May 29, 2024 • 26 mins
I'm exploring the essence of what it means to be 'called' in this Transitional era for the Church. God is calling us to follow Jesus wholeheartedly into 'new things' which means emergence of ministries that are both within and outside the conventional framework. I share my insights into how these shifts demand a renewed focus on holistic self-care and call for a missional approach to ministry, tapping into the unique gifts of congregations to serve communities earnestly and effectively.
Join me as we navigate these transformative concepts together, seeking paths to ensure that we—ministry leaders—can nurture our spiritual and emotional health while passionately serving others in new ways.
This is a GUILT-FREE zone! So here's your friendly nudge about self-care and its importance for your family, friends, and those you serve in ministry.
Contact info:
Email me at crabbypastor@gmail.com with your input and ideas for burnout and leadership topics of interest or if you know someone who might be interesting to interview.
Visit my website:
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CLICK HERE FOR THE BURNOUT SYMPTOMS TEST.
I love scouring around to find great content to share, and am always interested in feedback, if you are or know of someone willing to share their Back from Burnout story so we can all learn together, then CLICK HERE to email me.
And, if this is a reminder you wish to opt out of, that's fine too.
Blessings on your journey!
Margie
🦀 🦀 🦀
Find regular support on my Facebook group: Building Sustainability in Ministry Leaders: Beating Burnout.
Connect with me about
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Margie (00:01):
Hey there, it's Margie Bryce, your host of the Crabby
Pastor podcast, where we talkabout all things sustainability,
whether it's sustainability inministry, in your personal life
and we acknowledge that thechurch is in a transitional time
, so we hit topics there toothat are going to stretch your
(00:22):
mind and the way you lead,especially how you lead yourself
, so that you don't become thecrabby pastor.
Hey there, podcast friends,it's Margie Bryce, host of the
Crabby Pastor podcast, and Ihave an announcement to make,
(00:44):
two things actually.
The first is that I am going tobe taking my own advice and I
will be doing some sabbaticaltime in June and July of this
year, but I'm not going to leaveyou with nothing.
I am going to serve up to youmy collection of Back From
(01:04):
Burnout stories from ministryleaders who are telling the
truth about their trek back fromburnout.
It's always something that wecan learn from listening to
other people's situations andstories and maybe prevent our
own burnout episodes from evenhappening by doing the self-care
(01:26):
that we need to do.
So I will serve those up to you, but I will be back revived and
ready to serve Margie Brycehere, and I wanted to bring up
the topic today to you aboutcalling.
(01:59):
What is your calling?
You know we say this asministry leaders.
I being called to leadershipwithin the institutional church
and if you will just bear withme on the title institutional
church I'm thinking more of theformal church structure, talking
(02:20):
about an individualcongregation, or you're talking
about something more formal andlarger, like a denominational
structure.
So I want to bet about callingwith you today, and some of
what's been on my heart has moreto do with some foundational
(02:43):
reasons, one in particular aboutwhy I even do this podcast, and
that is that the church is in atransitional time, and I'm kind
of hearing a few of you mightsay well, no duh, transitional
(03:03):
with a capital T, it's beingchanged a bit Now.
Some of you might say that thathas a lot to do with COVID, and
that is one reason.
Although many churches werechallenged and struggling even
prior to COVID, to COVID, one ofmy key foundational reasons for
(03:30):
doing this podcast is there's atransitional period going on
and if we want to hear the newthings that God is asking us to
do, we're not going to be ableto be running on the hamster
wheel and think that we're goingto hear it, which is why I
advocate heavily for self-care.
You know whether it isspiritual self-care, physical,
(03:55):
mental, emotional.
You know the whole gamut in avery holistic way.
I see this as a form ofstewardship with the bodies that
God has given us to trot aroundon planet earth with.
So if you add some of thesethings together, you know, in a
(04:17):
transitional period like we'rein, what it might look like is
ministries arising from withinan institutional setting and
again that just kind of meansmore organized and formal, with
structures like a governance,how you handle your money,
(04:39):
policies probably have a humanresources, people in there, as
well as trustees and the wholegamut, the whole thing that
guides your administrativefunction.
And, as many people know, youcan't just have an
administrative function ifthat's all you're doing.
If you're doing Sunday morningand you're doing, you know, your
(05:02):
whatever you want to call themcommittee or group meetings, and
that's the extent of whatyou're doing as a church.
You can look on any churchtimeline graph and see that
you're toddling your way towardsa demise.
That mission and vision doindeed need to be functional.
(05:22):
So I would say to you thatevery church group would need to
have some kind of missionalministry to bless their
community and that's going to bea function of your community.
It's going to be a function ofthe passion, of your leadership,
(05:42):
and somewhere you are going tointersect with the needs of your
community and how you want togo about serving, based on the
spiritual gifts in yourcongregation.
