgent over the important.

Giving Away Your Personal Agency (Or Power)

How do we know when we have indulged this tendency? When

• Blaming parishioners or the church as a whole increases

• Raging against people or the situation starts to engulf us

• We feel trapped, like there are no options for resolution or progress in this ministry context

• We collapse into the system, fusing with congregational dynamics, abdicating our leadership

• When we give into a victim mindset, feeling sorry for ourselves without taking action to address our situations

• Giving away our agency will burn us out quite quickly.

Ignoring Our Personal Differentiation Work

I have lots of quotes from helping professionals about the need for differentiation in our Family Systems Training for clergy and church staff. Rather than insert them, I will simply say that ignoring our personal maturity work sets us up to be eaten alive by church systems. The lack of guardrails and boundaries in ministry contexts, along with the high performance expectations, is the perfect setting to trigger one’s personal issues. Ignoring those issues (which we all carry) suggests we will crash and burn at some point, typically when the stressors build up to the breaking point.

Of course, none of us actually want to burn out. I’m hopeful this twist on contributing tendencies empowers more of us to use the brains God has given us, intentionally lowering our vulnerability to the experience of burn out in our high performance ministry contexts.