Burnout Blessing and Blasting

Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, has been very transparent. He’s burned out. He’s been going at full-throttle for ten years. You can read his own words about what’s going on here.

There have been interesting responses to Mark’s frankness. Some, like Adrian Warnock (preacher at Jubilee Church in London, UK) have called for us to pray for Mark. Kevin D. Johnson over at reformedcatholicism.com has a discussion going on in his blog in the comment section about the virtues of liturgical based churches as opposed to the, in the words of many, inevitable burnout of mega-church pastors. Kevin wrote, "...is it possible Driscoll’s personal and professional life is a mess like what he describes above simply because his model and practice of the local church and pastorate isn’t what it should be?" Some seem to think that by having a liturgy, their leaders won’t burn out. Others think that the leadership/elder boards in mega-churches don’t care about what happens to their preaching pastors, or haven’t joined them in ministering to their people. It’s amazing how much we tend to think we know about things relating to churches and ministry, whether or own church or other churches.

From my limited experience as a pastor’s wife, burnout isn’t directly correlated to the size or style of church. People are people, and working with people is exhilarating at times, and also exhausting.

People will say of their pastors, “Well, if only he made better use of his time, he wouldn’t be so tired.” Time management can be perfect, but who can control when a crisis occurs? For example, my husband’s one and only day off is Monday of each week. One recent Sunday, a beloved couple pulled my hubby aside and let him know that the wife was going to have surgery the following morning – at 6:00AM. They didn’t want to tell the whole church about this personal matter, and they asked my husband to be there with them. What was he going to say, “No, tomorrow is my only day off.”? No way. He was there, and he was glad to be there. That same day also happened to be the one year anniversary of the death of one of our people. The widower husband and his son wanted to spend some time with my hubby talking about their beloved wife and mother. Since my hubby was there at the hospital for many treatments and even at the end, what was he going to say? That it was his only day off? No. He met the men, and they had a nice breakfast together as they talked of their dear one. Then the church pictorial directory people needed someone to open up the church and help them set up that same day. You guessed it.

Well, some say, just take a different day off, then. That could work, if other important things weren’t already planned (time management…) for those days. Ministry is so much more than just sermon preparation. But when one is the pastor of a small growing church, and the only full time staff person, he will inevitably be doing things he never dreamed he’d be doing.

Pastors of liturgical churches end up doing things they never thought they’d do. Same with mega-church pastors. Come to think of it, pretty much every person I have ever known has ended up doing things they never thought they would have to, or need to do. I think that’s just life.

Many of us have issues with saying no to things. Maybe this is an issue for Mark Driscoll, and maybe it isn't. The main reason I’m even posting today is to express my amazement at how little grace has been extended to a guy who was comfortable with being very upfront about his current level of exhaustion. It’s almost as if some people are implying, “Aha! I KNEW there was something wrong with the mega-church model!” Of course they will deny saying it, but the message is there.

C.J. Mahaney took the right approach. He went to Mark and counseled him and prayed for him. That’s a great model to follow regardless of one’s church size or ecclesiology.

Your pastor is tired even if he doesn’t look like it… whether your church has 30 people or 3000. What can you do to help?

- Think before you talk. Don’t assume you know what his life is like. You don’t, even if you have been in full or part-time ministry, or have been an elder (or elder's wife) or have a brother who is a pastor or...or...or...

- Pray rather than criticize. Just as it would be foolish for me to show up at your job or home and tell you how to work more efficiently, it is not wise or edifying for you to make sweeping statements to your pastor (or in a gossip situation, to others) about what he should be doing, and how.

- Watch your timing and tone. Many people have the habit of giving their pastor advice right after the Sunday sermon. Bad timing! Think! Take the time to really pray, and if the Holy Spirit is prompting you to talk to your pastor, then set up a time to talk to him later in the week. Do the Esther thing - be aware of your timing and tone, understanding that you don't have personal insight on all your pastor does and must do. Ask yourself what is prompting you to feel you need to give your pastor advice... your flesh or the Holy Spirit.

- Think before you call his home. Ask yourself if it can wait until it’s not his day off. If it’s not a crisis, have self control and call the office and leave a message.

- Be careful about what you assume. Not to be cryptic, but you aren’t aware of things you don’t know. Walk in gentleness toward your pastor and elders.