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By Dr. Grant Mullen
 Burnout is a widespread problem in many careers but it is particularly common in positions of ministry leadership.
I define burnout as the state of mental exhaustion from long term stress. The most common symptoms are chronic fatigue, loss of future vision or enthusiasm for the job and the feeling of being trapped on a treadmill.
There are many reasons why burnout is so common in ministry. Here are a few.
Pastoral ministry in particular is not a well defined job. Everyone has a different expectation of what you should be doing. That means there will always be someone dissatisfied with your performance. You have to be prepared for constant criticism. You are expected to recruit and lead volunteers but there is no authority structure to work with like there would be in a corporation. Pastors wear too many hats like teacher, administrator, fund raiser, counsellor and custodian. There are few boundaries on your time. There is an expectation that you have to always be available to everyone.
So how can you survive?
The most important truth to embrace is that it is not your church. It's God's. You are the shepherd not the owner.
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What are you doing about your own spiritual and emotional growth? If you're not growing, your people won't be either. You can't lead where you haven't gone first. What are you modeling? Don't expect them to walk in victory if you aren't.
Find someone to talk to where it's safe to unload. I suggest a professional counsellor. They will give you objective advice and hold you accountable. Deal with your own emotional baggage or it will spill into all your teaching and relationships. The counsellor can help you with this too.
Set boundaries so you don't get too engulfed with other people's problems. Know when to refer them to professionals for help. We have many resources that you can use in home groups for those needing emotional recovery. I can come to your area and teach transformation seminars. These tools will save you time, energy and frustration.
Make your marriage a top priority. Ministry starts first in your home.
The key to preventing burnout in ministry is Ex. 33:14, "My presence will go with you and I will give you rest." Effective ministry only takes place when God is present and active. When he is working, you can relax. When you make it your highest priority to live and work in God's presence he will refresh you daily.
This article is generously contributed to canadianchristianity.com by Grant Mullen. For more information visit Answers to common mental health questions. Go to: www.drgrantmullen.com
To obtain his book Emotionally Free
September 11/2008
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However, it does nothing for the pastor(s) trapped in such a poor church context. It's one thing to tell the pastor what he ought to do to avoid burn out but it is quite another thing to provide a plan of action.
This article doesn't leave me with anything to practically help a pastor who is over pressured week to week.
This could have been a three part article actually telling us what we can do in a few of the representative situations pastors find themselves heading fast into burn out!
Burnout is a motivational problem. A person struggling with burnout is demotivated, dispirited, depressed - down. Whereas a highly stressed person may be highly enthusiastic - tho driving their body.
Stress is the "fever" of burnout. As with pneumonia. A high fever must be reduced or there is a risk of brain damage - BUT once reduced the pneumonia is still there. Similarly with burnout - the stress must be reduced but reducing stress does not deal with the job situations rendering the person helpless. The person must develop a feeling of controllability.
Burnout is caused by feelings of uncontrollability. Powerlessness, damned-if-you-do damned-if-you-don't situations. It is prevented by developing feelings of control over the job - which is an on-going process.
For considerable information on job burnout, the symptoms, burnout quizzes, and what to do to prevent it or turn it around - go to my site at docpotter.com