TEN STRATEGIES FOR AVOIDING BURN OUT IN MINISTRY

In Eugene Petersons memoir on being a pastor for 30 years he tells a great story of the dangers of pastoral ministry. He meets a painter who does his portrait. When it is done, Eugene is shocked by the image. Instead of a positive, ego enhancing portrait what he sees on the canvas is a sick, burned out shell of a man. Peterson is surprised by the image and asks the artist why? The artist responds, that he painted what would become of him if he continued to pastor because the church will suck the life out of you. Peterson keeps the portrait, even today, and periodically looks at as a reminder of what could happen to him. Although the artist had an overwhelming negative view of the affect of the church on a pastors life, emotionally and spiritually there is a kernel of truth. Ministry can drain pastors of life and cause their souls to atrophy. Through the demands and the expectations of a church or ministry we can find ourselves, dry, barren and on the verge of death. As I spend time with 1pastors, missionaries and others in full time service to the Lord, I often ask what does it mean to Finish Well. Sometimes I frame the question in terms of being healthy for the long haul of ministry. I find that these questions are good ways to get at the issue of burn out. The answers I receive are basically three types. The first is from Matthew 25:21, "His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things ; enter into the joy of your master.' The desire of most in full time ministry is to have faithfully carried out the call of God on their lives and to have used well their gifts and talents for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. The second comes from St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, especially the last two verses Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. These leaders see finishing well not only in doing the ministry given to them but also maintaining a strong relationship with Jesus Christ. The third is similar and is usually seen as combining the two passages just quoted. It again comes from St. Paul from his second letter to Timothy 4:7,8 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. Here again is seen the emphasis on doing works for the Lord and maintaining our personal relationship with God. In my conversations with pastors I have noticed that when asked the question about finishing well they will answer sincerely but also correctly. But when they share what their days and weeks look like in ministry you see a different picture. They are busy with ministry almost every day of the week. They spend their days and nights working for the church, and for Jesus. They pour into those around them the grace, and love that they have received from their Lord. In short
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For the sake of brevity I will use the term pastor in the rest of this paper to refer to all those in full time Christian service: Pastors, missionaries, and para-church leaders.

they do their ministry fully because they want to hear the words, Well done good and faithful servant. But often this heavy ministry for the Lord results in personal loss, burn out, depression, and sometimes even moral failings that disqualify them for the ministry. Because of their extreme focus on finishing well they lose the very thing they are working for. As Dr. Robert Clinton has noted in his Introduction to Research on Finishing Well 2 In 1989 in an article entitled, Listen Up Leaders! Forewarned is Forearmed! I summarized my research on Biblical leaders with the following opening comments. A repeated reading of the Bible with a focus on leadership reveals four crucial observations fraught with leadership implications: Observation 1. Few leaders finish well. I have only quoted his first Observation, because it is the sobering center conclusion about leadership that Dr. Clinton found. Even though we as pastors and leaders want to finish well we often dont. The pressures are too great. Our personal issues and sins can get in the way. What we desire is destroyed by our own striving for it. It becomes a replay of St. Pauls great statement in the end of Romans 7, that when I want to do good, evil is right there with me. So how can pastors Finish Well? Is there no hope to overcome the obvious obstacles to finishing well and be able to hear the words, Well done, good and faithful servant? Obviously I believe that pastors and leaders can finish well, in fact Dr. Clinton after his exhausting study of leaders in the Bible comes to this conclusion as well. Finishing well can be our experience as pastors and leaders. But we need to clarify in our hearts and minds what it means to finish well and then keep that definition ever before us. As I have thought about this issue and studied the material available to us as leaders, and meditated upon the Scriptures teaching I have come to the conclusion that we often work out of a flawed understanding of finishing well. In reading and meditating on St. Pauls words and advice I have come to the conclusion that although doing ministry, building up the church was important to Paul it wasnt the most important thing in his life. He consistently shows that his life had two focus points and that the first was more important than the second. The two focal points were first To know Christ and the second to build up the Kingdom of God. I note that St. Paul didnt focus first on his ministry, important and necessary that it was, but he focused on his relationship with Jesus Christ and his personal life of faithfulness to Jesus Christ. Note the emphasis in that great third chapter of Philippians, Jesus Christ and being with Him through all eternity. In fact he begins the chapter by dismissing all the things in his personal that we would normally consider important. There is nothing in
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These articles by Dr. J. Robert Clinton comes from the Clinton Biblical Leadership Commentary CD copyrighted 1999. This commentary is available from the Clinton Resources at http://www.bobbyclinton.com/.

