QUESTION:

While I love my ministry job and my church, I am becoming increasingly “burned out” and depressed with what I do. Currently our church is having some pretty major financial difficulties, which makes this a good opportunity for me to resign.

I have always felt a unique calling on my life to serve with some sort of humanitarian organization. I see ministries like Feed the Children, Samaritans Purse, Hope for Haiti, Hello Somebody, and Sevenly and I have such a strong desire to do what they are doing. I know that you have very unique ministry, so I am hoping that you could offer me a little bit of advice about how I could begin a new career with an organization like those that I have mentioned.

-  Anonymous

ANSWER:

There are really two questions here:

1. Should I resign from my current church?
2. How do I begin a new career with a humanitarian organization?

I will answer the 1st now and the 2nd tomorrow (click to read it).

#1 :: Should I resign from my current church?

Pray. Pray hard.

Philippians 4:6-7 (ESV)
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

This requires a delicate answer, and no one can truly answer it except for you and the Holy Spirit. Understand that you are not alone. Many ministers feel burned out. Many ministers are depressed. Many nonprofits are having major financial difficulties.

Don’t leave because it is tough (unless God tells you to go).
The pursuit of the Great Commission when done right is never easy. There will be many trials, but we are to be joyful about these challenges because they test our faith and mature us (James 1:2-4).

Don’t leave if the burnout is because of you doing too much (unless God tells you to go).
However, realize that the pursuit of the Great Commission when done right will not produce burn out and depression. Burn out is what happens when you give of yourself more than you fill yourself with the spiritual refreshment of a relationship with God (i.e., personal prayer, Bible study, and worship - not work related). This burnout may be from trying to do too much in your own strength rather than trusting God to show up. This burn out may be caused by you overcomplicating God’s calling for you by adding too many details, tasks, and requirements. If this is the case, cut programs and any of the fluff that is not Biblically essential to your mission, do you best, and trust God to show up.

Leave if the source of the burnout is out of your control (unless God tells you to stay)
Unfortunately, burn out sometimes is caused from abusive relationships from church leadership or from self-destructive management systems. If this is the case and you have tried to mend the relationships or repair the systems to no avail, your effectiveness in ministry may be quenched by leadership above you. Ideally, you leave as soon as possible. However, sometimes God calls people to challenging circumstances like this for a variety of reasons. Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit amidst the frustrations.

Leave if the burnout is because you are called elsewhere
You mention feeling called to serve a humanitarian organization. Is it a passion, a romanticized dream, or a calling? If a calling, is the timing now or in the future? If now, then your burnout may be because you are not supposed to be working at the church. Pray hard about this. If you have to, cut distractions out of your life to heighten your sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

There are many more possibilities that could be written, but I do not want to distract from the most important thing - pray and follow Gods leading.

You should also check out Anne Jackson’s book Mad Church Disease (ebook).

I will answer the second question tomorrow.

How would you answer this first question? Leave a comment to help Anonymous out.

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

Jon Acuff, Anne Jackson, and Carlos Whittaker discussed blogging at Catalyst’s first lab. They shared their blogging journeys and answered questions. Here are the highlights:

Carlos: With my blog, there is an actual expectation from my readers that there is a real, tangible relationship.

Carlos: After four years of blogging every day, I temporarily quit blogging because suddenly my life was taking shape because of my blog rather than my blog taking shape because of my life. So what I am learning right now is how to create very safe boundaries in my life with my blog.

Jon: The devil will never attack something that you are horrible at. The devil will try to get you to ruin your story. He wants you to discount your story. He wants you to lie.

Jon: I think fame destroys more ministries than anything else right now. Reality God knows who you are, and no other acknowledgement is greater than that. God loves to pour His stories into us so that we can pour it out.

QUESTION: How do you reevaluate the balance between your blog and your family?

Carlos: I see it as a constantly evolving decision making process. All three of my kids are different. And as they are getting older, I am realizing that they are they own persons, and I can’t use them as puppets.

QUESTION: Should a youth pastor blog?

Jon: Don’t start a blog unless you have something to say. The first question needs to be “What can I give to my readers?” rather than “How can I get more readers?”

Anne: Writing is one of those things that takes time. Don’t be intimidated by the art of writing.

QUESTION: What are things you would warn against?

Carlos: Manipulating relationships online is something you can do online without even knowing it.It is probably setting the same boundaries as you would with people offline.

QUESTION: Why do you not autofollow everyone on Twitter?

Carlos: There are too many porn sites that are on Twitter, and I don’t want to follow them. Also, it takes time to answer direct messages.

Jon: I was judging the value of my self-worth as  my stats and followers rather than how God sees me.

QUESTION: How do you look at tough topics that are import to talk about but could offend affiliations?

Anne: There is a difference between a story and a testimony. Exploiting a weakness is wrong, but a testimony gives glory to God.

QUESTION: As we are learning what our story is, where should we start?

Jon: Writing is just about writing. Perfectionism says it needs to be perfect, which is crazy. Your story is like your life… it is not done. Don’t wait for it to be done before you share it. Often you audience helps guide your story.

QUESTION: How should an organization start up a blog for its brand?

Carlos: When an organization starts a blog specifically to build their brand, bloggers can smell that. But when there is a story, people listen. When there is a heart and a face to a company it goes miles.