PACE YOURSELF OR BURNOUT – Part 2
My son loves lizards and must have been created with a built in lizard radar. It doesn’t matter if he is outside throwing the football, climbing a tree, or on the way to school. He seems to spot them everywhere! When spotted, he drops whatever he is doing and tries to catch it. He won’t give up till either the lizard disappears or he catches it. This used to annoy me, especially when we were in a hurry to get somewhere. And we used to be in a hurry about 99% of the time. After taking a step off the treadmill of a hurried life, I’ve come to enjoy these moments with my son. Oddly enough, two are better than one when attempting to catch a lizard. It is also a lot more fun than you might expect! Kids have a way of living in the moment. They don’t get hung up in the past nor worry about the future. When pacing yourself in ministry, keep in mind TIP #2.
TIP #2 – LIFE IS MORE ENJOYABLE AT A STEADY PACE.
You miss the little things when you’re going to fast. You miss the lizard moments with your kids, the thank you’s from parents, the spiritual high at camp, and the excitement of the new volunteer’s first teaching. You go from task to task never really enjoying being in the moment. However, when you are at a steady pace, life is much more enjoyable. You find yourself celebrating with a preteen who just surrendered his life to Jesus, really listening to the preteen whose cat just passed away, or having lunch with a friend during a work day. If you want to enjoy life more and keep a steady pace, then get your calendar out and make the following adjustments.
First, create space in your life. What do you like to do that relaxes you? It could be reading a book, going to the gym, or painting. Whatever it is, make time for it. Don’t make excuses, just do it. I like to read and journal. Somewhere in between getting married, having three kids, and leading a growing ministry I forgot how those disciplines recharge me. So, as much as possible I take time to go to Starbucks to read and journal. Sometimes it is middle of the day and sometimes it is early in the morning. Find out what works for you and make time for it.
Second, create space in your ministry. Look for your busy season and create space around it. Cushion each busy ministry season with a less busy one around it. Don’t finish an active summer and dive right into a busy fall. If your summer is busy, then make fall a little less busy, winter real slow, and then kick things back up little in the spring. Also, I recommend you plan your vacation after a busy season and during a slow one. Every summer we host two major events – VBS and a preteen retreat. After they’re pver, I take a week vacation with my family. I also take some time off during the holidays, which is a down time for our ministry. Every church is different, so find out what works best for you. Just don’t make the mistake of staying busy all the time.
Lastly, create space in your week. Plan your week so that you have at least one non-busy day. Make it a goal to just get a few things done that day and stick to it. You’ll notice that things will come up that you wouldn’t normally have time to do. Maybe your mom calls for a chat or your spouse needs you to pick up some milk on the way home. Maybe you remember how you’ve been meaning to call a volunteer whose been having a tough time with her teenager. The idea is to not check off a lot of tasks for that day, but to simply be available for whatever comes your way.
The thrill of catching a lizard with my son comes at a price. I have to choose to keep a steady pace and live life in the moment. It is a choice we all can make. It might require cutting some things out of your life and ministry (read more on this in Part 1). And it definitely requires you to create space in your life, ministry, and week. It’s your life, so live it to the fullest.
Have you ever wished you could duplicate yourself 3-4 times? Your life would be much easier if there were three or four more of you, wouldn’t it? Imagine how much more you could get done? Leading a preteen ministry can be a tough job because there is so much to get done. You have a never ending to-do list that can stress you out and even cause burnout if you’re not careful. If you want to stay in ministry for the long haul, then learning to delegate should be high on your priority list.
TIP #3 – Delegating maximizes your effectiveness & lightens your load.
Delegating means to let go of some responsibility. It means you build a team and involves recruiting, training, releasing, monitoring, and encouraging team members. Dream big and think of all that God has put in your heart for ministry. Now, take a step back and write down the top three things you’re good at. Compare your gifts with the dreams God has placed inside of you. Next, begin to recruit others who might be talented in areas you’re not and think of a game plan to train and empower them along the way. You’ll also need to train up others who are good at what you’re good at. What do you delegate? Here are a few to consider when building a preteen ministry: worship leader, event coordinator, supply coordinator (someone to gather supplies for the weekend services), media team coordinator (someone to oversee those who operate the media at weekend services), midweek leader, and website coordinator (if you have a website). Don’t do it all yourself, share the load.
Delegating maximizes your effectiveness. Spend time trying to do everything yourself and you’ll burnout. Spend time recruiting and training others to lead alongside of you and build an unstoppable team who will make a difference in preteens’ lives with or without you. What is a better use of your time? Spending 25% of your time teaching preteens or spending 10% teaching and 15% equipping two other leaders to teach preteens? Over time, these leaders could become as good as or maybe even better than you at teaching. Do you see how building a team maximizes your effectiveness? Try it.
Delegating also lightens your load. Over time as you begin to form a team you and share the load together. In the beginning, I was the main communicator at our weekend services. I made raising up other large group teachers a priority. Now we have several people who share the large group teaching role. That means weekends are a lot easier. It isn’t all on my shoulders and I have more energy to my leaders at church and my family after church.
Believe it or not, there is a way to duplicate you. How? By building a team around you and delegating major responsibilities to other people. Effectively delegating will maximize your effectiveness and lighten your load. If you’re not already doing it, begin to build a team and delegate now.