AS TOLD TO JESSICA HANEWINCKEL
I’ve been studying the concept of meaningful work—work as a calling—and burnout for over a decade. Burnout impacts our motivation and satisfaction with work. It can impact our relationships. It’s not fun to be burned out, to not find a sense of purpose in what you are doing anymore, and to feel like you don’t really make an impact. I don’t want to diminish burnout at all. But burnout from a calling is unique.
We have to go back to the question, What is a calling? A calling is a relationship with our Caller that we get to live out in some way that affects ourselves as the called, and the community we serve. When burnout happens from a calling, it’s not simply, I don’t like what I am doing anymore, which is a terrible problem. It’s, I don’t know who I am anymore. A calling is inherently tied to the relationship we have with our Caller. So there’s a level of shame that happens deep in the core of our being when we feel burned out from a calling, because we think we have let ourselves down, we potentially have let God down, and we potentially have let the people we serve down. Of course that’s a lie, but that’s how we feel.
Any time an occupation feels like a calling, your whole self is part of your ministry. But I think pastors have a really unique problem, because they are explicitly expected to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Now, we should all be doing that, but people look to pastors to demonstrate it. There’s some sort of socialized expectation that they should give more and do more because of their role. But the reality is, they’re also people. They are not machines. And the emotional, mental, spiritual and physical labor that pastors deal with on a day-to-day basis absolutely requires that they pay attention to the spectrum of burnout they’re on. They have to be diligent about safeguarding [against burnout], and it’s really hard when everywhere you look, there’s a need they can impact and fill.
The smartest, wisest thing you can do is pay attention to the whispers of burnout before it becomes a problem rather than push them to the side. It’s not a matter of if burnout will happen, but what you’ll do when it does happen. It is smart and caring, not selfish, to steward your calling well, to build in times of rest, reflection and reorientation.
I would love to see both large and small churches honor a kind of sabbatical for all pastoral staff. I would love to see pastors celebrate the need for extended rest, and not just for the main pastor, but for the youth pastor, for the children’s pastor. I’d love to see that hierarchy diminish as it relates to who needs rest and why. Because if you’re working at a church, you’re on the front lines in many ways, and everybody needs a rest. I get that taking extended rest is a real privilege, but I think there needs to be a greater accountability for full-time pastoral staff to have some kind of sabbatical.