Minsterial Burnout
It is not uncommon for ministers of the gospel that they should consider the finest and inevitable expression of their overwhelming zeal for the kingdom to be going full bore into their work, with little or no consideration given to their physical and emotional limitations. I would rather “burn out than rust out”[1] they say, in a misapplication of that famous statement. Too often the result of such an approach to the service of God is that these Christians find themselves weighed down and worn out. Their usefulness is, for a time, hindered, and they end up padding the statistics of those whose ministries have brought them to the point of what is nowadays called “burnout”.
As one who has, over the course of forty plus years of ministry, experienced “burnout” on two occasions, I want to say that there is a better way. Burn out is not the inevitable consequence for one who wishes to take his calling to ministry seriously. Winston Churchill points us in the right direction. Paul Johnson relates the following: “In 1946, when I was seventeen, I had the good fortune to ask him a question: ‘Mr. Churchill, sir, to what do you attribute your success in life?’ Without pause or hesitation, he replied: ‘Conservation of energy. Never stand up when you can sit down, and never sit down when you can lie down.’ He then got into his limo.”[2] Johnson observes: “Churchill’s great strength was his power of relaxation….the balance he maintained between flat-out work and creative and restorative leisure is worth study by anyone holding a top position.”[3] There is hope then that those who serve the King can burn with zeal and not burn out. Let us explore this subject in honour of one whose zeal for the kingdom is boundless, and whose compassion for those who suffer in service is immeasurable.
ACKNOWLEDGING BURNOUT
Let us begin by acknowledging that burn out is, as they say, “a thing”. Unfortunately, many Christians, and not a few Christian traditions, would affirm that there is no such thing as “burn out”, at least not for Christian ministers. One pastor told me that he was profoundly thankful for the illness that landed him in hospital. Finally, he could get some rest without guilt. I have myself been accused of playing the “mental health” card. However, though understanding and sympathy is not always forthcoming from Christians, both inside and outside the church there is growing acknowledgement of the reality and dangers of burnout.
On our way to a routine pastoral visit, my fellow elder casually asked me how I was doing. I dissolved into tears. Knowing me to be, for the most part, emotionally stable, alarm bells rang in his head. Thus began my first experience of burnout.
Dr. David Murray helpfully defines burnout as “physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual exhaustion and breakdown. It is usually caused by living at too fast a pace, for too long, doing too much.” When you come face to face with a bear, he writes, you go into “fight or flight mode”. The pastor who is burning out is in constant “fight or flight mode”. “We’re living as if we’re in that heightened state all the time. The body then produces chemicals and reactions…This constant inflammation and chemical imbalance that is occurring in our bodies is affecting not only our bodies…(but also) our emotions, our thinking, and ultimately our spiritual lives.”[4] We need to exercise caution when it comes to statistics.[5] The helpful John Mark Ministries warns that often the truth behind the statistics is hard to ascertain as the sources of those statistics are often not given[6]. Nonetheless there is enough reliable information that indicates that burnout is a significant problem in pastoral ranks. George Barna informs us that some 1500 people leave pastoral ministry each month due to burnout, conflict, or moral failure, and that a third of pastors feel burned out within just five years of entering the ministry.[7] The Mayo Clinic identified burnout as “a special type of work-related stress — a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity.”[8] The New York Times states: “Members of the clergy now suffer from obesity, hypertension and depression at rates higher than most Americans. In the last decade, their use of antidepressants has risen, while their life expectancy has fallen. Many would change jobs if they could.”[9] Christopher Ash notes that “almost half of pastors and their wives (the author’s emphasis) say they have experienced depression or burn out to the extent that they needed to take a leave of absence from the ministry.”[10]
On the pages of Holy Scripture, Elijah stands before us as one whose “encounter with the prophets of Baal left him burned out and fearful of the threatenings of Jezebel. He speaks as one who has lost perspective. I’ve had enough; take away my life; I might as well be dead.”[11] On the pages Christian history, we discover that Martin Luther knew what it meant to be overwhelmed, and “although he would have been unfamiliar with the terminology of burnout, his tendency to bouts of melancholy would seem to fit the pattern.”[12]
It should be noted that burnout is not the same as self-denial. The latter is something our Lord Jesus calls us to (Luke 9:23, 24); the former is something that “damages strength and life to no good effect.” The analogy of fire fighting helps clarify the difference. Ash records the words of a pastor who wrote to him:
“It’s been very helpful to me to contemplate the difference between burnout and sacrificial living for the Lord. Your reflections…really helped me to understand the difference. I put it into terms of fighting a fire as I am a volunteer firefighter as well as being a pastor. Obviously you have to push yourself physically when fighting a fire. It’s a stretching experience that is uncomfortable and physically difficult. You must know your limitations while making the sacrifices needed to get the tasks done that must be done
It's foolish to ignore your limitations, to try to be the hero, and cramp up, pass out, or have a heart attack while in a burning structure because you’re beyond the limits of what God has supplied you with the capability of doing. It’s a form of heroic suicide that is counterproductive because you’re now no longer effective in fighting fire and the resources that were dedicated to fighting the fire are now dedicated to saving you.”
