Burned out in the Church?

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Permalink Reply by Louise G on March 5, 2009 at 12:48pm

Hello Sister Sonja,
It's possible to be burned out. Sometimes we get focused on things that we should not be focused on and we end up doings things that frustrate us. This did happen to me in the ministry I am currently in. I did try to leave however God was not done with me there so I ended up going back. I now understand that if God takes me somewhere, it's for a reason. If I set my mind to seeking Him and only Him, He will reveal to me what I should do. I think you should just go to the Lord and let Him know how you feel and just wait on Him. You mentionned not being able to lead in ministry, does that mean you are a leader who is not being allowed to lead or you want to lead but you were not given the opportunity to do so? The key thing about the service is you don't have to be well in order to make others well. It's the Spirit of God within us that ministered to others, all we have to do is just yield to Him. In fact the more broken you are as a person, the more yielded your spirit is and you are able to give more because it's not done on your own strength. God's ways are different than our ways. We want to understand how He works but we can not. Find that place of peace with your God and stay there no matter what. Even if your heart desires some things and you don't see them being manifested, don't give up. Stay faithful, stay prayerful and stay obedient.
God bless you.

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Permalink Reply by Sonja Wade on March 5, 2009 at 6:48pm

Thank you Louise for your encouraging words.

I certainly agree, ministering out of brokenness allows us to be effective ministers. However, when your fatigue and frustration becomes a hindrance in ministering, its time to step down. That's where I'm at. I've been doing, and serving so much, that I: 1) didn't listen to God when He told me to rest, 2) didn't seek His face before accepting projects and tasks. Those two things can run a person down and make them of little to no effect for the Kingdom of God- that's not where I want to be!

I led two ministries and stepped down from them (as instructed by the Lord, and done decently and in order). Additionally, I've made a commitment to God not to take the lead in other areas of ministry for 6 months. This decision (which I know is of God) has been greeted with a lot of opposition- not from my Pastor. I don't really care about the opposition, as a follower of Christ and a leader in the Church, I know it comes with the territory. What took me by surprise is that there aren't contingency plans for when leaders suffer burn out. Equally surprising, there don't seem to be any ministries in the Church that cater to ministering to leaders in that capacity. I'm just curious whether other leaders have experienced this? I can't imagine I'm an isolated case.

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Permalink Reply by Louise G on March 6, 2009 at 10:05am

Hello Sister Sonja,
Thank You for sharing more light on this matter, I believe I understand the matter better. You just need to take a break to re-focus and this is not being handled well by others. Sometimes we have to be selfish as Christians, the key to living a successful christian life is to hear the voice of the Lord and being obedient to it regardless of the opinions of others. People for the most part will not understand your decision but as long as you have backing from God and hopefully your spiritual parents, do what God has laid on your heart. I do not believe this is an isolated case but I do believe very few leaders like to admit to the fact that they are indeed burned out. In the ministry I am involved in, the leaders who experience this go on retreats, personal retreats. This usually happens after they notice that people are being blessed by them but they are not seeing the blessings reflecting in their own lives. They just take off for an unknown destination and they shut themselves off from the world and anyone else and just let God minister to them.(Elijah and the brook). You can do that to if you like after announcing that you are taking leave of your duties and stepping down for personal reasons. You certainly do not have to announce to the world even the curious ones the motivations behind it because as you see it would also cause an uproar. Perhaps now that you are being vocal about this issue, there will be something put in place because you are not the first one and you will not be the last. We are after all human beings who are still working in this human vessel and so we will eventually get tired. May God guide you in your time of need and just so you know our prayers are with you.

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Permalink Reply by Valerie Evans on June 5, 2009 at 3:34pm

Hi Sonja,

I too am experiencing the same thing. I am glad that I am not alone. My problem is that I don't know how to tell my leaders that I feel this way. They are very hard working people themselves and because they are like this, they can't find many people who are willing to work with them as hard as they do. I am the assistant at my church and I am also in EVERY auxillary except for the men, the ushers and the children. I have had the problem of saying no and it has not helped that I have a close relationship with them due to a situation that I will not say. I work a full time demanding job. I am a single mom with two young adults sons in college. They keep me pretty busy. I am trying to go to school myself and work in the ministry.

I can not keep this up anymore and I have started slowly to distance myself and not be so available. It took me to get sick a couple of years ago to realize and ask myself who is going to be there for me if I get down and out can't do for myself? I had to realize that God wants me to be happy and I can not be any good to anyone if I am burnt out, tired and frustrated. I know what I need to do, but I just need the courage to do it. Keep me in your prayers and I shall do the same for you.

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Permalink Reply by Tammy on March 8, 2009 at 1:15am

I think this happens in church all too often. Now that you recognize it and you are addressing the issue, the next step is to accept leadership/ministry in the church very prayerfully. For instance, I am a teacher. I deal with other's children every day. But every church I have ever attended jumped at me to work in the children's ministry. I used to comply. I burned out. Now I know better. :)

Leave it up to God to restore you. Be honest with your church leaders. And when you are ministering again (and trust me you will), ask for strength daily if need be. And listen to God's warning signs. ;-)

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Permalink Reply by SMR Media Productions on May 21, 2009 at 9:31pm

God knows our hearts and the great love that we have for HIM. I have learned to set boundaries on what I can and will do. I do not have to be super woman. For the harvest is plenty and the workers are few. This tell me that there is always work and it does not matter how much I do there is still much to do. So I do phone fasts and shut down for 3 days just to be still and rest. I take a day for myself and just do me. I have learned to say no I can not do that at this time because I need to be still. I guess what I am saying is that I have learned wisdom and this is the key. I do not people please I only obey God.

