Youth Worker Burnout: Burnout Prevention

We need to take seriously the concept of burnout and take steps to prevent it. We will look at three different ways that Jesus tended to His soul from Mark 14:32-34 including the ability to recognize His troubled soul, He surrounded Himself with those He trusted, and He went to our heavenly Father in prayer.

And they came to a place called Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.” And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. And He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.” And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground, and began praying. – Mark 14:32-34

He Recognized His Condition
When Christ came to the Garden of Gethsemane, He instantly recognized that “my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death.” In such a defining time for the Son of God in which He would be impacting the entire world for several thousand years to come and in a crisis situation where He knew that within days He was going to be tortured and hung on the cross, He recognized the condition of His own soul. Have you taken the time this month, this week, or even today to look at the status of your own soul?

He Surrounded Himself With Trusted Friends
Jesus has His three closest disciples with Him during this time of crisis. They had just taken Communion during the Last Supper, a time of intense fellowship with each other and God and now they are together in the dark night praying for Jesus. This ability to know that you are not alone, that others are willing to help bear some of the burden for you, and sharing in the joys and pains of life together makes life so much more worth living. How many people in your life can you say would be someone that would come in the dead of the night to be with you and pray for you?

He Immediately Went To The Lord In Prayer
Many of us in ministry are fixers. We love to find a situation that is broken, invest time, sweat, and tears into it and come out with a whole and complete product. Yet, this very model of ministry does not align with the Christian faith that God is the ultimate healer, comforter, and Lord of our lives. As ministers of the Word of God, we need to be present in the lives of those hurting and serving them in every area of their lives, but knowing that ultimately it is in God’s hands. Believing that “we” fixed the situation will inevitably lead to burnout. How does your model of ministry support or discourage God being the Lord of a Christian’s life?