It seems to me that many pastors practice the “heroic suicide” about which this brother wrote, and in doing so hinder their usefulness. The idea of “burning out rather than rusting out” calls for heroic service, not heroic suicide.
UNDERSTANDING BURNOUT
The warning signs are usually there. Sleeplessness. Emotional instability. Reduced productivity. A heavy spirit. Exhaustion. “Persistent feelings of nervousness, sometimes escalating into full-blown panic.”[13] I did not notice any of these signs. It was not until that night when I dissolved into tears in response to a simple question, that I realized something was wrong, and began to wonder what had happened. How did I get to this point?
The simple answer is that we just have too much going on. When I burned out the first time, life was overwhelming: there were problems in the church, I saw no need to rest, a close family member was dying, I was too busy for devotions, I never said “no” to any work, and so on. When my daughter burned out, we wrote down a list of everything she was involved in and all the responsibilities on her plate. The list was staggering, and I was rather astonished that she had not crashed sooner. So yes, the simple answer is that we have too much going on. But now we have to probe a little deeper – how does a pastor get to the point where he has been (as Murray says), “living at too fast a pace, for too long, doing too much”? What drives a minister to “heroic suicide”?
Ministry is difficult: “our work, when earnestly undertaken, lays us open to attacks in the direction of depression. Who can bear the weight of souls without sometimes sinking to the dust?...All mental work tends to weary and to depress, for much study is a weariness of the flesh; but ours is more than mental work – it is heart work, the labour of our inmost soul…Such soul-travail will bring on occasional seasons of exhaustion, when heart and flesh will fail.”[14] Life in general is difficult, and the Christian ministry especially so. Pastor Andrew Roycroft writes: “No therapy, no planning, no good intention, no resistance or defiance, can change the fact that ministry is hard, and that it often entails a seemingly disproportionate amount of suffering and pressure.”[15] Given that, how unwise for ministers of the gospel not to realize that “in the midst of a long stretch of unbroken labour, the same affliction may be looked for. The bow cannot always be bent without fear of breaking.”[16] To avoid breaking the bow let us, let us heed the words of our Lord: “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” (Mark 6:31)
Success is dangerous: sometimes what drives a pastor to superhuman efforts is an ignoble desire for success. In his heart there lives a concern for the glory of God as well as, to a lesser degree, a desire for ministerial success! I have been to enough fraternals to know that a pastor loves to tell the story of how he “built up the church”. A desire for that kind of “success” can drive him to a work rate that sacrifices his health and perhaps even the welfare of his family! I would add that whilst a desire for “success” can be dangerous, “success” itself can also be perilous. “The very hearts that are depressed when all things seem against them, are often unduly exalted in the day of prosperity. Few men are like Samson and can kill a lion without telling others of it…Most of Christ’s labourers probably have as much success as their souls can bear.”[17]
Pride is pervasive: it accompanies us to seminary, it sidles up into the pulpit with us, and it encourages us to regularly let people know that we are working very, very hard, much harder than lesser mortals. It is at the root of what Ash calls “ministry machismo”. Should you encounter that seemingly indefatigable pastor who never needs time off, Ash’s counsel is that you find a loving way to tell him, “you are behaving like an arrogant fool”.[18] Pride will make you unwilling to admit that you cannot cope anymore, and will drive you on well past the point of breaking. Pride will prevent you from seeking help. Pride will move you to resent those who try to help. Pride will hinder you from coming before God in weakness and crying out fervently to Him for strength. Dr. Lloyd-Jones said somewhere that the besetting sin of the church in the 20th century was self-sufficiency. So it still is. Pride and self-sufficiency have a causative role in the lifestyle that leads to burn out and it hinders the soul that is struggling to cope with burnout.
