The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
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The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
You're Not Burned Out. You're Bored.
Ministry leaders often confuse burnout with boredom, but these conditions require completely different solutions. Recognizing the difference can help you take the right steps to reignite your passion and purpose in ministry.
• Burnout is about depletion while boredom is about stagnation
• Warning signs of boredom include scrolling during meetings, minimal sermon prep, and lack of dreaming
• Both conditions can make you question your calling, but they need different approaches
• Boredom doesn't need rest—it needs new challenges and growth opportunities
• Practical strategies include learning new skills, changing routines, and mentoring someone new
• Getting curious again and asking better questions can break the cycle of boredom
• Experiencing boredom doesn't mean you're failing—you might be ready for the next version of your calling
What's one thing you've done recently to re-engage in your role? I'd love to hear from you at podcast@chemistrystaffing.com.
Have questions or comments? Send to podcast@chemistrystaffing.com
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Are you feeling off in ministry, but at the same time, you're not completely exhausted. You might not be burned out, you might just be bored. And in today's episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast, I'm going to unpack the subtle difference between being burned out and spiritual or vocational boredom, if you'll stick around for this interesting discussion. Hi there, my name is Todd Rhodes. I'm one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom and I'm your host right here on the Healthy Church Staff podcast. You're feeling drained, you're tired, maybe you're even feeling stuck, but at the same time you're sleeping fine. Your schedule's lighter than what it was last year. Nobody's mad at you. What's going on? This could be the truth. We talk a lot about burnout here on the podcast, but maybe today you find yourself not burned out at all. Maybe you're just bored, and sometimes that's just as dangerous to your ministry health, if not more so. Today we're going to show you how to spot boredom before a rection calling and what to do to reignite your purpose again. All right, where we need to start initially is what does boredom in ministry really look like initially? Is what does boredom in ministry really look like? Because a couple clues here. It's not always laziness, it's not always depression. Sometimes it's just that nothing feels challenging anymore. You've solved the same problems, you've preached the same cycles, you've navigated the same personalities. You wake up and ministry just feels kind of meh. Now that's not a sin, but it is a signal and there are some warning signs if you're starting to get bored. Okay, here are some that I came up with Might give you. I feel like Jeff Foxworthy here. You might be bored. Here's your sign, or whatever he says. Right, here's some signs that you might be bored. Okay, maybe you find yourself scrolling your phone or your computer laptop during meetings. Maybe you do the minimum prep possible because you feel like you just honestly don't have to do that much prep anymore. You can do it flying blind. You stop dreaming, you're just. You don't have any dreams about what's next or what's in the future. Maybe you're busy, but your brain just isn't lit up, it's just not excited anymore. If you're experiencing any of these things, my guess is that it's not burnout. Burnout feels totally different. It's disengagement, it's really slow moving and it's sneaky. But just being bored. That can happen in life, but it can also happen in ministry.
Speaker 1:So why do we get this confused sometimes? Why does boredom feel so much like burnout, but it's not, because a lot of times we confuse the two. We don't know am I bored? Am I burned out? What's going on here? Here's the reason why they have some similarities, right? Both boredom and burnout, they both leave you tired and they both kill your motivation. And here's the thing they both make you question your calling at times.
Speaker 1:But burnout is not about burnout. Actually is about depletion. Boredom is about stagnation. Okay, burnout needs some rest. Boredom means you need to stretch a little bit. Okay. So boredom and burnout, they require different solutions. And if you treat boredom like burnout or burnout like boredom, it's going to make you feel weird, right. So if you treat boredom with just rest, even harder, all right.
Speaker 1:So are you bored? If you're bored, how do you reignite? How do you get out of this kind of bored state? Maybe you feel like you're ready for something new, but you're just not sure what that means. Here are some places that you can start.
Speaker 1:I get bored every once in a while and what I try to do is micro challenge. Can I say it like that? Micro challenge myself. Take on something new, learn a new skill. The internet is ripe for this. You can go to YouTube. You can go to Coursera or a bunch of different Udemy and pick any topic. There's thousands of topics. You can take free college classes. Maybe you just learn something new. Maybe you learn a new skill, maybe you teach in a new format.
Speaker 1:Something else you could do is just flip your routine. Go to the office first thing in the morning, maybe go to the gym first thing in the morning. If you go to the gym first thing in the morning, maybe go to the office first thing in the morning. Flip those routines. Maybe you change your sermon prep rhythm. Maybe you'll lead a new kind of meeting. Maybe you mentor somebody new outside of your usual comfort zone or your usual sphere. Maybe you just collaborate in a new lane that you've not done before. Maybe you partner with somebody who will really challenge your thinking and just kind of get you out of that bored state. So, in other words, just get curious again.
Speaker 1:Ask better questions. What would make this more fun, particularly if you're doing this for the thousandth time? How can I do it differently? How could I tweak it? How could I make this a game? How could I make it more fun? What problem have I been ignoring? What would I try if I weren't afraid, but don't quit, okay, don't quit. Don't assume that something's wrong with you because it's not. Do something different and see what wakes you up again.
Speaker 1:Okay, so here's the bottom line for today. Okay, if you're bored in ministry, you're not failing. You're just ready for the next version of your calling. Now will that calling be at the place that you are vocationally? Maybe, maybe, if you can do some of those things, god can reignite that passion. Maybe God is preparing you, through your boredom, for something totally different, because he's made us so that our souls crave challenge, at least most of us, and that's not a bad thing, all right.
Speaker 1:So here's your question for today. What's one thing that you've done recently to re-engage you in your role? If you're bored, I'd love to hear from you. You can reach out to me anytime, podcast at chemistrystaffingcom. And if you're bored man, you've got some time you can sit and write me an epistle. If you want to Podcast at chemistrystaffingcom, that could be your new thing that you do today. You're right, todd and bury your soul. Okay, all right. Thank you so much for listening. You're listening to the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. We're here every weekday and I hope you'll join me again tomorrow for something else of interest. I don't even know what it is yet, but hopefully you as a church staff member find it interesting and want to listen to. All right, thanks so much. Have a great day.
