Do you ever feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day? Does your “To Do” list just seem to be getting longer? Have the boundaries between work and life outside work become blurred? Does your employer expect you to be answering emails on an evening, at weekends or even during your holiday?
Now let’s be totally honest, is it that bad or is it something that you do because you want to? Does it make you feel important and needed, is it all about self worth? Thinking back in my life, it wasn’t expected that I answered emails outside of work, in fact with one company it was frowned upon, but it gave me a head start for the next day. I was able to check my emails, prepare responses and set them to be sent at 8am in the morning. It was a safety net, it also gave me that feeling of control, but it also gave me the opportunity to drop into conversations with friends about how busy I was, juggling a demanding job and family life. Why do we fall into the trap of thinking that being over busy (whether with work, social activities or dare I say it - church!) means we’re important, why do we feel the need to get our affirmation from what we do rather than from who God says we are?
But don’t worry, we’re not the only ones who suffer with this. Many of our church leaders are caught on an ever quickening treadmill of running their church, feeling that they need to be doing everything, that being overly busy is in some way more “holy”. Many people label it as “imposter syndrome”, where you feel like you don’t really belong and that you have to be constantly working and worrying to somehow justify yourself to those around you, and more importantly to yourself.
Do you realise that in a recent survey by the Church of England, that over 50% of clergy don’t take all their annual leave? In that same survey, 22% of clergy don’t take a full day off each week! (See our blog Behind The Facade for more information on the survey). Are you able to confirm if your church leaders fall into those categories?
I am reminded of a couple of paragraphs I recently read in a book on church leaders burning out. It posed a number of questions, including those previously mentioned, but definitely worth repeating again:
- How many churches are able to boast about the fact that their pastors, youth workers etc use all their holidays up each year? Or that they regularly take two days off every week, like most people do? Is there anyone in your church checking this?
- How many churches insist that staff attend conferences, seminars etc as part of their continual personal development and how many actually have a cpd plan for each of their staff?
- How many are also thinking about their pastors physical well-being? Is membership of a local gym included as a standard perk to encourage their pastor to practice good exercise patterns.
If like me, you’re a member of a church, shouldn’t we all be able to answer these questions about any staff that are employed by our church? I will hold my hands up and say that I don’t know the answer for my church and it’s not something that I’d ever really considered before, but we all need to be supporting and encouraging our leaders to look after their well-being. After all:
- Depressed clergy are not effective clergy!
- Depleted clergy have nothing to give!
- Isolated clergy are devoid of the joy and energy that ministry requires!
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