So you can see from that thattwo churches might live in the
same community but serve indifferent means.
(06:04):
So, going back to calling though, because that's kind of the
essence of what I wanted to chatabout, you know, if you're
looking at church in atransitional time, a time when
you need to slow down so thatyou can hear the new things that
God is asking of you as anindividual believer of Jesus
(06:24):
Christ, then you're looking atministries that might arise from
within a traditionalinstitutional church setting.
You might also have ministriesthat arise connected to, but not
necessarily under the auspicesof, a traditional setting, and
(06:46):
then you're also looking atministries that might evolve
independent of a traditionalinstitutional setting.
Okay, so bear with me on this.
Go with me on this train, alittle bit of a train ride here.
This.
(07:07):
Go with me on this train, alittle bit of a train ride here.
So, if you're going to havesome of these newer ministries
spring up.
Maybe and maybe not connectedto the institutional setting,
you're going to have people whoare called and feel passionate
about whatever thing that Godhas put on their heart, and that
is one of the things that Ithink we're going to start to
(07:28):
see, because if you add in COVIDwhich you know, we're all tired
, I get it of adding COVID in inany way, shape or form.
However, even in this post-COVIDera, we are dealing with the
effects, not just the trauma inthe lives of all the people, but
also that many churches aredown maybe half of what they
(07:53):
were prior to COVID, and thishas impact.
It impacts your budget, how thechurch spends its money.
In some cases, staff has had tobe let go.
So you have a lot of ministryleaders, and some of whom have
you just flat out pooped out andburnt out, fried out.
(08:17):
However, you want to say thatand just totally said I can't do
this anymore, whether it'swithin the time frame of COVID
or shortly after.
Or maybe you were one of theones who were let go because
your church no longer couldafford to pay you or have you on
staff in that way.
(08:37):
So what we're looking at is agroup of ministry leaders who
may not be serving in theinstitutional setting.
And you know, did any of thiscatch God by surprise?
No, and you know, I have totell you, I'm right there with
(08:58):
you when someone says, oh,nothing comes to you that didn't
get sifted through the hands ofGod first.
You know, depending on whatthat is and depending on how
painful that is, you know, andeven if somebody wants to toss
Romans 8, 28 at you, there'sjust, there's a day that
somebody should not do that,because you're in a little bit
(09:21):
too much pain and you're tryingto wrangle with yourself,
wrangle with God through it.
So I don't want to make lightof anything like that.
However, there is going to be acore of people who are without
ministry work and maybe it'sjust like fine, fine, I'd rather
(09:42):
go be a greeter at the Walmartanyways, you know, because you
leave there and there's nothingelse pressing on you to do, and
maybe you need to do that for atime.
But what I'm going to say toyou is, I believe that the
spirit is going to blow andthere is going to arise an
(10:02):
entrepreneurial spirit for newways to reach people for Jesus
Christ that may be apart fromindependent of the institutional
structure or maybe, if yourinstitutional structure can
handle it, it might be fromwithin the structure itself.
(10:23):
All of us are called.
I remember when I felt calledto ministry and people would
talk about it like that wassomething that happens to you
but maybe not to me, which isincorrect if you buy into the
priesthood of all believersnotion that we are all called.
(10:44):
And I believe that today, allof us, if we follow Jesus, we
are all called.
And I believe that today, allof us, if we follow Jesus, we
are all called.
Now, the place that you servewell, that could be up for grabs
.
Where is it that I am to serve?
And I would say to you thatthat's going to be according to
(11:04):
the gifts that God has given toyou, going to be according to
the gifts that God has given toyou.
So in some cases and I think Isaid this from the pulpit before
that the only reason that I'mstanding on the platform
delivering a sermon is becauseGod has gifted and equipped me
for that.
Because, as I also frequentlysaid, usually the people that
(11:28):
are delivering the sermons arethe ones that have encountered
trauma and trial and seen God'srescue.
And so we have, while we haveprobably some of the bigger
dings spiritually or emotionallyor whatever that God has worked
us through we still are thosepeople who want to draw others
(11:49):
to Christ because of the Christthat we have experienced.
So all of us are going to beplaced according to our gifts.
Maybe that's leadership, maybethat's not, but maybe you have
an entrepreneurial bent whereyou can envision and I guess
(12:10):
that is also visionary where youcan see a need for something
that doesn't exist yet and Godis calling you to arise and meet
that need.
So that is, I think, a distincttype of calling for today, and
we used to just relegate that tochurch planters.
(12:31):
Today you might see it arise insome marketplace, meaning
regular old job businesses wherethe owners are Christians and
adhere to a set of Christianprinciples and values, are
Christians and adhere to a setof Christian principles and
values.
You know, and depending on whatkind of business it is, they
(12:52):
might or they might notexplicitly be evangelistic in
their effort.
