Avoiding Burnout in Congregational Ministry
Burnout: The Plague of the Modern Church
We often hear today of pastors feeling burned out. This term belongs to the modern age. There was no such thing allowed when we were an agrarian society. A farmer cannot face a field of ripe crops and succumb to burnout. A herd of cows with bloated utters must be milked. We had no choice but to do the job that was our lot in life. And still we found time for church.
In those days, there was always a reward at the end of such tasks. The reward was fairly immediate. You had vegetables and milk to consume or sell.
There were also dire consequences for not doing what needs to be done. If crops were not reaped on time, there was no seed money for next year. If livestock was left unattended, they were deadstock.
There were few people to blame when things went bad in an agrarian society. It was either the weather or the farmer—or perhaps the government.
Burnout in the church happens because goals and rewards are less clear. Responsibility is something of a roulette wheel. Add to this expectations that are dated or unrealistic or which are no longer desirable and you have a perpetual malaise. Consequences are delayed. Failure can go on for a long time without the congregation taking steps to change things. In fact, not changing things in the face of failure is encouraged.
Pastors can complain of burnout. They may be well-trained and prepared for calls that no longer exist—at least the way they have been taught to expect. When they spend several hours writing a sermon, week after week, that they will deliver to fewer and fewer people, they get discouraged. “Why am I unappreciated?” is the question that must go through their minds. Clergy have other clergy shoulders to cry on.
The same problem plagues the laity. They have fewer places to register their complaints without being judged. Lay people volunteer their time, week after week. They rarely get credit, often face criticism, and have no support system except their family and friends.
The result: a deadend blame game that polarizes the Church. The clergy blame the laity. The laity blame the clergy. The only ones who are happy are the ones who accept the status quo.
The Prevention of Burnout
The church needs to do a better job at supporting both the clergy and the laity.
The problem may be that our whole structure of expectations needs to be turned upside down. We are trying to “do church” the way it has been done for a long time but under very different conditions—both socially and economically.
Things are generally a mess in the mainline church, but dwelling too much on reality is painful. A new church will emerge but it will not resemble the church that is failing.
In the new and emerging church, the pastor will play a different role, concentrating on reaching people where they are — and it is not in church on Sunday morning.
The skills of lay members will be elevated in importance and put to work. Part of the failure of today’s church is that it is relegating enormous and varied lay talent to tightly structured roles that are no longer challenging, necessary or satisfying. The wealth of lay talent is ignored and often seen as in competition with clergy.
Skilled lay leaders —movers and shakers in their communities — are offered few ways to contribute beyond being a lay reader or usher or some other tightly defined task that doesn’t compete with clergy expectations and which pose no rewarding challenges. Lay people of tomorrow’s church will want to know that they are making a difference. If the Church does not allow them to use their skills in service to God, they will find some other place where they can grow and serve.
This is already happening. People are shopping around for ways to give back that have meaning and grow their skills at the same time. There are many other places they can spend their evenings and weekends.
The Emerging Church Will Be Entrepreneurial
The old economic model has already failed — yet we keep measuring success by the offering plate. Congregations that survive to be part of the emerging church will be entrepreneurial. They will have to fund ministry without relying on member contributions.
This is OK! Churches should be serving the people least likely to be able to contribute.
The size of a congregation will mean far less than its reach. Congregations with the greatest influence may be very small indeed.
Clergy will eventually look for calls not by the size of the congregation but by their resourcefulness. Why?
Because the ones that don’t will burn out.