It was a Sunday morning in the fall. I was scheduled to give the church announcements that day, and, like most Sundays, I arrived early to prepare for our student class. As I crossed the threshold of the church doors, my body immediately responded — tight chest, shallow breath, racing thoughts. Fight or flight had become a familiar feeling. On the outside, I smiled. But inside, I was struggling. What had once been a place of joy and comfort now triggered anxiety, loneliness, and low-grade depression. I was facing various kinds of real challenges in ministry but had no real space to process them.
I didn’t feel like I could be honest about what I was carrying. When I did try to open up, the responses were well-meaning but felt a bit cliche: “Just pray more.” “You’ve got to trust God more.”
Not that these responses are inaccurate, however, I realize that there will never be a time in my life where I don’t have to pray more or trust God more. Instead, the responses often felt a bit dismissive. What I hoped would be an invitation to lighten my burden felt more like a dismissal of my burden. Sometimes, what pierced my heart most was the silence.
I wrote in a poem once:
“No one told me that when I find a home in the body, I would be both healed and harmed by its hands.”
It wasn’t until I sat with a therapist that I realized what I was experiencing had a name: burnout. And I imagine I’m not alone. You may be feeling like your fire for ministry is burning out. Burnout is not always obvious to us. Sometimes, it creeps in masked by routine, hidden behind the smile we wear on Sundays, buried beneath the pressure to keep showing up and performing. Left unaddressed, burnout can slowly take our joy and disconnect us from the very calling that once set our hearts on fire. The good news is that we’re not without hope. Scripture offers us a picture of what faithful presence looks like in the face of deep weariness.
Empty To Fill
Ministry leaders experience burnout for all kinds of reasons: unspoken expectations, spiritual dryness, emotional fatigue, lack of support in ministry, or simply carrying the burdens of others while ignoring their own. Let’s be honest: ministry is awesome work, but it’s also hard work. It doesn’t slow down just because our souls are tired or our hearts are heavy.
But here’s the problem: we can’t give what we no longer have. And when we try to keep pouring from an empty cup, burnout isn’t a matter of if. It’s a matter of when. When we consider how much we minister and pour out into others, the question we must ask ourselves is “who is filling our cup?”
The Support You Need
A ministry leader once told me something that stuck with me: Sometimes, you’ll have to look outside your church context to find the support you need. That truth may be difficult to hear. It certainly was for me! But for many, it’s the beginning of healing. What I have learned through my healing is that who we surround ourselves with matters and it matters a lot. Job’s story reminds us of how much it matters. Not just in Job’s suffering, but in what happened when his friends first showed up:
“Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place… They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.” Job 2:11–13
The Power of Presence
What a powerful picture of love and presence! In Job chapter 1, Job loses his family and material possessions (Job 1:13-19). In Job chapter 2, Job loses his health (Job 2:1-10). What happens next is a beautiful picture of how the people of God should respond when our brother or sister in Christ is in distress.
We see Galatians 6:2 lived out. Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” In other words, help carry the weight of someone else’s struggles whether that is sin, sorrow, or suffering.
In Job’s case, he is experiencing great sorrow and suffering. Job’s friends heard of his pain and pursued him. They saw his suffering and it moved them to tears. They sat with him in silence because they knew words couldn’t fix what he was facing.
Though they got it wrong later, they got something right in this moment when they showed up. They didn’t lecture. They didn’t offer spiritual platitudes. They were not simply bystanders, but became participants in Job’s pain. Sometimes, the greatest ministry we can give to others or receive for ourselves is simply presence. They heard his hurt, they saw his sorrow, and they sat with Job in stillness. That’s what burnout needs. It doesn’t need quick advice, but quiet compassion.
We See You
To the weary youth minister, you are not invisible. You are not weak. And you are not alone. You may be tired. Tired of smiling on the outside while struggling on the inside. Tired of pouring into others when you have nothing left to give. Tired of wondering if it’s okay to be weary when you’re the one who’s supposed to be strong.
I want you to know that you are seen, you are heard, and you are deeply loved. If you’re in a season of burnout, I pray you find friends like Job had, those who will: Hear your hurt without trying to fix it; See your sorrow and refuse to look away; Sit in stillness and remind you that you don’t have to carry it alone.
The Greatest One Sees You, Too
Job’s friends give us a glimpse of something greater. A foreshadowing of Jesus, the One who didn’t stay distant from our suffering but entered into it. Jesus is the greater Comforter. He’s the Savior who: Was betrayed by those closest to him; Retreated to the wilderness to be ministered to by His Father; Was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief; Needed help carrying his cross to Golgotha; Was unjustly hung on that cross to die for the sins of humanity. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). That is great news!
He knows what it’s like to be exhausted, misunderstood, and poured out. He sees the long nights you’ve given, the weight you carry, and the tears you hide behind ministry tasks. And he isn’t standing at a distance waiting for you to get it together, He’s drawing near, saying, “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
The same Jesus who bore your sin also bears your exhaustion. He doesn’t shame the weary. Instead, he shepherds them. He doesn’t condemn the tired. Instead, he comforts them. You don’t have to hold it all together when the One who holds all things together is holding you. Jesus hears you, he sees you, and he sits with you. Take his yoke upon you, for he is gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
If you’re seeking Gospel-centered community as you labor, consider applying for one of Rooted’s youth or family ministry mentoring programs.