Delusion is rampant: a quite common ministerial delusion is a “messiah complex”. Take zeal for the glory of God, a love for preaching the truth, a passion for souls, a desire to edify saints, sprinkle in a touch of male ego, a dash of arrogance, a dollop of success, and you have the perfect recipe for a “messiah complex”. The little man with the big “M” on his chest now feels himself indispensable to the church, and quite enjoys his role. Humility prevents him from saying it, but he does feel that the church cannot get along without him. And so, with no regard for his limitations, he will give himself to the work.
Life is complicated: there are times in your life when you feel the way the Israelites did: “Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.” (Exodus 6:9). Sometimes the circumstances God sets before us inevitably result in a heavy heart and a shattered spirit. We can still rejoice. We can “trace the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain that morn shall tearless be”, but we are weighed down by grief and sadness. A very dear family member had died, and the profound sadness of such a heavy loss, added to a variety of other issues, led to my first burnout. Life is hard and complicated.
Providence is mysterious: sometimes a burnout will happen even when you have everything in place to prevent it. The simple fact is that, in the providence of God, life becomes overwhelming. The burn out happens, then, for the purpose of glorifying God, for the purpose of your growth and sanctification, or perhaps to allow other saints to grow, and other lessons to be taught. I learned from my first burn out and put into practice the lessons I learned. Exercise. Regular devotions. Saying “no” when I had enough on my plate, and so on. But then, twenty years later, it happened again. The reason it happened was simply that there was a confluence of life circumstances which were out of my control, and which together were quite overwhelming. All of these factors put me on the floor again. And it happened not because of an unwise lifestyle, not because of any particular sin, but simply in the wise and mysterious providence of God. God had purposes in bringing this about – to humble, to teach, to renew, to stir. Ray Ortlund explains why you, through no fault of your own, might burn out: “if a faithful pastor experiences burnout, it isn’t necessarily evidence against him. It’s God turning that pastor into living proof that ‘God raises the dead’ (2 Cor. 1:9). It’s what the pastor’s people need to see in him—not only the power of God sustaining him in the normal flow of ministry, but also the power of God resurrecting him from the extreme moments of defeat.”[19]
Paul Johnson writes about Dwight Eisenhower: “So far as I can see, he had only three days’ leave in total from September 1939 to the spring of 1945, during which he normally worked a day lasting from six am to 11 pm.” On March 1945, he and his staff went to Cannes and stayed four days. Eisenhower spent the first two days sleeping. Afterward, he even refused to play bridge: “I can’t keep my mind on cards. All I want to do is sit here and not think.” He would later say that he had “never been so tired, mind and body, in his entire life. He was fifty-five.”[20]
You and I will never have to lead the Allied Forces into battle, but in the mysterious providence of God we may well have days that put us on our backs and bring us to an end of ourselves. We will submit to our Father’s inscrutable wisdom and lean on His omnipotent arm.
ESCAPING BURNOUT
Rest: Andrew Roycroft writes: “One of my grandest mistakes in the lead up to burn out was my rejection of rest as a vital part of my work. I was staying up late, rising early, and very seldom ever switching off to my work. I wore this as a badge of honour (which, admittedly, I only showed to myself), and felt it to be a reassurance that I was ‘doing enough’. Unknown to me, this behaviour was reinforcing my pride and self-sufficiency, while making ruin of the sabbath principle that God has built into our nature as human beings.”[21] Rest, then, is the first order of business in escaping burnout. The Lord Jesus says to us, as He did to His disciples so many years ago: “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest awhile” (Mark 6:31).
