Clergy Burnout and Spirituality
When our ministry capacity exceeds our spiritual capacity, we start to operate in the flesh rather than in the Spirit.
A couple of months ago, I attended a webinar where people were discussing the topic of clergy burnout. A substantial number of pastors and ministry leaders are burning out and leaving the ministry. This is not a surprising idea. This has been a reality for a while now. But what I found surprising was the solution that they proposed to combat this trend. The primary solution proposed in the webinar was to encourage clergy to find and cultivate genuine friendships. It might be true that pastors and ministry leaders find it difficult to build friendships within the church. There are a host of reasons for why this happens (i.e. a power differential). But I'm not entirely sure that the primary solution to burnout is to simply "have better friends." Having genuine friendships can certainly help combat clergy burnout. Friends can support pastors and ministry leaders through really tough times. But I'm not sure if this is addressing a deeper root issue in the life of pastors and ministry leaders: a lack of spirituality.
Burnout happens for a number of reasons. But we can't neglect the fact that pastors and ministry leaders struggle in their own walk with Christ too. And when a minister isn't close to the Lord Jesus, there are consequences to that—one of them being burnout. Our spiritual capacity needs to exceed our ministry capacity. When our ministry capacity exceeds our spiritual capacity, we start to operate in the flesh rather than in the Spirit. And we know what happens when we operate in the flesh: we might start to do things that are away from the will and desires of God.
Another reason to look into cultivating the clergy's soul is to avoid having a discrepancy between what we believe (our values) and what we do (our behavior). If we value being very close to Jesus but our lives don't actually reflect that, this can produce a high level of dissatisfaction. In fact, a person might start to feel like a fraud or a fake. And this could lead to burnout simply because we're not meeting our own expectations of ourselves.
So, although having strong and genuine friendships can help combat burnout, the deeper solution to consider is to take care of one's own soul again. No amount of strong friendships will help a minister get back from the brink of burnout if their spiritual life is in shambles. The best that friends can do is encourage that minister to get right with God again. But if you have a close and vibrant relationship with Jesus, you'll have the capacity to withstand any ministry troubles that may come your way. If you're lacking in prayer, meditation, worship, and other spiritual disciplines, you simply won't have the spiritual capacity to meet the challenges of ministry.
Barnabas the Monastic
Servant of Christ. Husband. Dad. Modern Monastic. I have a wild ambition in life: get as close to the Lord Jesus Christ as I can while on earth. I explore and integrate ancient Christian monk wisdom in modern everyday life. Lives in Canada.
