Burnout and Recovery: An Introduction for Pastors
- tj53217
- 14 minutes ago
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May 9, 2025 -- Ben O'Toole
My aunt greeted me at the cookout. It was late Spring. She gave me a hug and asked about my plans for the summer. As I spoke, her eyes grew wider until she interrupted me with force, putting her hands on my shoulders: “You have PTSD.”
I tried to process her words. PTSD? But I haven’t been on a combat mission; I’m in ministry!
My aunt could see that I was emotionally numb, and she was right about that. She was working at that time as a full-bird colonel at the Pentagon, and she knew her stuff. I didn’t.
That conversation got me to face my particular dilemma: ministry burnout!
What is ministry burnout, and how can a pastor deal with it? I have been wrestling with these questions myself for decades. I pray my answers here help you.
What is Ministry Burnout?
“Ministry burnout” is a phrase I find helpful when helping pastors or ministry leaders. You might call it emotional exhaustion, anxiety, depression (or even something more specific to your experience, like PTSD). Ministry burnout is getting to the point where you cannot function personally or in ministry because you have had too much stress for too long without proper recovery. Burnout can effect you emotionally, spiritually, and physically. When a pastor gets to the point of burnout, or is getting close, here are some typical symptoms:
You feel dull when you read the Bible or pray.
You are easily irritated or offended.
You work long hours but are less and less productive.
You generally lack joy or feel sad most of the time.
You find it difficult to concentrate.
You do your job as a pastor but feel you are just going through the motions.
Your mind fixes on problems or stresses and will not let them go.
You feel generally angry, negative, or hopeless.
You increase your work efforts to quell the perceived or expressed opinions of your church members.
You do not like who you have become as a husband or father.
You want to minister well but feel you are running on fumes.
Lack of exercise or healthy food has taken a toll on your body.
You are too consumed by your phone.
You have patterns of poor or drugged sleep.
You normally miss your day off because of church emergencies, sermon preparation, or being on-call generally to the church members.
If the majority these are true of you, you might have ministry burnout.
How Can a Pastor Deal with Ministry Burnout?
If you are burnt out or headed that way, you need to understand what got you here, how you can get out, and where you can find help.
Pastors fall into burnout because we have too much stress for too long without adequate recovery time. Pastors are commonly weighed down by the burdens carried in regular ministry: weekly sermons, meetings, needs of members, fights in the church, traumas you help carry as a counselor, pressures to grow the church, etc. Most pastors I know work sixty plus hours per week as a minimum. Such stresses wear you down.
Being under too much stress for too long diminishes you. Imagine a large water tank, the kind that sits on the high ground of many small towns. Compare the capacity of that tank with your capacity to handle all the work you must do as a pastor. When you are fresh and new, your capacity is high—there is plenty to give. But the more stress you carry the less capacity you have—there is less and less of you to give. The water tank is squeezed smaller and smaller; it holds less and is more easily drained. Perhaps stress has diminished your capacity, but with God’s help you can do something about it.
Remember that only God is sovereign. We are not. God rules over every pastor--even those feeling the effects of burnout--but it seems to me that God tends to discipline us by letting us feel our weakness in ways that humble us. This causes us to rely on him (Deut 8). We must learn that we pastors are creatures who depend wholly on our Provider, especially for power in ministry.
Here is a brief list of ways you can start to recover and find help:
Take a weekly day of rest. It might not be Sunday, but seek the Lord and rest in Christ away from all ministry labors.
Exercise regularly.
Look up “good sleep habits” and apply what you learn.
Hug each family member daily with an “I love you.”
Talk with your fellow elders or church leaders about why this matters for you and your long-term usefulness in ministry.
Find strength in private worship: Bible reading, prayer, singing, etc.
Take your vacation, all of it, and do not bring work with you.
Ruthlessly limit tv and phone usage--try reading or spending time with your family instead!
Speaking of reading, try reading David Murray’s Reset: Living a Grace-Paced Life in a Burnout Culture. You could also watch Christopher Ash's YouTube video titled How to Maintain Pastoral Zeal While Avoiding Pastoral Burnout.
Find a fellow pastor or counselor who can walk through this with you.
Know that sometimes you must keep going even when you are diminished; you must do what you can by God's grace. You can learn to serve in weakness too; like Jacob, you can learn to walk with a limp (Genesis 32).
Make it your goal to serve Christ by being a good steward of your strength through your entire life of ministry.
Brothers, ministry burnout is real. Rest is necessary. Find your strength in Christ.
Ben O’Toole (M.A., M.Div., Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) serves as a pastor at Windsor Baptist Church in Eagle, PA. Previously, he served as a missionary with Navigators. He is thankful to do ministry alongside his wife, and together they have five children.
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