this world or life that can be compared to knowing Jesus Christ. In fact anything that the world considers as important is like rubbish when compared with Jesus. Another passage on finishing well that teaches me is found on the lips of Jesus. In the Sermon on the Mount, Chapter 7 of Matthew we read, 3Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven. Then later, Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' Here Jesus responds to those who have done many things, mighty works, awesome spiritual ministries that they lacked one thing, they werent known by Jesus. To me this passage combines the two focal points of Paul, one we need to deeply know Jesus and second we need to be about the will of God. And this is where I feel many pastors can fall short. We have a mighty call from God in our lives to go and bring the Good News, the Gospel to the world and that becomes our focus. Everything else becomes secondary sometimes even our relationship to Jesus Christ. One of the reasons I have come to the conclusions I have about finishing well is how many pastors I have met over the years that have ceased to have a vibrant personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. They become so busy doing ministry, preparing sermons, leading Bible studies, leading people to Christ, and counseling that they have no time left for their own feeding and care of their soul. Eugene Peterson in his memoir of being a pastor for 30 years writes of his own personal time of burn out or wilderness when the busyness of the ministry crowded out his care for his soul. In his memoir he calls it the badlands time and in his book Under the Unpredictable Plant he calls it his Jonah time in the storm at sea. He writes Pg 34,,,35 Pastor Peterson learned through this time to change his focus from accomplishing great things in the church for God to letting God do great things in his life and then in the lives of his congregation. It is a sobering story of how pastors can get off course. So now how do we stay the course, how do we keep our souls and our families that we may finish well? As I noted early the first step is to clearly know what it means in our life to Finish Well. First, before going on, take a moment and think about your own definition of Finishing Well. At the end of your life how would you answer the question, have you Finished Well? I hope that was a helpful exercise for you. For me how we define what it means to Finish Well is key to helping us Finish Well at the end of our life. It gives us a target, a shape to our life and helps us prioritize our daily decisions in life and ministry.
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The complete passage is Matthew 7:15-23.

I love to read books and stories about mountain climbing and outdoor survival. One of my favorite books, is No Shortcuts to the Top by Ed Viesturs. He is regarded as this countrys foremost high-altitude mountaineer. One of his mottos for climbing is Reaching a summit is optional, Getting back down is mandatory. When I first read that line and what it means to him while climbing I realized that this is a great phrase for focusing on Finishing Well. In ministry Finishing Well is similar to his getting back down off the mountain. For a climber you dont really summit a mountain until you have reached the top and come back down to base camp and beyond to your home and family. So it is in ministry, we can do great things for God, climb mighty peaks but if we dont Finish Well we havent gotten home and our accomplishments mean little. I remember a pastor who had poured his life and soul out in 40 years of ministry but at the end his relationship with his wife, children and grandchildren was weak at best. After spending some time at Genesee Home he saw the importance of not only ministering to the people around him but also taking time for his wife and family. Her words to us after returning from their week speaks volumes to the need of remembering to get back down off the mountain. She said to us, It is great that he has learned the need to have a solid relationship with me and the children but I wish it could have been 40 years ago. Out of my reflection on Viesturs motto I developed my own motto to guide my ministry decisions on a daily basis. My new thought is Ministry actions are optional; Finishing Well is mandatory I know how important ministry is and I have a very strong call into full time ministry issued to me over 40 years ago but I also recognize that there are times we need to step away from a ministry opportunity simply because it may jeopardize our chances of Finishing Well. This led me to develop my own check list of what it means to Finish Well. 1. Having a vital, growing, exciting, and intimate relationship with God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit 2. Having a vital, growing, exciting, and intimate relationship with my wife 3. Having a vital, growing, exciting, and intimate relationship with my extended family as much as it depends upon me. This includes my children, their spouses and my grandchildren. 4. Having been faithful to my call into ministry from God. The way this works out in practice that I stop before beginning any type of ministry and ask myself if I do this can I still Finish Well. If the answer is no especially concerning the two top items I will step away from that ministry opportunity. I know that God does not depend on me to accomplish all the ministry opportunities that come my way and that He is at work in each situation. Of course if the answer is yes, I will continue to carry out the opportunity but always being aware of how it may impact my Finishing Well.

Then as I have reflected on doing ministry and making Finishing Well and Strong a priority in my life and ministry I thought what are some things that I can do to assist me in Finishing Well. Thus my list of ten strategies came into existence. So what are the Ten Strategies for Finishing Well? I will list them in order of importance from the most important to the least. 1. Maintain a healthy, growing relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This means a regular time of Bible reading, meditation, prayer, quiet time before His throne. This also includes using the various spiritual disciplines that help us maintain our walk in the Spirit and keep Him working actively in our lives. 2. Maintaining a healthy, growing relationship with my wife. Taking time to spend with her, falling in love with her on a daily basis. Listening to her and considering her needs, desires and dreams for herself and our marriage. This is also doing date nights, joining her as she does something that gives her pleasure and life. Also taking time to have romantic times with her, and letting our physical intimacy be a time of drawing us closer to each other. 3. Keeping in contact on a regular basis with my children and grandchildren. This is difficult for us currently as we are separated in miles from each other, but with the new technology available very doable. Also to correct mistakes and past actions that may color our relationship. Basically keeping short accounts with them. 4. Having good friends who can hold me accountable and can encourage me in my walk with God, my marriage and family and my ministry. 5. Taking time each week for a Sabbath from ministry and life to spend time with God in a concentrated period of time. This also includes time with my wife, and family. 6. Renew and remember my call into ministry. I indicate above that I have a very strong call, and I like to recall that story in my mind, and tell it to others to keep it fresh in my life. I also seek Gods face concerning my call and if there are any changes He would like me to make. 7.