Burnout Week: Abandon

Part three of burnout week (Read part one here and part two here)

Abandon Annually

This form of protecting yourself from burnout is probably the toughest one to keep for several reasons:

• if you want to take a trip of some sort you have to be faithful in saving money to pay for it
• you must plan ahead of time…way ahead of time.
• you may have to prep the team a little
• we fool ourselves into thinking we are so important that things will fall apart without us
• and I’m sure there are several other reasons…

Jesus took 30 years to prep for 3 years of ministry. why do we think that we can go go go for our entire lifetime and never abandon?

Being willing and able to abandon shows that you understand this whole thing isn’t yours…its God’s. Jesus said I will build my church…not “insert your own name” will build my church.

I know that when I abandon I feel renewed and often get a fresh vision from God. Abandoning helps you to focus on God which is where real, true, worthwhile vision and direction all come from. In that respect, abandoning annually can be pretty wreckless.

Abandonment also challenges your team. And they need to be challenged and thrown out on their own every once in a while.

I try to abandon twice annually for a short vacation. Once with the whole family and once just with Amber. I’m bad at actually abandoning completely because of that dang iPhone.

I know churches that actually write abandoning annually into their policies manual. You HAVE to take some extended time off to focus on God each year. I think that is one of the most healthy decisions that churches can make.

How do you abandon annually? What challenges have you faced?