Burnout

I’m reading a book called “Mad Church Disease: Overcoming the Burnout Epidemic” by Anne Jackson.

After working at a Christian college for almost 4 years and growing up in the church, I can understand (in my own perspective) what she is writing about.

Thankfully I didn’t cross that “burnout” line in any of my experiences, but I have seen friends, who were once active in the ministry, stop going to church completely. I’ve seen families, who were once powerful in ministry, sadly fall apart; some of them even very close friends.

It is all very sad. This book is really good and easy to read. I highly recommend it to anyone who has worked in, volunteered in or even just simply grew up in the church and knows some of what “goes on behind the church doors.”

Anyway – here is the quote tonight that Anne Jackson included in her book. It was very powerful to me. And I’m thankful for the people who have – and continue – to help mold and shape me.

“The people who influence us the most are not those who detain us with their continual talk, but those who live their lives like the stars in the sky and "the lilies of the field" - simply and unaffectedly. Those are the lives that mold and shape us.

If you want to be of use to God, maintain the proper relationship with Jesus Christ by staying focused on him, and he will make use of you every minute you live - yet you will be unaware, on the conscious level of your life, that you are being used of him.”

Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest