By Raul Rivera
It had only been a year and a half from the day I started my church and already, I was feeling burned out. I thought it would be bigger and better established. I took it for granted that the congregation would be more dedicated and involved in outreach efforts. All of my energy was quickly dying and I did not know how to get it back. Ever been there? Maybe you are there now. Let me give you three things that will help you avoid burnout.
1. Unmanaged expectations: Many leaders that start churches have an unstated idea of what their church should look like in its first year. When that idea is not achieved, it can lead to the perception of failure. Let me give you an example.
In most of the conversations I have with church planters, they usually describe a vision that is complicated, multifaceted and elaborate. In fact, it looks a lot like the one they perceived from their former pastor. While I always encourage big dreams, they must be well managed and understood. Not every church is supposed to grow to reach 1,000 people. However, if you expect to be a church of 1,000 people and you only grow to 300, you will always feel like you failed. But those who never expected to reach 300 will feel like they have conquered the world if they reach 300.
2. Preaching without purpose: When I first started in ministry, the average length of my sermons was about 1 hour. As I matured, the sermons were more like 30 minutes. In the early years, I prepared as though the end of the world was here, and that the sermon I was preaching was probably mine and the congregation's last. I soon learned that there was always another Sunday and that very likely, the congregation could not remember what I talked about the week before.
As a preacher, I would get bothered when I asked the question, "How many remember what the message was about last week?" and only one out of one hundred would raise their hand. This was troubling to me because I equated remembering the message with dedication, and seriousness about the things of God. But I never considered that maybe my sermons weren't as impacting and worth remembering as I thought they were. Is there a solution? Be encouraged, I found one. Let me give you what will make preaching more effective and easier to do week after week and avoid preaching burnout.
a. Preach in series: You should take some time and pick topics you can cover over 4 to 6 weeks. That means that every year you pick between nine and twelve topics and then prepare them to be covered in a series.
b. Less than 30 minutes: As a preacher the hardest thing to do is to discipline yourself to cover your entire message in under 30 minutes. This will force you to stay on topic and keep the congregation's attention. Avoid the temptation of rabbit trails because, like it or not, the fact is that on Sunday morning, you will probably be able to effectively hold their attention for about 25 minutes. When you train yourself to boil a message down to a more "concentrated" version, you will find that people track with you better, because they feel that every point says something vital.
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Stick to your plan: If you select your sermon series in advance, you will be able to research, develop and better prepare your messages. You will also be able to publish the upcoming series four weeks in advance on the church website, bulletins and other printed materials by using mail marketing. One good way to advertise your church is to get a
nonprofit mailing permit and then send postcard advertisements of upcoming sermon series to thousands of households within 30 minutes drive of your church. I am certain it will draw new people to visit your church.
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Not paying attention to the things that keep you awake at night: For some people, dealing with the hardest issues only happens at night when their heads touch the pillow. What are the things you think about at night? If you are typical, you probably think of things that you secretly worry about, but rarely tell anyone. I often get a chance to hear many of those concerns. Let me give you a short list
a. You think about growing but don't know how: How do you grow a church? After 2 years, you are beginning to realize that people won't come to your church because you have great services. There has to be something more yet you do not know what to do and you are running out of ideas. That is a sign that you are burning out.
b. You worry about finances: You got into a building and the rent is killing you. You thought that the building would attract more people, but the opposite has happened, or maybe new people have come but the rent is more than you can really afford and there are times when you pay from your own pocket to meet the shortfall.
c. You worry about the books of the church: Not only do you think about the church and how to make it grow, but you also worry about the books and management of its resources. Is there something I should know that I do not know? Am I properly reporting love offerings? What about forms that need to be turned in to the IRS? Every January you make the pledge to get it right, but my March, you surrender to the busyness of ministry and life and then you suppress the voice that whispers to you at night that reminds you to get them right.
Let's review
We covered three things that may cause burnout. They are 1) unmanaged expectations, 2) preaching without purpose and,
3) not paying attention to the things that keep you awake at night.
The third one is probably the one that preachers pint to least when it comes to burnout, but I dare say that it is probably the greatest creator of unidentifiable stress. In each man is a deep desire to quietly enjoy the fruit of their labor. When certain aspects of that labor keep you up at night, it won't matter too much if you accomplish what you set out to do.
In my previous article, I shared with you three things that cause burnout in preachers. Today, I would like to continue along those lines by sharing with you three hang-ups that, little by little, will cause you to burn out.
1. Hanging on to a divisive leader: This one is tough. As a pastor I had my share of working both with good leaders and with leaders that started well but for one reason or another became offended and turned against me.
Pastor, often times hanging on to divisive leaders too long can secretly increase the chance of burnout.
- You often times make your decisions trying to make them happy: The same goes for the opposite, sometimes you make decisions the exact opposite way you might have otherwise done just because of that one leader that is driving you crazy.
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- Every time you see that person, you feel heaviness come upon you: There is nothing worse than feeling your energy and zeal being drained right out of you just because you crossed paths with someone. Everything inside of you may tell you that you must forgive and forget. Let me step in and say, "It is that, plus removing the person from leadership and letting them go." Once you do it, you will feel much lighter leading the church.
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- You find that every three months or so, you have to have a serious private meeting with that person to clear the air: These types of meetings are useful if they only happen on rare occasions and both parties are equally willing to humbly repent for their part in the problem. However, if the frequency of those meetings increases, it is time to just let that person go.
If you find yourself in this situation with someone, simply parting ways with this person is the single best thing you can do to avoid burnout. That person will be OK and you will be better off.
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Hanging yourself by your own preaching: As the messenger, you are called to preach truth, even when you know your own journey of living that truth out still has a lot of room for improvement.
Burnout happens when you deal with yourself inconsistent with how the Scriptures dictate. For example, if you preach a message on a topic that you yourself need to improve on, but you hide the reality of your own struggle and choose not to deal with it through confession and accountability, then you will be eaten up every week with an overwhelming sense of hypocrisy.
Though James says that teachers will receive a stricter judgment, it does not mean that you are to walk in condemnation. You must allow the Scriptures and a life of accountability (with well-chosen individuals outside of your congregation) to keep your own heart in a place of truth and growth.
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Hanging up things you love: One thing I have always loved to do is watch college football on Saturdays. The only thing better than watching a college football game on Saturday afternoon is watching one on Saturday night. I now have the wonderful pleasure of watching college football with my two boys and I absolutely look forward to spending that informal, high-quality time with them. However, as a pastor, Saturdays were often spent prepping for the Sunday morning services. Even more than that, we always had our fall missions' conference that took place every October. This conference started on a Thursday night and ended late Saturday night. I remember one year, we planned it and set it on the church calendar, only to find out three weeks before the conference that on that same Saturday night, Florida State was set to play the University of Miami. The following year when it came to plan for the conference, I looked at the entire season's schedules of great college football games and chose a week that did not feature any really great games. I proposed it to my staff and leadership team and after minimal discussion, they unanimously concluded that if that is the week I proposed, it was most likely because that is what God had put in my heart. After it was all said and done I felt awful. My conscience bothered me. What was I to do? I had pledged to give my life to the Lord in ministry and here I was struggling with selfish desires. I learned two things from that struggle.
- Taking up your cross does not mean you stop being who you are: For several years after starting the church, I was becoming aware of how that subconscious battle affected my ability to live life to the fullest. He came to give us life and that more abundantly, yet every passing year, I felt like I had less of it until I discovered I did not have to stop being Raul-a lover of sports-to be a preacher and lover of God.
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- God is pleased with your pleasure: Just like your fingerprint is unique, God created your soul to be unique. There are things that you enjoy and that you do well because God put that within you. It is part of what makes you, uniquely YOU. In the same way that you enjoy seeing your children find pleasure in life, provided that pleasure is not going to harm them, your Father finds pleasure in watching you enjoy and experience all He has created for you. It is meant to be a connection point whereby you can see His face in every arena of life and be filled with thankfulness as you relate to Him in all of it.
Let's review
Ok! So we covered three things that we get hung up over to the degree that it causes preachers to burnout. They are
1) Hanging on to a divisive leader, 2) Hanging yourself by your own preaching, and 3) Hanging up things you love. I want you to notice that they are all issues of perception. Many times your own worst enemy is your own perception of reality and God. No matter where you are today, you must always be willing to challenge your own perceptions of reality and rigorously seek out what God has to say about them.
