Lead WellSample

Avoiding Burn-Out

One of the questions I get the most is how to avoid burn-out. It’s something everyone who is in youth ministry will face, probably more than once. Somehow, I have survived so long in youth ministry, but I have made some mistakes on the way. I have done my best to learn from everyone of them. Here are some tips I have learned to help avoid the burn-out trap:

Make sure you’re having personal time with God – Don’t use your message prep time as an excuse to say you have spent time with God. We give this advice to others all the time, but how many times do we set aside OUR time with God in order to do the job of ministry? If our basic spiritual disciplines aren’t in place, we will feel that deficiency in every part of our lives.

Learn How to Delegate – This may sound basic, but it’s easy to get in the trap of, “I’ll just do it myself.” By delegating, we take some of the load off our plate, but we also give the opportunity for someone else to have ownership and grow in their own leadership. Maybe you are really "high capacity" and you can do it all, but at what cost? God has put people in our lives and ministries to be participants, not to watch from the side-lines.

Make sure your spouse and kids are a priority – Trust me, I have made this mistake too many times. If you want your ministry at the church to be healthy, make sure your ministry at home is. Your family is too important to come second to your ministry. I have seen too many leaders' experience of burn-out begin with the guilt of not using good time management.

Take care of yourself physically – Workout, go for a hike or a walk, play softball, surf, just find something that is an outlet. Physical activity is just one side of the coin though; you also really need rest. I think some leaders mistake burn-out for just being tired. Psalm 23 ends with the statement, “He restores my soul.” Make sure you’re giving God enough time to restore your soul.

Reach lost students – I know this one sounds like a given, but there was a season that I was so caught up in the next big topic, or the next big series, that I realized it had been months since I’d given students a chance to ask Jesus into their lives. Our response time was so focused on each unique topic that I put the cart before the horse (just showed my age). We got into youth ministry because we were called to reach young people for Christ. Don’t ever lose that focus.

1. THINK ABOUT IT Am I setting myself up for Burn-Out by ignoring one or more of these areas of my life?

2. REFLECT What changes do I need to work on to make sure I stay in this for the long haul?

3. Prayer Lord give me the wisdom to guard myself from myself. Search me out, and reveal to me the parts of my life that You want to breathe new life into.