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If you or your volunteers are showing signs of burnout, you’re not alone. You also can recover from burnout. Most small churches function with a small group of committed people who don’t want to disappoint God, their pastor, or the people who fill the pews. Sometimes that commitment leads to exhaustion and, little by little, the joy of serving slowly begins seeping away. Whether you’re the pastor, ministry leader, or prefer to stay in the background, no one is immune to burnout. If you’re human, you’re at risk. Keep reading if:
- Your team seems to be fading in commitment and passion
- You wish you had the motivation you remember when you first signed up to serve
- You want some tangible tips to refresh your personal vision or your team
Change Is In The Air
I got the chance to meet with our team, and we were so excited to talk about the next 6 months of this year. We often talk about how fast time goes. My youngest is turning 18 this summer. Where did the time go? The truth is, there is so much time ahead of us for newness and change. There’s time for renewal and revision. Nothing has to stay the same. God created us to learn, change, and grow. As you look ahead to the next season, what would you like to be different?
During our anniversary week last month, one of the things we talked about was that hope has to come before help. We often want to help people, but the reality is if they don’t have hope that something could change, they don’t want our help. It’s the same for us, and it’s the same with burnout.
If you think that that’s just the way it is, or that God wants us like this, then we will never be able to receive help. If we don’t believe it could be different, then why would we waste our time?
A Little Bit Of Hope
I want to give you some hope by sharing my story as well as others’ stories. I want to share stories of healthy small church ministry and of volunteers who show up early, excited to serve. I want to share stories of pastors’ wives who don’t do it all, of churches that aren’t short on volunteers, of people who were incredibly burnt out, and who are finding their passion while setting healthier boundaries.
If you or your volunteers are showing signs of burnout, you’re not alone. I see you, I hear you, and I want to tell you that you don’t have to stay there. I’ve been there, and I’m not there now! You can recover from burnout. There is renewal from the loss of vision and inspiration for something new.
5 Practical Tips To Recover From Burnout
1. Acknowledge. Accept. Allow.
Instead of spiritualizing burnout, humanize it. We need to stop beating ourselves up and making others feel bad for being tired, exhausted, or depleted. We need to be okay with our own humanity. Being human isn’t always fun, but God created us like this.
Please, don’t spiritualize burnout. We need to stop quoting scripture over our limits, as though quoting Isaiah 40 is physically going to help us run and not grow weary. We constantly think that if we were spiritual enough, we wouldn’t be tired or need a break, but that isn’t the truth. That scripture isn’t in the Bible so we can throw it at someone in the midst of their pain and hurt.
We have limits, and you don’t get to set the limits of other people just as they don’t get to set yours. Sometimes things are tough. Can we just acknowledge, accept, and allow it? It’s okay if you’re burned out, if you’re a pastor on the verge of quitting, or if you’re a volunteer who dreads teaching Sunday school. Let’s call it what it is. Our capacity is limited. If we’re burnt out, discouraged, or something is going on, there’s a reason why, and we need to explore that rather than push through it.
2. Do Something Fun
I realize that, for those of us who get a lot of our worth from work and accomplishment, this is a tough one. However, before you start thinking that this isn’t a real solution or that having fun is a dumb idea, consider the fact that God has given us a big, beautiful world filled with color and sound, and an amazing gift called laughter and friendship! Where does that fit in your life?
If you or you’re team is on the verge of burnout, the chances are you’re not having a whole lot of fun right now. If you’re in charge of a team, a ministry area, or you have a few volunteers who look to you for support, help, or direction, can you plan a day of fun? Go to the beach, the mountains, or have a picnic. This isn’t a waste of an idea. There are scientific studies on physical and emotional health and the link to enjoying life and laughter. God didn’t create us to be serious and stifling all the time. Take a break!
If this is a tough one for you, especially if you deal with depression and exhaustion, you may have lost your enjoyment of things you used to love. I want to encourage you to get some help. Please, don’t think that counseling is for people who are a real mess and that you can hold it together. We need to refrain from stigmatizing professional help. I’ve been to counselors and I think every single one of my good friends has too. People who go to counseling want to grow and be different. Don’t discount it!
3. Help Them Dream
To recover from burnout, help your team dream because it isn’t natural for most of us. We get bogged down by the current problems and struggles in our lives, churches, and world. We forget to hope. We forget to imagine a different future.
God calls us to hope. If nothing else, we have the hope of heaven. I love the visions God paints in the Bible. He doesn’t just say that heaven has no suffering.
He saw a windstorm coming out of the north–an immense cloud with flashing lightning surrounded by brilliant light … above the heads of the living creatures was what looked something like a vault, sparkling like crystal, and awesome. … Above the vault over their heads was what looked like a throne of lapis lazuli, and high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man …, and brilliant light surrounded him. Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him.
Excerpts From Esekiel 1
This is our creative God. Remember, if there is no hope, there is no help, and part of hope is having a dream for something different. It is a God-given gift to dream, so help your team dream. Lead them through it.
4. Take A Break Together
Mix it up so that even if you keep doing ministry, it feels like a break because it’s a break from what you’ve been doing for a long time. If you’re teaching Sunday school, do something different. Use a video series, do a service outside, or turn it into a few weeks of fellowship with food. Sometimes, we’re not at a place where we can cancel a service we’re offering, like the nursery, making coffee, etc.. However, you can add freshness and newness. If your worship team is tired, go acoustic. If your pastors are tired, do a pastor swap and change pulpits with another church in town. This way everyone gets a little newness.
By switching it up, it helps you prevent and recover from burnout. We’re moving the responsibility off of where it was and relieving a heavy burden. There are so many creative ideas in ministry for taking breaks like job-sharing, teamwork, special guests, and new locations. We need to dream a little and get out of the same old, same old.
5. Give Them A Break
This might scare you, especially if you’re feeling short on volunteers, but it’s so good and it will change your ministry and volunteer culture. To recover from burnout, give them a season off. Not a Sunday, a season. Maybe that’s a month or maybe it’s longer, but give them a break. If you’re the one who needs to recover from burnout, you may be the one who needs a break. Before you say, “I can’t, there’s no one to do it!”, I get it. However, what’s the alternative? That we abuse the gift God gave us to steward our very being? That we abuse ourselves and our volunteers by pushing the God-given limits He created us with?
God gave us limits. I think we need to not only respect them, but embrace and celebrate them. God knew what He was doing when He gave us limits. There’s a reason for it. We shouldn’t be bucking against His design. Our souls are much more valuable than our service. When we start thinking our service is more important to God than the person He created us to be, there is a problem. God has so much more for us!
If you’re the one burning out, this is for you. We are supposed to take care of ourselves. We are the only ones who are responsible for us. Your example is so important, and what you model means more than what you teach. If you drive yourself into the ground, if you sacrifice your soul for service, or if your joy has been replaced with demand and obligation, you need to stop.
Are You Trying To Recover From Burnout?
If you’re needing to recover from burnout, this is for you. We are supposed to take care of ourselves. We are the only ones who are responsible for us. Your example is so important, and what you model means more than what you teach. If you drive yourself into the ground, if you sacrifice your soul for service, or if your joy has been replaced with demand and obligation, take a break and replenish your soul.
Read More:
No More Burnout: Quit Trying So Hard – Small Church Ministry
Feeling Disrupted? It’s The Perfect Time For Small Church Ministry