Let your rest be thorough: I took roughly three months off work. Others have taken more. I would strongly urge a complete break from work. Now in some cases this is impossible. In a small church, the pastor simply cannot be away for several months. However, if you understand that a complete break is optimal, then perhaps you will do your best to get as much rest as you can in a difficult work context. You will also be more careful to avoid unnecessarily taking on extra work.
It is to be hoped that the burned-out pastor is working alongside elders who are men of wisdom, compassion, and grace. They will see that he is burning out. They will understand this to be a legitimate concern. They will realize that, should time off be given, this faithful servant will struggle with guilt. So, they will take the initiative, insist that he take a break, assure him of their support, and that they will take care of things in his absence. The burned-out brother will receive kindness from their hands and encouragement from their lips. This will help enable a thorough rest. A kind elder said to me years ago: “we want you back when you are better. No sooner. And when you are back, we will adjust your workload and schedule so that this doesn’t happen again.” Thank God for such men!
Let your rest be spiritual: as with Eisenhower, what is usually needed is sleep, and time to sit and not think. However, the sweetest element of time off work is the opportunity to seek the Lord, to read His Word in unhurried fashion, to think and pray, to ponder and meditate, to dive deep into the Word and soar to the heights of fellowship with God. The soul refreshing experience of which Isaiah speaks is what you are after: “but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31). During my time off I embarked upon two studies that proved of immense benefit: a study of the names of God, and a study of the beauty of Christ. My burnout came during the tumultuous days of the Covid pandemic. When I returned to work I was convinced that the exploration of these themes which had so refreshed my soul would be of great benefit to my congregation as well.
Let your rest be enjoyable: Christopher Ash writes: “Times of quiet, enjoyment of beauty, the experience of refreshing exercise, stimulating sport, wonderful music, wholesome reading and conversation, can at their best be God’s handmaidens to spiritual refreshment, as they are combined with hearing afresh the promises of God in the gospel”.[22] Idyllic afternoons in my backyard, reading beneath the shade of a tree, did me immeasurable good!
Along with David Murray, I would recommend reading for pleasure, not simply for study and learning. Dr. Murray quotes an author whose reading of War and Peace “put me back in control of my life”! Murray goes on to document the health-giving benefits of pleasure reading.[23] I found the reading of seven of Paul Johnson’s excellent biographies quite exhilarating.[24] They took me to a world not my own, and that was refreshing.
Let your rest be sufficient: once again, this is difficult depending on one’s circumstances. But my fellow elder’s words were wise: “come back when you are ready”. Too often I hear people say that when they return from time off, they are still exhausted and dread taking up their responsibilities again. Sometimes you do more by doing less. To return refreshed and eager to work will, in the long run, benefit the church as well as the patient!
Let your rest be guilt free: C. H. Spurgeon counsels his students thus: “On, on, on for ever, without recreation, may suit spirits emancipated from this ‘heavy clay’, but while we are in this tabernacle, we must every now and then cry halt and serve the Lord by holy inaction and consecrated leisure. Let no tender conscience doubt the lawfulness of going out of harness for awhile, but learn from the experience of others the necessity and duty of taking timely rest.”[25]
We do not abdicate our responsibility by rest, but rather we “serve the Lord by holy inaction and consecrated leisure”! He adds: “I do not call dolce far niente[26] laziness; there is a sweet doing of nothing which is just the finest medicine in the world for a jaded mind.” Rather than feeling guilty about it, we should understand rest and recuperation as one way in which we serve the Lord, benefit the church, and prolong our ministries.
Let your rest be regular: I am not sure why pastors, when counselling congregants who work 24/7, can refer to those Christians as “workaholics”, when they themselves do precisely the same thing. The inconsistency seems lost on them. It seems to me, however, that regular rest might save one from emergency rest. One day off a week, a few weeks off a year, can do body and soul a world of good and will contribute towards a lifestyle that does not rush headlong towards burnout.
Kindness: Lady Macbeth might have no appreciation for the “milk of human kindness” that flows through her husband’s veins, but kindness is like lifeblood for the burned-out pastor. In Psalm 142 David, who found himself “in a cave”, wrote: “no refuge remains for me, no one cares for my soul”. When you find yourself in that same cave, experiencing those same feelings, how the kindness of others will bless your soul. Like mercy, that kindness seems to drop as “the gentle rain from heaven”. Kindness is one aspect of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22, 23) and may be defined as follows: “the inner disposition, created by the Holy Spirit, that causes us to be sensitive to the needs of others, whether physical, emotional, or spiritual. Goodness is kindness in action – words or deed.”[27] Some Christians are so wonderfully creative and find such novel and inventive ways of expressing Christian love and demonstrating Spirit-born kindness. And how that buoys the spirit of a downcast and bone-weary servant. It may be as simple and powerful as the tender and encouraging phone messages I received during my burnout, left by the one whom we honour in this volume, messages accompanied by the sensitive comment that a reply would not be looked for. Kindness may come in the form of a card. As Dr. Sam Sheppard, wrongly convicted of the murder of his wife, languished in prison, he was buoyed by letters from his family: “Sam depended on the letters. They were ‘like a shot of epinephrine or a half time pep talk….only better.”[28] A few lines written on a simple card can be a “shot of epinephrine” to a struggling saint! Perhaps you don’t know what to say? A pastor friend told me that one of the most encouraging notes he ever received said simply: “I understand.” Kindness does not require verbosity.
Doctors: the first thing we did when our daughter began to show signs of burnout was to take her to hospital, have a battery of tests run, to ascertain whether there was any serious medical issue at the root of her symptoms. When those tests came back negative, we set about addressing the issue we suspected: burn out. Sometimes general practitioners will be the first to identify the problem of burn out. Andrew Roycroft writes: “when I landed in my GP surgery….my only complaint was some pain in my foot. I left his office in the knowledge that my blood pressure was sky high, that I had to take two weeks enforced leave, and that some major changes would need to take place in my work patterns.” The medical establishment informs us about the physiological reactions to stress and how exhaustion and sickness can result from the unrelenting pressure of being in constant “fight or flight” mode.[29] Such a patient can benefit from being under the care of a faithful osteopath. Such was my experience, for which I will always be grateful.
All that to say that it is important to seek the help of the medical practitioners who are available to you.
AVOIDING BURNOUT
Fair warning: perhaps it would be best to start at the beginning. Seminaries should include, as part of their pastoral theology classes, a warning against the almost irresistible lure of the superhuman pastor. The would-be pastor should be counseled about the reality and the dangers of burnout. If, as we are told, a third of pastors say they feel burned out “within just five years of starting”[30], such an education would seem to be essential. If my experience is anything to go by, young men will find these warnings hard to believe. But try we must! Let seminaries imitate Christopher Ash, who writes: “I have been keen to help (young men) see that the best kinds of ministry are, more often than not, long term and low key. I have tried to prepare them for a marathon, not a short, energetic sprint. In other words, to help them have a lifetime of sustainable sacrifice, rather than an energetic but brief ministry that quickly fades into exhaustion.”[31]
Know Thyself: this sage advice dates to the ancient Greeks, who knew a thing or two, but self knowledge and self-awareness is, sadly, a rare thing amongst Christians, and even amongst ministers. During my first burn out I discovered, while reading Ed Welch’s book When People are Big and God is Small, that I liked to please people and that this contributed to my burn out. The “fear of man (was) a snare” (Proverbs 29:25). How important it is to know yourself and your weaknesses! The merry-go-round of trying to please everybody is absolutely exhausting, and you will be flung from it in no time!
Know yourself. Does pride energize you? Does fear paralyze you? Does personal glory motivate you? Does the need to control drive you? Do past hurts embitter you?
