That's an excellent observation and question. We have seen it a lot in the South. The reason seems to be kingdom building, only it's personal kingdom building instead of Godly Kingdom building.

We are very much considering opening a ministry to burned ministers to help with the healing and restoration process.

But to overcome personal kingdom building simply means walking in obedience to the Spirit of God and not leaning to our own understanding. But that is not really taught by many and it is difficult to move past our selfish ambitions and yield our thoughts and actions to God. It takes a high level of brokenness that many run away from.

Thanks for your insight.

It's sad that the Pastor, who was once respected for his hard work has become the dart board for Christians. Pastor's don't only have to worry about the spiritual health of their congregation (which is a very burdensome task to begin with), but also help reconciliate marriages, relationships, manage overall "operation" the business side of church (I hate the word business, but in reality there are those tasks that fall under that category). Today's Pastors are not only preoccupied by giving attention to prayer and the ministry of the word, but they are also "waiting on tables".

We need a Pastor to focus solely on prayer and the ministry of the Word and a support staff that can take care of the rest.

Very often pastors are not living in a community of joy. They have expectations to preform and be a "super pastor" and are not allowed to be flawed humans, living with a flawed community that desperately needs Jesus every day. So everybody pretends and burn each other out.

I left professional vocational ministry about three months ago. I am not ruling out going back, but it would have to be very special circumstances. In simple terms we have confused the medium with the message. We are more in love with our buildings, choirs, programs, praise bands, traditions, and rituals than we are with Jesus. So many pastors are leaving church to find our way back to Jesus. When I realized that the church was actually hindering my relationship with God I really had no choice. Admittedly, my wife and I are kind of drifting right now with no real Christian community it is healthier than the situation we were in a few months ago.

"We pastors are the stewards, the spokespeople, the advocates of a message of hope, life, and peace. " This idea is what is wrong. That's the role of the Body of Christ, the whole people of God. Peter was addressing the Christians, not just leaders, when he said, "But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." (1 Peter 2:9) And as Paul says, "And [Christ] gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. " (Ephesians 4:11-13). As I understand this, the role of leadership is equipping the Christians to do the work of service. The Holy Spirit desires to use Christians to do the work of service. The Holy Spirit desires to use Christians to build up the Body. Everything in the v. 13 is possible when the whole Body is doing the building. No wonder pastors burn out.
What grieves me is that everyone that is reading this probably mentally agrees with what I am saying. But do you (and I) really believe this? Do we really believe that God can use me to witness or teach or edify, as He uses the leaders? When I have a problem, do I really believe that God will use other believers to encourage me, helping me see Christ, or am I really only expecting that from the pastor?

Hello Skye. I have had a lot of release from a ministry called Family Foundations Int, founder Craig Hill. Craig talked about "false comforts". That concept alone has helped me enormously. I realised I put my trust and security and love needs in people, not my heavenly Father. Whenever I felt unhappy, angry etc it was because I had been looking to people for love and approval. So whenever that happened I repented, and confessed out loud that my Father meets all my needs, He loves me and He is a good GOD ... This resulted in great peace whenever attack comes, and it does, from people equally unhappy from unresolved issues, unforgiveness, looking for approval from people, especially their pastors.
This is just a glimpse of some very helpful concepts from Craig Hill.
GOD bless, Irene

A key reason for burn out amongst pastors is that in many churches one person carries the responsibilities of being the main leader. by themselves. In the New Testament we see churches led by teams of elders. This team approach reflects something of the nature of God who is Himself a trinity. I do not believe that God intended pastors to work alone and it is the lack of genuine co-equal team leadership that is a major contributing factor to burn out.

Oh, so many ways to go with this....

First, you really do have to ask if all these churches we have in the country are actually faithful participants in the body of Christ. I've had too much experience with both "liberal" and "conservative" churches which lost the Gospel in favor of "polities religion." I just read a series of books (the Harmony Novels by Philip Gully) where one of the best lines given to a burning out pastor from a "veteran" was, "You're problem is that you're still expecting the people in your congregation to act like Christians - if you just stopped expecting that you'd be a lot happier." That's a brutally honest statement that reveals a lot about both congregations and pastors.

