A BURNT OUT MINISTER IS IRRELEVANT

A BURNT OUT MINISTER IS IRRELEVANT

I've been reading staggering statistics about clergy burnout. Statistics revealing how depression, obesity, hypertension, and diabetes are incredibly high among clerics. Did you know the life expectancy of a minister is much lower than the average person? 1,500 clerics leave the ministry every month. Why? I know what some will say, "They're hirelings. They don't pray. They don't love God. Etc." I'm sure that's true way too often, but that's not always the case. And those that readily say such things usually aren't pastors or, if they are, have a congregation of 8 people.

We are living in a different world than the men of old. Did you ever consider the fact that John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, Charles Finney, G. Whitefield, J. Edwards, Praying Hyde, General Booth, David Brainerd, Livingstone, Seymour, McCheynne, A. B. Simpson, etc didn't have access to phones, planes, cars, internet, email, text messaging, etc? If the congregation got a hold of them it was on Sunday or via horse and buggy. And if your preacher was a circuit rider ... you DIDN'T get a hold of him.

They didn't have to compete with cell phones, ipads, ipods, television, radio, internet, Hollywood, etc. People weren't gospel hardened and entertained to death. People didn't expect the preacher to cater to their every whim because they couldn't cater to their every whim. I compare that with a hundred phone calls and text messages a week (literally), hundreds of emails and Facebook messages, and the continuous expectations of the clergy being at all places at all times thanks to speedy vehicles. Today's pastor is on call 24/7! And because of today's technology, the pressure to perform is crazy. John Wesley attributed his long life to taking naps as often as he needed. (If today's cleric takes a nap someone rings the door bell and accuses them of being lazy and sleeping all day.)

But, concerning the men of old, they had revival and we, for the most part, do not. They spent most of their time praying, reading, and preaching. Their greatest stress came from wrestling with God, not men.

They understood that the church belonged to God, not them. They understood that counseling can never take the place of the unadulterated preached Word. They understood that the hard hearted and stubborn laity sitting in the pews were lost and in need of conversion and not to be reckoned as church bosses.

Let's spend more time in prayer and the Word, talking to God about men; and less time answering text messages and counseling people to do what we've told them a hundred times from the pulpit.

If you're tired, sleep. If you're on the verge of burning out, shut your phone off, take a few days off, spend time with God and your family. Learn how to say "NO".

Don't let your wife suffer because you're ministering to another man's wife and don't have time for her. Don't lose your kids trying to save other peoples kids. If you burn out you will wreck yourself and then be irrelevant anyway.

Don't allow anyone to push you beyond your capacity. And ... remember it all belongs to God. He's the husbandman. Let the divine stay up all night. Let the omnipresent be every where at all times. Let Him be responsible for HIS church. You? Just do what you can. 

Pastor David Lamb of Richmond, Ky