I\u2019m spending the last day of my vacation thinking through the coming year, and getting my \u201cto do\u201d list ready. \u00a0The time includes taking stock of my goals and priorities, both personally and vocationally. \u00a0Imagine my surprise, then, to see that #2 on the list of most e-mailed articles in the NY Times this morning is called: \u201cCongregations Gone Wild\u201d<\/a>, an op-ed piece about pastoral burnout. \u00a0The article couldn\u2019t have come at a better time than the end of my vacation.<\/p>\n It catalogs the demands placed on pastors as a result of our consumerist culture. \u00a0\u201cSpiritual Consumerism\u201d<\/a> is what it\u2019s called, a term to describe American\u2019s tendency to pursue spirituality the same way they pursuing buying cars or going out to dinner, or shopping for food. \u00a0Walk into a grocery store for apples and you\u2019ll have a big decision awaiting you because there will be a half dozens choices. \u00a0The same with milk, and restaurants, and menu choices, and vacation experiences and\u2026.church life.<\/p>\n As a result, there\u2019s a subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, consumerist approach that church leaders adopt in order to create both multiple choices and experiences for potential attenders. We do this when we offer various worship times and locations, each serving up different styles of music. \u00a0We do this when we seek to create excellent experiences caring for children. \u00a0We do this when we assess the viability of various components of our community life, as we do each year in the summer because it\u2019s our time to create a new budget and decide where to invest resources.<\/p>\n We do all these things in the church I lead, and will continue to do them. \u00a0But we need to be careful, realizing that if that\u2019s all we do<\/em>, we\u2019re laying the groundwork for creating, not a real presence of Christ, but spiritual consumers. \u00a0Spiritual consumers \u201cgo to church\u201d, the way they go to Mariner games\u2026 they go if the team\u2019s winning, or if not, at least for the friendships and food. \u00a0This creates leaders who, if they\u2019re not careful, aren\u2019t really leading at all, but only reacting to market trends, like Costco and Walmart (do people want polar fleece? plastic chairs for their patios? a series on sexuality? the politics of the religious right?) \u00a0Such an approach isn\u2019t healthy or sustainable, and is one of the reasons pastors are suffering from burnout.<\/p>\n How does a pastor swim upstream against these cultural trends? \u00a0What are his\/her priorities to be? \u00a0What\u2019s a pastor to do?<\/p>\n 1. Recognize our calling. <\/strong> We\u2019re not called to put on a show for people who \u201cgo to church\u201d. \u00a0We\u2019re called to equip a gathered community to \u201cbe church\u201d which means helping people find their unique callings and gifts, use them, and develop habits and priorities for living that will be sustainable and life giving. \u00a0I\u2019ll say it often in the coming year at my church: \u00a0\u201cyou don\u2019t go to church\u2026 you ARE the church.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n 2. Recognize our gifts.<\/strong> Pastors have different gifts. \u00a0Visionary, teacher, leader, counselor. \u00a0These are blended with unique blends of mercy, exhortation, and service. \u00a0All of these things contribute to the pastor\u2019s role and calling which is \u201cshepherd the flock\u201d. \u00a0Pastor means shepherd, and if I\u2019m called to be a shepherd, I need to discover the unique gifts God has given me to be a shepherd, and focus on those gifts. \u00a0I can\u2019t be everything for everyone. \u00a0Nobody can. \u00a0Instead, I need to know my gifts and focus the bulk of my energies there. \u00a0Many pastors burn out because they\u2019re trying to be all things for all people. \u00a0That was never in the plan, and is itself a result of the consumerist mindset whereby members of a faith community see themselves as recipients of \u201cservices\u201d in exchange for pay.<\/p>\n 3. Set an example.<\/strong> We do this through sharing our lives with people, however we do that (some through teaching, some over coffee in one to one meetings). \u00a0Our own habits that contribute to intimacy with God, our own life priorities, even our own struggles, failures, and confessions, contribute to shaping a congregation, by giving people an example of ongoing transformation. \u00a0If we need to be superstars, above the fray, without flaws, we\u2019re setting ourselves up for both hypocrisy and burnout.<\/p>\n 4. Live with the tension.<\/strong> Pastors who burn out seem to have all their identity eggs sitting in the basket of their church vocation. \u00a0This is unhealthy because it creates a fear of losing one\u2019s job and a fear of rejection, both of which cater to the consumerist mindset. \u00a0I resist this by having a life beyond the church \u2013 it\u2019s a writing life, a life in the outdoors, a life of wide reading and exploration.<\/p>\n On the other hand we who lead need to be committed to our calling and our flock 110%<\/em> because this isn\u2019t just a job. \u00a0When it becomes just a job, then we\u2019ll lead only as long as it\u2019s easy, or serves our ego, or is \u201csuccessful\u201d, which is a way of saying that we\u2019ll not be leading at all.<\/p>\n Ecclesiastes<\/strong> seems to offer the best word here: \u00a0\u201cWhatever your hand finds to do \u2013 do it with all your might.\u201d<\/a> That\u2019s it! \u00a0Be fully present in your calling. \u00a0Be fully present in your vacation. \u00a0Be fully present in your lovemaking, and your cooking, and your praying, and your study. \u00a0The gift and discipline of presence will provide the right balance.<\/p>\n