Heavy Yoke in Ministry

Today I met with a wonderful group of youth ministers called Youth Pastor's Anonymous http://youthpastorsanonymous.org/  (Check us out). A small group of us met and we tried to answer the question "How is your soul?". I was not surprised at how many of the minister's answered stressed, exhausted, worried, and drained. Most of the worries and the stress revolved around similar issues... money, church drama, bad leadership, too much programming, business, and personal life issues.  I feel this way most of my days as a minister. I walked away from the meeting reflecting on how insanely hard ministry is. Then I read in the Bible... from Matthew 11:28-30  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  What the heck was Jesus talking about?!!! Seems to me Jesus' yoke is very hard... or at least in the context of ministry. Didn't you hear us Lord? We are tired. Burned out. Stressed. Our hearts are heavy!

Well, maybe there is a reason for that. Maybe we feel this way because we don't understand what Jesus' yoke was. In ministry we tend to think taking Jesus' yoke means to do God's job. We try to help people get saved, get them to church, heal them, make them happy, fix their brokenness, etc. When did Jesus ever ask us to do these things and why do we fee it is lour responsibility? No wonder people in ministry or leadership positions get so burned out.

If we did ministry like Jesus we would invite others along side us as we all did ministry together. We would serve those in need, pray for healing, and basically just live life and spend time reflecting and sharing stories about it. Isn't that what Jesus did in a group of 12? He didn't overwhelm Himself by trying to plan out every detail of a service or stress about which curriculum to choose for the year. He lived life with others and let them watch and participate in how He lived. It's certainly not wrong to spend time planning. However, I wish we would spend more time praying and serving WITH those who are in our flock instead of freaking out about what to do FOR them.  


Maybe we are so burned out because we don't practice what Jesus preached. In my experience, many minister's are some of the WORST followers of their own preaching and teaching, just like doctors or nurses can be the worst patients. I say this because I can honestly tell you I don't read my Bible daily like I encourage others to do. I read it when I feel like it which doesn't seem that healthy compared to what I teach. I don't have scheduled devos or any sense of an organized personal faith life. I don't really have a planned sabbath and my life is pretty chaotic. So why is it so hard? 

We don't spend much time alone with God listening to the Father. We try to fix everyone else and we forget to assess our own personal health. We assume we are in God's will trying to fix others who desperately need help. Truth is... if we are healthy ourselves people will follow. Perhaps we should spend less time planning and more time LIVING so that others can learn best by watching how we live. Truth is... if we practiced forgiveness instead of gossiping to others when we are mad then there might be less church drama. Truth is... if we tell others NO more often it just might set an example for others to sabbath. Truth is.. if we did ministry more like Jesus we would spend less time being stressed and more time at the foot of the cross finding true rest and peace. All we need to do is throw seeds and bring others to His life giving water. We are not responsible for salvation or fixing anyone. We simply must strive to love like Christ and invite others to walk with us. I think that is what Jesus meant when He said, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light." at least in the context of ministry.