This spring Rodney Coles requested that I write an article for an interfaith publication on burnout among pastors. This article seeks to be transparent about the struggles of burnout among many pastors in our community and around the country, but is not intended to be specifically about First Presbyterian Church or any particular person. Right now, pastors are leaving their calls in record numbers, and understanding this trend is important to the whole faith community.
On Fire or Burned Out?
by Rev. Rob Jackson
Ask any pastor about their call story, and watch a little smile come across their face. Seriously, do it sometimes. It is fun to watch! Every story is unique, but the common thing is that calling is both powerful and hard to put into words. We have fond memories of studying and preparing, even if it was difficult. And, as we entered the parish, green and ready to serve, we were full of fire and optimism. Almost every pastor will tell you that, at some level, they were ready to be a part of changing the world, to be a part of the Kingdom of God, already at hand. Then, we encounter the reality of our calling. The race is long, and the hurdles are not what we imagined.
In the midst of our sermon preparation, a voice starts popping up in the back of our head. Will people receive this sermon well? Will they like it? Will they tell their friends about it? This voice competes with the Spirit and the text and every preacher has to go through their own process to discern what God is calling them to preach, whether they receive praise or whether it makes people angry.
In our pastoral care, we strive to walk with people in their joy and pain, and it is never as easy as all that. Promoting healthy relationships in the church with parishioners and among parishioners is emotionally demanding work, requiring us to constantly examine our own emotional and spiritual health. And, new flash, pastors are not always healthy themselves. I am not always healthy, myself.
Pastors pray that they can lead the people faithfully and help their congregations hear and follow God’s call for them to love God and neighbor. We also reach out to other faith leaders around the county to see how we can work together and to support one another. But, the task is difficult because even the most well-meaning people can be more interested in how we take care of our own congregations without genuine curiosity about what our neighbors need. Racism, poverty, hatred, violence and other sicknesses in the community can seem too daunting to tackle, especially when not everyone can agree what the problems are or how the church should respond. Where is the balance of addressing all the needs?
And, of course, crisis comes. It comes for individuals, families, congregations, communities, nations and the whole world. We seek to walk with people in the midst of crisis, but there is no perfect way to do it, and no single way or technique that fits all. The nation splits along political and cultural lines. We endured a global pandemic, and the church become a microcosm of all the pain that surrounds it. Church leaders spend almost endless amounts of time arguing about the best and most faithful way to respond, until conflict itself becomes our default communication.
In the middle of all that? That is your pastor. They (we) do not want your pity for our situation. We answered the call and know it is demanding. We do not want you to think we are complaining. We simply yearn to put into practice all those things we learned in Sunday School when we were kids.
Every congregation seems to have encountered these difficulties differently and the most difficult chapter has struck congregations at different times. But, what we hold in common is that when pastors gather, we look around and see how exhausted we are. We yearn to complete work that requires more time than we have. We strive to remain positive and focused on Christ, and maintain healthy relationships with our families and all the people to whom we have pledged to serve. It turns out it is largely impossible to “succeed” in ministry. But, that is ok. God measures success differently than the world does. Success throughout scripture is measured most importantly by faithfulness and fidelity.
With all these factors, burnout is a real possibility for every single faith leader. Burnout comes when we get so focused on the tasks of ministry that we lose our deep connection to the one who calls us to the work in the first place. It happens when we do not obey the command to observe sabbath. It happens when we think we can earn our way into being called “a good leader.” Ours is not a business where we earn our accolades because very few people actually know the best things we do, and that is ok. Our positions were given to us by grace. We lead by grace (when we are doing it right) and whatever praise we get is by grace alone. It is the one who calls us who is deserving of the accolades.
Please pray for your pastors. Please give them grace when they fall short. Please know that they want to be on fire in their faith, and to love and serve you. Please know that your church has been charged to be good stewards of your pastors and all of your employees. Make sure they are paid what they are owed and that they take the vacations they need in order to be emotionally and spiritually healthy. Weekends do not really exist for pastors, so they need to get out of town and get their own cup filled up so they have something to give others. It is so very easy to go from “on fire” to “burned out.” It is the nature of the work, and even Jesus had to step away sometimes. It is good to tend these needs. After all, we should be smiling not only about our calling to the journey, but about the journey itself, too.
