In today’s society with the demands that comes with ministry, counseling, prayer warrior and intercessory, deliverance minister, preacher, and teacher, we are finding many ministers and church leaders losing their zeal for ministry. When they started they were on fire for God, now they are just living in the moment and wondering how they reached this point in their life and ministry.
There are many reasons why ministers burnout, for example not spending enough personal time, not resting, not able to spend enough time with the Lord amongst others. Pastors need a day off too, a time to relax and enjoy life, it should not be about the ministry 24/7, perhaps that could be one of the reason for many leaders marriages going sour.
[tweetthis] How can you identify ministry burnout?[/tweetthis]
Signs of Ministry Burnout
Check out also: Are you experiencing burnout? Steps on How to Recover
Here are some symptoms are signs of ministry burnout, if you are seeing any of these signs in your ministry maybe it is time you start taking things a little easy, there is only one you.
You lose focus and clarity of thought. One of the sign to look for in ministry burnout is having short-term memory or even memory deterioration because your mind is simple overload. There is no clarity of thoughts and mentally you cannot function as you should.
The passion or zeal you had for ministry or for the work of the Lord is no longer there. There was a time when you were eager for the things of the Lord and doing his work, now you have lost interest and just not committed as you once were.
- You are no longer hearing from the Lord and just trying to hold things together. Leaders should be hearing from the Lord and getting direction from him then share those visions or instructions with the church. When you’re facing ministry burnout it is like you are shut-off from the throne room of God.
When the leader is not functioning as he should and not hearing from the Lord then the church will suffer.
You were once very hopeful, now all you see is hopelessness. Depression and hopelessness normally comes with ministry burnout. There was a time when you were filled with hope and great vigor, now all you are seeing his hopelessness and the future seems very dim.
- All the above symptoms will lead to the leader or minister isolating him/herself from others. When facing ministry burnout you don’t want to be around other people much as you feel incapable of ministering to their needs, therefore you want to be left alone.
- When facing ministry burnout, the minister/leader do not want to engage in new challenges. The Bible let us know that where there is no vision, the people will scatter whether mentally or physically (Proverbs 29:18). The leader therefore needs to function with all his mental components intact and mentally ready to take on any challenge that may come with the ministry.
- There is no mental energy to deal with problems when they arise as they are burnout.
- You want to retire from the ministry. When facing ministry burnout all you think about is leaving the ministry; you are tired of everything that comes with the ministry and now want out. This no doubt will affect the ministry as oftentimes when the pastor should be rejoicing in the Lord he/she is thinking about going home to relax.
- You no longer have the patience and mental capacity to deal with immaturity of your saints of petty stuff
- You start looking at ministry as only a job. When facing ministry burnout, oftentimes ministers stop seeing working for the Lord as something they are eager to do and a calling, but are only there because if they should not preaching they will no longer be getting their regular paycheck. Yes working in the ministry is a form of job as you are working for the Lord, but when you are only doing the work of the Lord because of money, that’s where the problem comes in.
Please check out other article to this one: Are you experiencing burnout? Steps on How to Recover
[tweetthis]Are you facing burnout? They’re 10 signs of ministry burnout, find them out[/tweetthis]
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