Know yourself – and accept who you are. You are not required to work at the same rate as others. You are required to work as hard as you can – “love so amazing so divine demands my soul, my life, my all” – but your “all” is different from your brother’s. People are different and what energizes one drains another. Social interaction exhausts me, while brothers in the ministry come alive in a crowd. Know yourself and construct your lifestyle and your ministry accordingly.
Build a manageable schedule: do this in consultation with your wife or a faithful friend, since you can probably not be trusted to rightly define “manageable”. Essential to creating and maintaining such a schedule is the invaluable ability to say “no”. Knowing your limitations and saying “no” to opportunities which will take you beyond them is necessary to survival in the ministry. The tyranny of the urgent should not drive us to make commitments that are delusional. Saying “no” does not mean that you don’t care, but simply that you know your limitations. It is an acknowledgement that “we are but dust and shadow”. God “remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14); we would do well to do the same.
Building a manageable schedule will require the fine art of delegation. Charles Simeon sets a good example. The minister of Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge (from 1783 until his death in 1836) “faced severe opposition in his early ministry” as well as the “routine challenges of shepherding the congregation and found out soon enough that “his candle was in danger of burning out”. He decided to delegate. He “established a ‘visiting society’ and appointed a man and a woman church member to be responsible for the pastoral care of homes in their particular district”.[32] Simeon did not have a father-in-law, for he never married, but perhaps he learned from Moses’ father-in-law, who in Exodus 18:17-23 counsels Moses that to try and do it all yourself is “not good”, that the burden is “too heavy for you”, that he is “not able to do it alone”, and that he should find others to bear the burden with him. That way, “you will be able to endure”. Delegating might wound your pride, but your way will be easier.
Just relax: build enjoyable times into your schedule. Paul Johnson writes: “Churchill’s great strength was his power of relaxation. Sometimes he painted….He loved having his womenfolk with him – Clemmie and his daughters….He liked action movies, such as Stagecoach and Destry Rides Again”[33] – and, of course, he took naps.[34]
Find a hobby. Perhaps chess will help – though not many will find the rigors of that game relaxing. At the very least, don’t spend all your time dashing down the information highway. Stop neurotically checking your email. Don’t carry your phone about as if it were attached to your hand. Fast from social media for a week, advises Doug Groothuis. He requires this of his students at Denver Seminary and says: “the results have been nothing less than profound for the majority of the students….they find more silence, time for reflection, and prayer, and more opportunities to engage family and friends thoughtfully. They become more peaceful and contemplative – and begin to notice how media-saturated most of our culture has become.”[35] So, yes, learn to relax.
CONCLUSION
Recommendations: First, I recommend that you be wary. “Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (I Corinthians 10:12). This can happen to you. Second, I recommend that you be ready. Be ready in case it happens to you, and in case you are called upon to minister to someone to whom this has happened. The best way to be ready is by reading the following books: Christopher Ash’s Zeal Without Burnout, David Murray’s Reset, Brian Croft and Jim Savastio’s The Pastor’s Soul, and Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure.
Reminders: the ministry can lay a man low. “Ten years of toil do not take so much life out of us as we lose in a few hours by Ahithophel the traitor, or Demas the apostate. Strife, also, and division, and slander, and foolish censures, have often laid holy men prostrate, and made them go ‘as with a sword in their bones’”.[36] And sometimes, in the service of our God, we will burn out. But I want to remind you that God knows: “God saw the people of Israel – and God knew” (Exodus 2:25). And I want to assure you that God helps: “let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). And I want to tell you that God restores: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” (II Corinthians 4:7-11) Burn out will strike you down, but by God’s grace it will not destroy you. You will stand again, and serve again, and be useful again. Peter Adam is vicar emeritus of St. Jude’s in Carlton, Australia, and formerly principal of Ridley College in Melbourne and has had a wonderfully useful Christian life but has lived and served Christ “in the shadow of (a) breakdown” he had early in his ministry. Without warning, one Monday morning, “he awoke and began spontaneously to cry, and found himself unable to stop weeping.” He recovered and went on to serve the Lord, but he says that he has never, since then, been able to work more than 50 hours in a week.” However, he learned to “trust God more, and also realized that God can use our weaknesses as well as our strengths”.[37] He was struck down but not crushed, and God has used a weak servant to magnify His strength (II Corinthians 12:7-10). He can do the same for in and through you.
