I heard the story again last week. A pastor I know announced his
resignation. No moral failure. No severe crisis at the church. No major
family problems. No sickness. He was simply burned out. That’s how he
described it. He said he had gotten to the point that he was having
trouble putting one foot in front of the other.
So he quit. Without another job. His church family was stunned.
I admit I haven’t seen recent statistics on pastoral burnout but, at
least anecdotally, it’s high. It seems that hardly a week goes by that I
don’t hear another story of a burnout victim in pastoral ministry.
Why?
What is unique to this vocation that causes such a dramatic dropout
rate? May I suggest seven reasons from the hundreds of cases I’ve known
through the years?
- The 24/7 mentality. Many pastors can’t “turn off” work in their mind. Even on their days off, they are waiting for that next telephone call or next crisis. Thus, they never relax. Continue at Thom Rainer
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