It was a powerful reminder today of how blessed I am to lead Church of the Way, an amazing group of people. Simply put, they are fun to be around. Starting Church of the Way really has been a dream come true. I've been at it six years, but we're just getting warmed up. I'm super excited to see what God is going to do in this great church.
I remember when I was in seminary and so many of my classmates there bad-mouthed their churches. We were all serving the same kinds of churches -- little country churches out in the sticks. However, I believe that when you see good in people, good comes out. God's image is on us all.
I'm grateful that I don't have to pretend. I get to serve a group of people that care deeply about our mission and vision. Being around them gives me energy. People talk about burnout in ministry all the time. I've seen it over and over again. I get it. I've felt burnt out from time to time. But I've never felt totally burned out. I've got the most exciting job in the universe. I get to be involved in the redemption of broken people. I get to see people come to faith in Christ and have their lives transformed. I can't imagine myself doing anything else. My church just reminded me today why I love what I do. I'm just getting started and pumped about what's comng next at Church of the Way.
First United Methodist Church of Griffin
2 comments:
Well if you're not a little burnt you're not doing ministry right, I think people have unrealistic expectations regarding how hard the work should be and how much it should take. If we're working for the very lives of folks and future of our munchkins, I think we can expect some opportunity to burn but you're soooo right, COTW makes it so easy in comparison to so many other organizations. I do love working with you and all those amazing folks, looking forward to resources and time catching up to the opportunities to grow...its a neat kind of ebb and flow of more numbers, mentoring, allocating resources...rinse and repeat! I think we (speaking as the student ministry) are kind of in a mentoring and being kind of slow, steady and looking for the wisdom to grow things at a rate we can accommodate and manage- or at least have enough left in the tank to deal with whatever burst God ordains. That's the neat thing about COTW, theirs no shortage of passion about the community but equally as much there's deliberation in the application of that passion without the political cloud that often occludes that actual progress. Our folks are so mobile, so willing, so connected to the mission!
Wow, that is long winded!
The bottom line is that burn out happens because of individuals and not organizations. Leaders allow themselves to get burned out because we don't often set up the correct boundaries to avoid it.
I'm thankful that Church of the Way allows me to have the proper boundaries...and it's just a fun place to work.
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