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Permalink Reply by Notof on May 29, 2009 at 2:05pm

Best answer I know:
Isaiah 40 (King James Version)

28Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

29He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

30Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

31But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Sometimes, we do more than the steps ordered by The Lord. He will order our steps! If you have more on you than you can bear, then somethings is riding that is not of God and a shakedown is in order. God will not put more on you, than you can bear.

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Permalink Reply by Sonja Wade on June 5, 2009 at 6:26pm

Everyone, thank you so much for your comments. Valerie, I will certainly be praying for you, praying that God gives you the right words to say (Luke 21:14-15) to your leaders. I love what Notof wrote "Sometimes, we do more than the steps ordered by The Lord." That is the truth! We take on things that God did not plan for us to take on. So many of you have said it directly or indirectly- we have to set boundaries. I think one of the most subtle tricks of the enemy is to get the saints so busy doing things in the church that they neglect their families, their homes, and their health. The enemy knows that if he can keep us 'busy' doing things in the church we'll begin to do it out of obligation and not worship. He knows we'll feel guilty about stepping down, because we don't want to hurt people and disappoint God. Understand this... THAT IS A TRICK OF THE ENEMY.

Our God is a God of order. While He operates outside of the boundaries of time, He created time for us. God's timing is awesome! He know what projects should be completed, He knows which ministries we should serve in. I like one of the other comments I saw, it said something to the effect God knows the laborers are few and it was never His expectation that one person do everything.

I would encourage every believer (from lay person to leader) to do as Jesus did in Matthew 14:23, send the people away, find a quiet place and pray. Jesus did this on a regular basis and as imitators of Christ, we struggle to do this once a year! As SMR said in her post, go on a cell phone fast. An email fast is pretty good too!

There's something in that 14th chapter of Matthew that is simply awesome! When Jesus came back from his retreat, He was so refreshed He walked on water along side of the disciples' boat. Now I'm fully aware Jesus is doing this as part of His divine nature. However you have to agree its a great illustration. He was so refreshed that He was able to operate in the supernatural. Perhaps if we did the same, some of our friends, family, and leaders will be like Peter- and ask if they to can do what we're doing. Then we can speak the Word to them and say "Come" not to us but to Jesus. "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give rest." Matthew 11:28

Side note: The end of my 6 months of rest is approaching fast. During the past month I was asked to take on an assignment. I politely explained that I would be willing to consider it in July. The other party didn't agree and I was told there are some things you don't need to pray about. I kindly reminded them that God's timing in my life is very important. Doing the right thing at the wrong time makes it the wrong thing to do. The person still didn't understand and the following week openly commented that it is spiritually immature for people to take breaks or step down from ministries if they were frustrated. The blessing: The Lord delivered me from people's opinion's 4 months ago! Furthermore, God has blessed me so much during these 6 months, there is absolutely no way I'm going back to the way I used to be!

Stay blessed!

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Permalink Reply by King James on July 22, 2009 at 9:07am

I don't really 'minister' formally in church. But serving is all day... That's why I think it's a good thing that churches operate on FYs too... get eleceted.. serve ur term.. and get another or just step down.

I think it's different for the preachers... pastor is pastor until he dies or gets kicked out. that's ok

for others.. we should do like other organizations... have term limits.. .and operate in succession planning.
Same thing the God you serve does

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Permalink Reply by Jason Coney on September 21, 2009 at 11:12pm

I understand completely...... If you will picture full Glass of water that being you and the person drinking from the straw (thoses you minister to)...... Soon you will be empty and need to be refilled .... But as a leader in ministery or a christian period need to be that glass overflowing( God being the faucet of running water , you being the glass set underneath..... Your ministry being the water that dosent fit into the glass).... Basicly saying you minister out of your over flow ensuring the you never find your self empty or half full (burned out)

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Permalink Reply by Richiey on October 16, 2009 at 9:40pm

This is exactly what I'm facing right now. I'm the chair of the Youth Ministry at my church and have been for the last 4 terms (2 years per term) and before that I was the church Secretary. And I am completely tapped out. Church has become another 'job' and I find no joy in it anymore. I keep trying to tell my church that I need a sabbatical to refuel and reconnect with God and myself-that I have nothing left to give and the kids are suffering from my half hearted attentions. But they refuse to hear me. I get a lot of emotional blackmail and a lot of "well I've been doing this for x number of years more than you and I haven't quit yet". It's frustrating and I feel as if I'm not only not being heard, but being judged and found wanting to boot.

It's a difficult situation to be in, especially in a small church. Instead of acting like the responsible woman of God that I know I can be I find myself being defiant and acting like a recalcitrant child.

I know that in my present state of mind and emotion I'm doing no one any good, least of all God.

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