Comments on: 11 ways to reduce stress in ministry

By: Heartburn Home Remedy

Heartburn Home Remedy — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:15:20 +0000

I read your posts for a long time and should tell you that your posts always prove to be of a high value and quality for readers.

By: UYN Newsletter #15 « UYN Newsletter

UYN Newsletter #15 « UYN Newsletter — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:23:50 +0000

[...] -“11 Ways to Reduce Stress in Ministry” – Everyone I know complains that they’re too busy. If that’s you too, then read this article. [...]

By: Latest Links | blog of dan

Latest Links | blog of dan — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 07:08:01 +0000

[...] 11 ways to reduce stress in ministry [...]

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:29:53 +0000

#5 seems to be the hardest across all forms of minsitry. Not sure if it’s the ego or outside pressure. This is one that I’ve gotten flack for quite a bit in ministry. It stinks that a lot of times parents, volunteers, staff and even the kids expect you to do more than you can. That really makes it tough.

By: Tim Schmoyer

Tim Schmoyer — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 14:20:10 +0000

@ DJ: Yeah, I do the same thing, except I still check it from home on Saturday nights just so I’m up-to-speed on all my messages for Sunday. Don’t wanna find out Sunday morning that so-and-so emailed me the day before to say they couldn’t teach their class that day, ya know?

By: Dj

Dj — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:52:53 +0000

I had to disconnect my church email from my home because I was constantly checking it. Of course when I would get something, I would go back into “work mode” and deal with whatever the email was about. I had enough and deleted the account at home.

You know what happened? Those emails were still in my inbox at the church when I got back the next day and the world hadn’t ended! Imagine that!

By: Tim Schmoyer

Tim Schmoyer — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:22:32 +0000

@ Jason Huffman: Yeah, that’s a good suggestion. I do that most of the time, but not all the time. Sometimes I end up writing small group lessons at home or, if something big is happening on the weekend, I’ll have to designate some time to it on my day off. But for the most part, I’m pretty strict with not taking normal ministry work stuff home.

@ Dr Beverly Potter: I understand what you’re saying and, although I’m definitely not an expert, my experience leads me to disagree a bit. You’re probably technically right, but I have a hard time separating stress, a lack of control, and burnout. They all seem to work hand-in-hand. For example, someone who feels like they have complete control over their ministry can feel VERY stressed out, and eventually they leave the ministry because of the toll it takes on them and their family. I’m sure we could talk semantics and dissect all of the different emotions and what’s behind them, but the general idea is true: on-going stress is not healthy, neither is burnout. These ideas may help you avoid both, regardless of whether they’re technically the same thing or not.

@ Sara: That’s a good idea, too! Set your boundaries at the beginning of each week and stick to ‘em.

By: Sara

Sara — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:08:20 +0000

Well, I’m usually a ball of stress. I have started something new that seems to be helping. I sit down at the beginning of the week and look at the tasks/projects I need to get done and then I block out when I’m going to work on them. Instead of having a huge list of things that need to be done in the office during the week, I have a bite sized list of things I’m going to do Monday morning, Monday afternoon, etc. I schedule tasks like I would meetings.

Might not work for everyone but it’s changing my perspective and helping me feel less overwhelmed by the week long “to do” list that puts me into a cold sweat ;)

By: Dr Beverly Potter

Dr Beverly Potter — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:10:30 +0000

Stress and burnout are not the same. Burnout is a kind of job depression and is caused by feeling of powerlessness; it is not caused by stress – tho it is stressful. Stress is a taxing of the body.

Burnout is a motivational problem. A person struggling with burnout is demotivated, dispirited, depressed – down. Whereas a highly stressed person may be highly enthusiastic – tho driving their body.

Stress is the “fever” of burnout. As with pneumonia. A high fever must be reduced or there is a risk of brain damage – BUT once reduced the pneumonia is still there. Similarly with burnout – the stress must be reduced but reducing stress does not deal with the job situations rendering the person helpless. The person must develop a feeling of controllability.

Burnout is caused by feelings of uncontrollability. Powerlessness, damned-if-you-do damned-if-you-don’t situations. It is prevented by developing feelings of control over the job – which is an on-going process.

For considerable information on job burnout, the symptoms, burnout quizzes, and what to do to prevent it or turn it around – go to my site at docpotter.com

By: Jason Huffman

Jason Huffman — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:01:54 +0000

One thing I do to manage stress is I leave my work at the office. I know some people work well at home, but for me, there’s too many distractions and too much temptation to do work instead of spend time with family. I also don’t check my office email unless I’m at the office. Likewise, I don’t have a blackberry or PDA set up to receive work related emails at home. This allows me to focus on home stuff at home and office stuff at the office. It also gives me time to think about the things that are going on at the office and gives me some time to brainstorm some things I can do about various situations rather than acting impulsively from behind my desk.