SHELBY TOWNSHIP – My husband and I, along with two other couples, planted Lakepointe Church in 2010. As church planters, there are many needs to be met; often, we can find ourselves wearing multiple hats. When you plant a church, you start from the ground up; no building, no people, no processes, no programs… only the call from God and the vision He placed on your heart. In the beginning stages of Lakepointe, we had to fill many different roles and then delegate those roles to people as God provided.
In 2020 after returning from our online services due to Covid, we were not prepared for the growth that occurred, and we had to begin to transition from a part-time staff to a full-time staff. During this time of transition, I found myself doing too much. There were things only I could do, but I also held on to things I should have laid down for a season. I began to care more for the church than I did for myself, which led me to burnout to the point of depletion.
Through this difficult time in my life, I stayed connected and rooted in my relationship with God. I truly believe I wouldn’t still be in ministry today if it weren’t for my relationship with Jesus. He was with me on the hardest days, reminding me that He saw me, and He was going to carry me through that difficult season.
One passage of Scripture that the Holy Spirit would often remind me of is found in the book of Psalms,
“I lift up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” – Psalms 121:1-2 (NIV)
I prayed consistently for God to give me His strength and to help me during this time. My journal was my lifeline to God that I would write in daily and sometimes more than once a day! Looking back, I know there was no way I could have persevered without Him. He truly empowered me and worked supernaturally!
Having gone through this season of burnout, here are a few lessons I learned that I pray will encourage you.
1 – Know your calling
Do you know what God has called you to?
I love how author Rebekah Lyons speaks about calling.
She says, “Calling is where our burdens and our passions collide.”
What burden has God placed on your heart?
Where has God gifted you to be able to help meet the needs of that burden?
In ministry, there are always things that need to be done, but we can’t do everything. When you save your “best yes” for the things God has called you to, they won’t feel heavy and hard.
2 – Live within your limitations
God gave us limitations so that we would depend on Him. He alone is limitless! We often blow past our limitations for many different reasons. Maybe we are finding our worth in what we do. Perhaps you feel like you are the only one who can do the task, or you may be a perfectionist and you don’t trust anyone else to do it as well as you can. For me, I never took the time to rest physically. I thought I could keep up that pace for just that season while we were in the process of hiring new staff, but I couldn’t. I needed to care for myself first before I cared for anyone else. It’s easy to say, but it can be hard to live out; especially when it comes to serving in the church.
God modeled limitations to us in Genesis 2:2 (NIV):
“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.”
God didn’t rest because he had to, rather he rested to model to us our need to rest!
3 – Say no with confidence
On this side of my burnout, the word “no” is empowering to my health and keeps me in line with the boundaries I have set to stay healthy.
Great questions to ask yourself when faced with saying “yes” or “no” to something:
What will my “yes” cost me?
What are my limitations in this season?
Do I feel like this is being placed on me, or do I feel called to it?
Is this something I am doing because I want to, or is it because I am trying to please someone?
4 – Trust God
When knowing what we are called to, understanding our limitations, and choosing to say “no” to the things that aren’t for us, we show that we trust God! God has unlimited resources, and He is sovereign over all things; everything is under His control! If we truly believe that, then we can say “no” confidently knowing the situation doesn’t depend on us, and we can trust Him for the outcome.
Jeremiah 32:17 says,
“Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.” (NIV)
If you want to finish well in ministry, you should consider applying these principles to your life to prevent burnout. If you know someone who is on the verge of burnout or has already burned out, the best thing you can do is encourage them, pray for them, and let them know you care about them.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Karen is married to Scott Blanchard, pastor of Lakepointe Church, and moved from Florida to Michigan in the summer of 2009 to plant Lakepointe Church in Shelby Township. She enjoys mentoring and discipling women and also leads women’s life groups through her church. She is passionate about helping women find their purpose in who God created them to be. She is on staff at Lakepointe Church and loves being part of what God is doing in the Metro Detroit area!
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