Am I on the Brink of Pastoral Burnout? 22 Diagnostic Questions
I offer the following suggestive but not exhaustive list of questions to help provoke healthy introspection under the categories of spiritual, practical, family, physical, and vocational.
Burnt out?
Not me. That’s for other pastors.
Me, I’m passionate and resilient. I love the Lord and I’m fired up about doing ministry. I never see myself burning out.
Boy, was I wrong.
I never saw myself coming even close to burning out in ministry. I remember thinking in my early twenties how I would be the exception to the rule because of my zeal for the Lord. Once, at a party, a friend in ministry shared about being burned out, and I couldn’t relate. The truth is, I do have the gift of passion. But passion is a necessary but not sufficient grounds for avoiding pastoral burnout. Pastoral ministry has shown me just how weak I am, and I’ve been on the brink of burnout more than once.
As we begin our fall ministries, now is a good time to ask hard questions about your life and ministry. Although burnout is months and sometimes years in the making, it has a way of creeping up on you unexpectedly.
I offer the following suggestive but not exhaustive list of questions to help provoke healthy introspection under the categories of spiritual, practical, family, physical, and vocational.
Spiritual
Do I have a regular devotional time with the Lord? If Satan can’t get you to commit adultery, he’s going to try to make you think you can be effective in ministry for the long haul without regular, unhurried, and prolonged communion with God in private.
Am I reading edifying Christian books regularly? As much as I appreciate secular books, a diet of too many secular books and not enough Christian books can shrivel the soul. When’s the last time you read a theology book just to edify you and not because you needed the information to preach and teach?
Does sermon preparation energize me, or drain me? Occasionally not feeling like putting together a sermon? That’s normal. But if you regularly feel drained by sermon preparation, you’re probably close to burnout.
Am I living in secret sin? Ongoing, unrepentant sin robs you of joy.
Practical
Is there any task required of me that I’m avoiding? Usually, it’s a hard conversation. Procrastination is not only a productivity killer, but it also zaps you of your mental and emotional energy.
Do I properly recognize the season I’m in? The young pastor who just had a baby should probably do less than the seasoned pastor who is an empty nester. In some seasons, you can write a book and start a podcast and take on responsibility within your denomination. In other seasons, you need to spend more time at home and remove the social media apps from your phone. Know your season.
Do I take one day off every week without fail? I sometimes find the theological debates regarding the 4th commandment comical. While these theological debates might be needed, let’s not overlook the plain, obvious, common-sense wisdom: taking one day off per week is good for your soul.
Am I properly delegating? It’s more work in the short term, but less work in the long term. The inability to effectively delegate because of your need to be needed or your need to control the ministry will lead to pastoral burnout.
Do I regularly feel apathetic? Feeling regularly aloof or emotionally distant is not a sign that you could burn out someday; it’s a sign that you are presently burning out right now. Immediate action (usually time off) followed by changing behaviors and patterns will be needed to recover.
Do I check my phone too much? Social media addiction and constant unnecessary Google searching may temporarily help your dopamine levels, but they burn your mental energy and lead to an unsatisfying life.
Family
Does my wife still want to do this? If your wife does not feel comfortable in the church you are serving, or does not desire to be a pastor’s wife anymore, it will be difficult for you to endure.
Are the needs of my wife and kids so great that I am emotionally taxed and need to step away? Everyone in your family may have been fine when you started ministry, but unforeseen traumatic things could happen later, which may mean you need to step aside to care for your wife and kids.
Do I get paid enough? You shouldn’t feel bad for desiring an adequate salary to cover your family's needs, but you should not labor for shameful gain (1 Peter 5:2). It could be that you are mismanaging your money. Or it could mean you should get a raise.
Do my wife and I love where we live? You both either need to love where you live or learn to love where you live. It’s hard to have a heart to minister in the city you’re in when you don’t like the city you live in.
Physical
Do I exercise regularly? I received a N.A.S.M. certification in sports nutrition and personal training, so health and fitness are near to my heart. You don’t need six-pack abs, but moderate to vigorous exercise at least three times per week will do wonders for your mood and stress levels.
How’s my diet? One of the blessings of pastoral ministry is the frequency with which food is available to you in abundance. But it can be a trap. What you eat affects how you feel and your ability to focus deeply.
Am I getting 7.5-9 hours of sleep every night? Over a decade ago, John Piper tweeted: “Adequate sleep is not merely a matter of staying in health, it is a matter of surviving emotionally in the ministry.” God doesn’t need sleep. But you do.
Do I spend enough time outside? Even if you are not an outdoorsman, enjoying God’s majesty in creation regularly will refresh your soul.
Do I have an outlet? Not everything you do needs to be spiritual. Get an outlet, like coaching football or lifting weights, or even gardening or fishing.
Vocational
Is this church a good fit for me? Every church is dysfunctional because every church has people in it. A new pastorate might be better for you, but it’s not like there won’t be problems there as well. But you might feel deflated in ministry because you’re not able to use your gifts in ways that energize you. In which case, it might be time to prayerfully consider a new pastoral call.
Should I do secular work instead? There’s that old line for ministers, of which I’ll abbreviate: If you can do anything other than be a pastor, then don’t be a pastor. I don’t fully agree with the saying. While a personal desire to be a pastor is an irrefutable prerequisite to be or stay in ministry( 1 Timothy 3:1), at times in your life you may have a desire to participate with Jesus in the renewal of all things through starting a business or leading in a business, in which case you may want to serioulsy explore those desires.
Am I trying to get something out of pastoral ministry that God did not promise? At some point when you are young, you watch sermons of John Piper or Tim Keller, and the thought comes to your mind, “I think I want to do that with my life one day.” But inevitably, that desire is matched with an unspoken expectation that you, too, will one day preach to the masses. Then you don’t. Then you realize you may never preach to the masses. Then you have to decide whether you want to stay in ministry or leave, and that may also lead you to wonder if the reason you pursued ministry in the first place was to remove an internal feeling of inadequacy through success in ministry.
P.S. One of the best ways to avoid pastoral burnout is by stewarding your health. To help you get healthy, I started Kaywood’s Kitchen along with my wife, where our mission is to help you and your family live as healthily as possible — from recipe ideas to non-toxic swaps. If you’d like to learn more, subscribe here:
Thank you for writing this. It's a helpful set of questions and responses.
David, this is a great list. As a retired Navy Chaplain, I am pro-pastor resilience.
I recently completed a manuscript called Leadership from Within: Navigating the Path toward Soul-Driven Leadership. I built it on the four most important rhythms that helped me remain resilient during a deployment: Relational, Spiritual, Emotional, and Physical.
As I am sure you do, I term this soul-care. The rising generation of pastors seems to understand the need for well-rounded, holistic personal soul care, which helps them lead from a place of flourishing rather than from a place of depletion. Some in my generation forgot and lived into the destructive "burnout for Jesus" mindset.
I wish you all the best in your continued ministry. I am grateful you remain passionate about your calling to serve the local church.