Second, the seminary education be given to a lot of pastors woefully ill-equips them to pastor a Church that is still, culturally in the 1950's. Transitioning a congregation from the cultural Christianity of imploding congregations to a vibrant community of disciples is hard, hard, work that takes a lot of creativity and throwing yourself at the feet of Jesus and wailing. Sadly, the way seminary education is currently set up in a lot of places actually works to immerse pastors in the cultural expectations of these dying churches. The process of becoming aware that their education left them with nothing in the tool-box for dealing with a church that is Christian in name only is frightening for a lot of pastors.

Third, you have a good deal of pastors who actually manage to get out of seminary thinking that being a pastor will be like going to a Christian camp 24-7 for the rest of their lives. I used to beat these people with a metaphorical whiffle-ball bat when I was in school.

Fourth, pastors are ISOLATED. Congregations, even "healthy" ones, have a tendency to keep the pastor at arm's length. Relationships between pastors always tend to revolve around a low-key competitive spirit ("how many are coming?" "Oh, we already did that program, it boosted our Sunday school attendance." "Yes, I've been asked to lead this committee for the town/church/denomination") that leaves a lot of pastors stressed out. This isolation and latent competitiveness increases the problems of the other points.

In short, it's a mess.

Thanks for the question, it is one that strikes deep into the ranks of the over-committed an malnourished (emotionally and often spiritually) among us. Two thoughts: 1) Another comment has stated that part of the problem is "personal kingdom building", and that is a great way to state what is essentially "ego" in the work. The bottom line is this, I cannot give out what I do not possess. I cannot disciple people into a vital relationship with Jesus if I have a theoretical relationship to Him. 2) We waste alot of energy on the wrong things, and my energy is a limited resource. When I created shepherdtools.org last month, I figured out that the problem was no longer a lack information, it was overkill. Pastors kept telling me they were spending huge amounts of time on the SAME THINGS. Then I went looking around and realized that many were selling me stuff, but few were really just trying to help Pastors shepherd better. I get the feeling we could help each other, but standing in the way are marketers that turn every part of "serve one another" into "sell to one another". We are not going to stop some from bailing, but we could help each other in small ways, to the glory of our Master!

Thanks for the short post, it was a reminder!

Today I am an exhausted Pastor. I am in my 19th year of full time service. This week I was the VBS speaker (80 minutes a night of story telling), I counceled a stressed out staff member and a frustrated mother, I smoothed over worship leaders problems and ineffectively tried to help a lady being evicted from her home. I answered phone calls, visited the lonely, did work for our denominational office and it's Friday afternoon and I still haven't started my sermon. Everyday I had walk in visits and unexpected issues to deal with. There is a wedding tomorow and fall planning to address. The stats tell me I don't pray enough and that I am irrelevant.. My Amazon wish list has a list of 15 books about why the North American church has failed and how I should pack it all in and start a nice little house church somewhere. I'm not tech savy enough, spirit filled enoug or trained enough. As Barbara Gilbert wrote in 1987 in her article, "Who Ministers to the Minister",

"I am supposed to move from sick-bed to administrative meeting, to planning, to supervising, to counseling, to praying, to trouble-shooting, to budgeting, to audio systems, to meditation, to worship preparation, to newsletter, to staff problems, to mission projects, to conflict management, to community leadership, to study, to funerals, to weddings, to
preaching. I am supposed to be “in charge” but not too in charge, administrative executive, sensitive pastor, skillful counselor, public speaker, spiritual guide, politically savvy, intellectually sophisticated. And I am expected to be superior, or at least first rate, in all of them. I am not supposed to be depressed, discouraged, cynical, angry, hurt. I am supposed to be up-beat, positive, strong, willing,available. Right now I am not filling any of those expectations very well. And I am tired -

And you wonder why we quit at the rate we do?

And yet... I will not quit. I will not type out my resignation and throw it at the Elders feet. I will go home... and I will lay on the floor, arms outstretched upon the floor in my bedroom and I will weep. I will weep for the lost, the hurt and the dying, for my tired wife and my fishbowl kids and for myself. I will weep before the sea of glass, and before the throne of the lamb and I will poor out the pain and the loneliness but I will not surrender an inch of the Kingdom to the forces of hell. For these 19 years I have served and I will not let one bad week undo what the God of all grace has done in this place. I will humble myself and pray and then with my wife, I will eat nachos, drink Pepsi and watch the sun go down and I will listen to hear the words I live for, "Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord."