⛪️ Practical Church: One way to avoid ministry burnout
💡 1 SOLUTION FOR EFFECTIVE MINISTRY
A great way to prevent burnout in ministry (and to ensure your family knows they are more important than ministry) is to pre-determine how many nights a week you will allow for ministry-related events. Based on your role, season of life, and other factors, this number may be different from others. The point, however, is to find out what will lead to long-term sustainability and stick to that in each season.
Practically speaking, this currently looks like two nights a week for me. This includes our weekly community group night when our community groups are meeting. Meaning that only one other night can be given for a church event, meeting, or anything else New City related during those times. Because my wife and I are clear on this boundary, it makes it easier for us to schedule things out if our current week is already at our weekly allotment.
Of course, sometimes there are exceptions (and other times we only have one or no nightly commitments that week), but the are exceptions. And don’t forget, the only people 15 years from now who will remember you worked late (or too many nights) will be your kids. It won’t be the people you scheduled a meeting for a week or two in the future.
If you want to stay healthy for the long haul, you must be proactive and not reactive with your schedule. Determine ahead of time how many evenings you can do sustainably. Almost everyone will respect your boundaries. But if you don’t set them, you can’t blame others if you’re feeling overwhelmed.
💬 2 HELPFUL QUOTES
I. Anne Lamott on good marriages and friendships:
“A good marriage is one in which each spouse secretly thinks he or she got the better deal, and this is true also of our friendships.”
———————————
II. James Clear on the need to take action:
“You can graduate with the finest degrees. You can read the most useful books. You can enjoy the loving support of family and friends. But your degrees can't take action for you. Your books can't make the decision for you. Your family can't live your life for you. There is no substitute for courage. At some point, you have to make the choice.”
🎙 THIS WEEK ON THE PODCAST
I share 6 considerations when picking a name for your church, prioritizing the important over the urgent, Parkinson’s law, and more.
💯 1 PRACTICAL RESOURCE FOR MINISTRY
Subsplash for online giving.
There are many online giving options and it can feel overwhelming to know who to go with. I can only speak from experience here, but at New City we have used Subsplash as our online giving platform from the beginning and have never had any issues. It gives good analytics and their customer support has always been helpful. If you’re looking for an online giving platform, Subsplash is worth looking into.
💪 1 CHALLENGE FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY
What is a mistake I repeat each week when it comes to how I spend my time? What can I do to prevent it from happening again?
P.S. Why didn't anyone want to fight Goliath?
It seemed like a giant ordeal.
