I’ve been taking part in some online ministry training with a group of peeps. This past week we chatted about the cycle of burn-out in youth ministry.
Two Thoughts on Burn Out in Ministry:
1. When you get tired, you get irritated with everything. Don’t just start getting angry and complain about your entire life. Sit down with a friend, mentor, or someone outside of your church and ask them to listen to you. Ask them to listen and help you figure out what the core issue is. When you’re frustrated with your calling, that’s not the time to but on a band-aid, it’s the time to surgically remove the disease.
2. Often – maybe not always – I think the issue is that we’ve lost our sense of purpose. I think that sometimes we put our hope into things that only satisfy us temporarily and only provide life on a limited scale. These things could be ministry success, conversations, program numbers, or getting a lot of website traffic. There was once a woman who was thirsty and Jesus told her there was a different between having your thirst quenched temporarily and eternally:
“Drink the water, and your thirst is quenched only for a moment. you much return to this well again and again. I offer you water that will become a wellspring within you that gives life throughout eternity. You will never be thirsty again.” John 4:13-14