[1] I have seen this attributed to Amy Carmichael and George Whitefield; even Neil Young sang: “It’s better to burn out than to fade away”, in his, “My, My, Hey, Hey (Out of the Blue)”.
[2] Paul Johnson, Churchill (New York, USA: Penguin Books, 2009), page 5.
[3] Ibid., pages 128, 163.
[4] Dr. David Murray, from an article entitled “What is Burnout and Why is it so Dangerous”, found at the following website: https://www.crossway.org/articles/what-is-burnout-and-why-is-it-so-dangerous/
[5] Mark Twain wrote: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics”. Twain wrongly attributed the quote to Benjamin Disraeli. Its origin is uncertain.
[6] See an article titled, “Pastoral Burnout Statistics”, found at the following website: http://www.jmm.org.au/articles/27347.htm
[7] Christopher Ash, Zeal Without Burnout (Epsom, UK: The Good Book Company, 2016), page 16.
[8] From an article titled, “Job Burnout: How to Spot it and Take Action”, found at the following website: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/burnout/art-20046642
[9] Paul Vitello, religion editor for the New York Times, in an article titled, “Taking a Break from the Lord’s Work”, dated August 1, 2010. See also an NPR interview with Vitello found at the following website: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128957149 Vitello shows that burnout and its impact on overall health is a problem in all faith groups.
[10] Ash, Zeal Without Burnout, page 16. We should also note that the World Health Organization includes burnout in its International Classification of Diseases (ICD 11), and defines it as follows: “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed”. See: https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases.
[11] Ibid., page 10.
[12] Ibid., page 10.
[13] Ibid., pages 121, 122. Also see Murray, Reset, pages 25-31 for physical, mental, emotional, relational, vocational, moral, spiritual and pastoral warning lights.
[14] Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, (Electronic Edition: June 2012), pages 156.
[15] Andrew Roycroft, in his article, “A Pastor in Therapy”, at the following website: https://thinkingpastorally.com/2019/11/18/a-pastor-in-therapy/. Pastor Roycroft writes about his own burnout in 2019.
[16] Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, page 160.
[17] Ash, Zeal Without Burnout, page 104, 105.
[18] Ibid., page 79.
[19] Ray Ortlund, in an article titled: “Waiting on the Lord to Renew our Strength: Reflections on Pastoral Burnout”, at the following website – https://www.9marks.org/article/waiting-on-the-lord-to-renew-our-strength-reflections-on-pastoral-burnout/
[20] Paul Johnson, Eisenhower (New York, USA: Penguin Books, 2014), page 53.
[21] Roycroft, in his article, “A Pastor in Therapy”, at the following website: https://thinkingpastorally.com/2019/11/18/a-pastor-in-therapy/
[22] Ash, Zeal Without Burnout, pages 74, 75.
[23] Murray, Reset, page 97, 98.
[24] For those who need unimportant details, those biographies were: Darwin, Napoleon, Socrates, George Washington, Mozart, Churchill, and Eisenhower. Highly recommended!
[25] Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, page 161.
[26] Italian: pleasant idleness; sweet doing nothing.
[27] Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness, (Navpress: Cedar Springs, CO, 1983), page 231.
[28] James Neff, The Wrong Man: The Final Verdict on the Dr. Sam Sheppard Murder Case (Open Road Media: NY, Ebook), page 243.
[29] Stuart Ira Fox, Conceptual Human Physiology (Wm. C. Brown Publishers, Dubuque, Iowa, 1984), page 197.
[30] Ash, Zeal Without Burnout, page 16.
[31] Ibid., page 20.
[32] Ibid., page 11.
[33] Johnson, Churchill, pages 128, 129.
[34] Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, “Winston Churchill’s Secret Productivity Weapon”, an article found at the following website: https://michaelhyatt.com/naps/
[35] Murray, Reset, pages 94, 95.
[36] Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, page 161.
[37] Ash, Zeal Without Burnout, page 17.