Burnout and What Leaders Can Do to Prevent It

One of the realities all organizations face is burnout: leaders burnout, your people burnout, burnout happens.

I've been reflecting on my leadership for the past twenty plus years and I know that there were good people - people who love Jesus, who love the church, who appreciated my leadership - who still experienced burnout with my leadership and the church.

I HATE the thought of my actions and my leadership causing people to get frustrated and discouraged.

Life is hard enough, church is hard enough! And the thought that my actions and my leadership caused others to burnout just kills me.

As I consider my ministry one of the areas where my leadership fell short is in helping good people connect what they were doing to the bigger picture.

You see, in leadership and organizational life, there are some things that need to get done that are not fun, glamorous, exciting. There are some things that need to get done that are boring, routine, and difficult.

That's just life. That's organizational reality.

One of the surest way to guarantee burnout and frustration is when people are engaged in activities and responsibilities to which they don't see making a difference.

But here's the thing: there are some activities and responsibilities that don't necessarily produce immediate results that are visible. But if they're not done excellently, the organization crumbles. Accounting, property maintenance, stewardship, fund raising, volunteer coordination, etc., are some examples that come to mind.

If these things don't get done excellently, no organization will function for long.

The key is in reminding and encouraging people that what they are doing absolutely impacts the vitality of the organization. The leader has the capacity to help people see how what they are doing is making a difference.

I can do a better job. I must do a better job of this.

Another way that my leadership has caused burnout is when people are asked to do something that is outside of their giftedness and strengths.

I confess that because certain leadership responsibilities needed to be filled, I've agreed to people being placed in roles that I knew were not their strength or their passion.

That's stupid!

One of the leader's task is to place people in roles and situations where they can thrive.

I can and must not do that to people who love God and love the church. That's a sure way to cause people to be discouraged.

Life is hard enough. Church is difficult enough.

Leaders should do their best to not add extra burden to those who are giving of their time, talents, and finances to see God change the world.

I pray that I am getting better as a leader.

The people of LCOP deserve to have a leader like that.

No Perfect Church; But Every Church Can Improve

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow - 1 Corinthians 3:6-7

Reality - Only God can grow churches.

Without God, nothing grows. Without God, nothing happens.

Only God grows churches.

But then how come I stress out so much about church growth? How come pastors and leaders freak out about the lack of growth?

While it is absolutely truth that only God grows churches, it is also absolutely true that churches can do a lot to ensure that their particular church doesn't grow.

God designed the church so that when the church behaves and functions like a church, churches grow.

However, because churches are filled with people, churches are filled with personal agendas. Yes, that includes the pastors and leaders. So when churches get off target from why the church exists and starts playing the personal agenda game, bad stuff happens. And when bad stuff happens, growth...well...it ain't happening.

There are too many examples of how this plays out. I'm sure you can list your own. But here are some from you might have encountered.

• When a visitor who's been reluctant to try the church thing comes to the church for the first time in a long time is asked to move seats because they are sitting in someone's seat
• When a person is told that if they would just pray more then they wouldn't be dealing with so much guilt and shame
• When a person is told that perhaps it was their fault that their spouse beat them senselessly
• When a person is told that they don't belong because they are _______

The list literally can go on for quite a while.

That's the thing.

God designed the church to grow. God is the only one who can grow churches.

BUT!!!!! 

The church can sometimes be its biggest hurdle because the church keeps getting in the way of Jesus.

So what can we do to be better at being the church God wants us to be? I don't know all the answers, but I think these might be a good start.

• Treat all people with love, respect, and dignity.
• Being gracious, welcoming, hospitable trumps being right and getting my way. It's not that being right is not important. Being right absolutely matters. But caring must come first. We must earn the right to teach the right things. 
• Don't just proclaim good news. Be good news in the community.
• Make difference.
• Make the world a better place because Jesus is Lord. 
• Establish God's kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.

No church is perfect. 

But every church can improve.

Missional Disciples

There's a lot of conversation in church circles of "missional" churches. I am one who finds the writings and the experiments with the emerging and missional churches quite fascinating and hopeful.

I've come across quite a few attempts at to define what it means to be a missional church.

Bottom line, if a church is missional, I believe there are several characteristics about this church.

1. The church exists to accomplish its mission
2. The mission of the church is not to be discovered. God has already given to the church her mission. It is the great commission: "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you."

In order to be a missional church, it needs to be filled with missional disciples.

So what is a missional disciple?

A missional disciple is one who has made the mission of Christ his/her own mission and see themselves as a missionary in a world that needs to know who Christ is.

1 Peter 3:15 says, "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have."

The Bible assumes that when we live as faithful disciples, that our lives would be so distinct, set apart, and attractive that the people around us would ask us about the hope that is in us.

So let me ask you, when's the last time anyone asked you about the hope that is in you? When's the last time anyone asked your church about the hope that your church brings?

That's a problem!!!!!

I want to be asked.

How can we live in such a way that people would ask?

You've got be missional disciples. Whatever else this may mean, it has to mean that the missional disciple see him/herself as a missionary in the world they live.

In order to be a successful missionary, here are several things that successful missionaries must do.

1. They need to learn the language of the people they are trying to reach. 
2. If you don't know the language of the people you're trying to reach, you're not going to get anywhere. We must learn the language of the people in our neighborhoods hanging out at Starbucks, at the gyms, at the bars, at our work places. 
3. They need to learn the culture of the people they are trying to reach. Even if you know the language of the people you're trying to reach, you still need to learn the ethos and the values of the people you're trying to reach. Because until you do, you will find yourself offending the very people you're trying to reach, and you won't even know that you're being offensive. 
4. They need to certain of Jesus. You need to know what the good news is. You need to know why you're doing what you're doing.
5. They need to translate the good news of Jesus Christ in a language and values that makes sense to the people they are trying to reach. They need to know how to be good news to the people they are trying to reach. 

This is what successful missionaries do.

This is what missional disciples do.

Missional churches, therefore, are churches that are making and equipping missional disciples.

Ephesians 4:11-12 says, "So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and teachers to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up."

The leaders of missional churches will focus their time and energy in making and equipping missional disciples. This is one of the main purposes of leaders in missional congregations.

Is that how your church is functioning?