Preventing Elder Burnout
by Gary Johnson
Tired of serving as an elder? Not looking forward to your next meeting? Putting off having that necessary conversation with a difficult person? It may be that you are “hitting the wall” as an elder.
When running a marathon (26.2 miles), “hitting the wall” is a common experience for a distance runner. Having run some marathons, I know that this phenomenon is real. I reached a place of utter exhaustion—right around mile 21 and 22 in each marathon that I ran.
In much the same way, an elder can come to a place of utter exhaustion when serving the local church. His “burn out” can happen for different reasons and can be different in nature, such as emotional, physical, spiritual, relational, etc.
Regretfully, some elders resign because of the number of hours they are serving as elders (i.e., lengthy meetings, additional projects, conflict resolution conversations, etc.). Elders resign because they experience far more pain than pleasure in their ministry setting. Other elders resign because they feel overwhelmed and underprepared for the demands they face. There are many reasons why elders walk away from their responsibility rather than work through the demands.
It is important that elders know some of the warning signs of burn out, such as: unusual mood swings, general irritability, exhaustion, insomnia, physical problems (i.e., high blood pressure, weight change, chronic sickness, headaches, stomach problems/ulcers, etc.), a change in sexual desires—increase or decrease, notable on-going sexual temptation, paranoia and suspicion, panic attacks – feeling totally overwhelmed, fantasizing about an escape – fight or flight cycles in the mind, having a victim mentality, pursuing escape mechanisms (i.e., drinking, drugs, reckless spending, etc.).
Five Ways to Avoid Burn Out
In order to finish strong, marathon runners follow five essential helps: pace, intake, training, companionship, and focus. Similarly, elders can use these same five helps to prevent their potential burn out.
PACE
Marathon runners are constantly aware of their pace. If they start a race too fast, they will hit the wall very soon in the race. Elders must serve at a pace that they can maintain.
INTAKE
Before and throughout a marathon, runners will drink plenty of water and consume many calories of energy producing carbohydrates. While serving the local church, elders must be mindful of their spiritual intake, being certain to feed from the Word, engage in fervent prayer, practice the spiritual disciplines, etc. Their intentional and continual intake will guard against burn out.
TRAINING
Runners will spend hours working out; not only doing plenty of cardio training but adding strength training to their regimen. Elders must develop a training program that continually develops their leadership skills, enabling them to work “smarter and not harder” in serving the local church.
COMPANIONSHIP
Marathon runners often train and run with teammates. Companions can help shout words of encouragement to fellow runners when it appears they may hit the wall. Likewise, when working as a team, elders can pray for one another, encourage one another, serve one another, etc., all in hopes of helping fellow elders prevent ministry burn out.
FOCUS
Marathon runners are not focused on the immediate mile they happen to be running. Their continual focus is on the finish line, and elders must focus on the same. While facing his imminent execution, the Apostle Paul declared: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). When elders keep their focus on going the distance to the finish line, there is every greater likelihood that they will finish strong and not burn out.
Burn out is real and it happens all too often in ministry, particularly among elders. Burn out is completely preventable when elders “run the race with perseverance, fixing their eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of their faith” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
[This blog is Play #2 from An Elder’s Playbook]
