Fired Up or Burning Out?

by David Ravenhill

We live in a day where pastors and other ministers are burning out at a faster rate than ever before. According to a recent report in Family News from Dr. James Dobson,

“Thousands of spiritual leaders are barely hanging on from day to day. Our surveys indicated that 80 percent of pastors and 84 percent of their spouses are discouraged or are dealing with depression. More than 40 percent of pastors and 47 percent of their spouses report that they are suffering from burnout, frantic schedules and unrealistic expectations. We estimate that approximately 1,500 pastors leave their assignments each month, due to moral failure, spiritual burnout or contention within their local congregations.”1

H. B. London, Jr. in an article entitled “Pastoral Pressure Takes Its Toll” quotes Southern California psychiatrist Richard Blackmon: “Pastors are the single most occupationally frustrated group in America.” Blackmon reported that 30 to 40 percent of religious leaders eventually drop out of the ministry while as many as 75 percent experience periods of stress so great that they consider quitting. The incidence of mental breakdown is so high that insurance companies charge ministers four percent extra for coverage compared to employees of other businesses. The article states further that “the demand to be on call for a congregation 24 hours a day as personal confidant, marriage counselor, and crisis intervention puts church leaders in a constant whirlwind of stressful events.”2

A 1991 survey of pastors conducted by the Fuller Institute of Church Growth revealed these disturbing facts:


• 90% of pastors work more than 46 hours per week.

• 80% believe that pastoral ministry is affecting their families negatively.

• 33% say that being in ministry is clearly a hazard to their families.

• 75% have reported a significant crisis due to stress at least once in their ministry.

• 50% felt unable to meet the needs of the job.

• 90% felt that they were not adequately trained to cope with the ministry demands placed upon them.

• 40% reported a serious conflict with a parishioner at least once a month.

• 70% of pastors do not have someone they would consider a close friend.

• 37% have been involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with someone in the church.

• 70% have a lower self-image after they’ve pastored than before they started.


If this is the state of so many of the trained, professional pastors and other ministers in our churches, then what is the condition of those they serve? I believe that a survey of the non-ministerial people in our churches would reveal similar levels of discouragement, stress, and burnout.
Charisma or Character?

I am convinced that much of believer burnout (like “shooting stars”) at all levels stems from a lack of personal intimacy with God. We have become very professional. We have focused on the externals at the cost of a true inner life. A major problem in the Church today is that we emphasize charisma more than character. The Word of God teaches that the gifts of the Spirit—along with blessing and even authority—can be bestowed by the laying on of hands. However, there is not a single verse, either in the Old Testament or the New Testament, that says character can be imparted through the laying on of hands. Character can be forged in our lives only on the anvil of experience and with the hammer of obedience to God and His Word. What do I mean by saying that we emphasize charisma more than character?


....This article is continued on page 13 of the Premier Issue of Brush Arbor Quarterly. To order your copy or subscribe today, click here.

1) Family News from Dr. James Dobson, Colorado Springs: Focus On The Family, Issue #8, August, 1998.
2) H. B. London, Jr. “Pastoral Pressure Takes Its Toll,” The Pastor’s Weekly Briefing, Colorado Springs: Focus On The Family, Vol. 7, #7, February 12, 1999.
3) Statistics are from a survey of pastors conducted by the Fuller Institute of Church Growth, as reported by Dr. Arch Hart of Fuller Theological Seminary at the Care Givers Forum, Glen Eyrie Conference Center, Colorado Sprigs, Colorado, November 7-10, 1991.


David Ravenhill, the son of the late Leonard Ravenhill, established Spikenard Ministries to reflect his desire to see extravagant worship, intimacy, and maturity brought to the Body of Christ. His teaching and preaching have taken him across the nation and around the world. He is the author of For God’s Sake Grow Up, The Jesus Letters, and They Drank from the River and Died in the Wilderness (from which this article is excerpted). Available from your local Christian bookstore or contact Wisdom’s Gate.