It just depends and it dependson what God is asking you to do.
So what I'm saying here is,while the formula to get a call
and to then become a pastor or amissionary even, we need to
(13:13):
expand our thinking about that.
We need to drastically expandour capacity to allow the Holy
Spirit to really work on us andallow us to step into whatever
it is that God is placing onyour heart.
(13:34):
And I have to say today thatmany women especially have and I
don't know, this might be aboomer thing and if you say it
like my millennial son says it,there's a little bit of
disparaging with that wordboomer those boomers where a lot
(13:55):
of women would sit on thesidelines kind of and wait to
get asked to dance, if you knowwhat I mean.
Some of it might have been howwomen go at our employment,
where we would wait for someoneelse to initiate something
(14:16):
before.
The only person really that youshould be waiting to initiate
is God and the Holy Spirit, youknow.
And then you respond that way.
But I've seen a lot of womenthat have been associates and
they just don't go and ask topreach ever, whereas you know
(14:36):
the guys would be all about that.
When do I get to preach?
When do I get to preach?
So I guess I bring thatillustration up to you to say
the time is now illustration.
Up to you to say the time isnow, stop waiting on the
sidelines for someone to ask youto do something.
If God has put something onyour heart and on your mind, you
(14:59):
know you need to step into it.
And here's the thing.
This is a test, really.
If you start putting your footin the land, as they say, and
the doors start popping openhere and there, and here and
there, and here and there, well,there you go.
Even if just one door opens,there you go.
(15:20):
You get a sense of God's notgoing to hold the door open for
you for you know five years andstand there patiently and
waiting for you to you know, hey, you get over here.
I think there are times thatGod wants to see our initiative
and do you really believe me?
And so take a step of faithtowards something, towards
(15:43):
whatever God is bringing to you,towards whatever God is
bringing to you.
So I think the main piece thatI want to really really drive
home is that we're all calledand we need to broaden our
thinking of what that calling isgoing to look like.
(16:05):
Not everybody is cut out to dopastoral ministry in the way
that it has been done forever.
We may be stepping out of theprofessional pastor model and
into something else where maybeI know there's plenty of pastors
(16:26):
doing bivocational, where youare working in the in the
traditional marketplace, theregular old job place, but then
on the weekends you serve acongregation, or through the
week, because it doesn't alwayshave to be the same way.
You know, maybe it's not evenon a Sunday.
Sunday maybe you do church withyour people on Wednesday.
(16:48):
The important thing in thatcase is that you're doing what
God asks you to do, and maybe itdoesn't look exactly the same.
So I want us to broaden ourperspective of what it means to
be called, because the bottomline of it is, at the end of the
(17:09):
day, can you ask yourself haveI been faithful and obedient
with everything God has asked ofme, yes or no?
And if it's no, you know you'reone good repentance prayer away
from getting back on track.
But I want us to grab hold of,especially in this transitional
(17:29):
era, this concept that callingmeans being faithful with
whatever God has asked you to do.
Now I know that there arechurches that really press this,
and right now I'm blessed to bea part of a congregation that
(17:49):
does do this, where you know you, you can take some time to
explore and think through.
I don't think they call itcalling per se because for some
reason and in some people'shearts and minds, that still
means you know you have to bethe pastor up on the stage.
You know if you were to sayanything more they might go off
running into the night.
(18:10):
No, no, no.
But essentially, essentially,your calling is about being
faithful and obedient with whatGod has for you, in accordance
with the passion that justignites in your heart and you
know you need to address thisand do something about this and
(18:31):
the spiritual gifts that God hasgiven to you and maybe the
needs of the community, theneeds that you see around you,
those kind of things can cometogether, meld and mix in your
heart and there you go.
You're like well, I think Godwants me to what God wants me to
(18:53):
help students read, tutor.
You know that's a calling.
It really is a calling.
A calling is being faithful andobedient with the gifts and the
abilities according to thepassion and the need you see
around you.
It does not always, always haveto be.
(19:14):
I'm going to go be a pastor, soI just wanted to leave that
thought with you.
Maybe this is a podcast you wantto share with someone, just to
encourage them, because you cankind of see they're itchy a
little bit and they know theyneed to do something and they're
(19:36):
still debating about all ofthat.
So this would be your moment toencourage them that God is busy
doing a new thing and thatbeing called by Jesus might look
differently, and you know what.
(19:56):
That's okay.
Not only that, but it could bethe biggest and best adventure.
Not that there won't bechallenges, but it could be the
biggest and best adventure thatyou could go on with Jesus.
I also want to mention that I amalways on the hunt for back
(20:17):
from burnout stories and if youor someone you know has survived
burnout and come back, or maybeeven stepped back still to take
, you know, to come up for airfor a minute and put yourself
back together, I would love,love, love to hear their stories
(20:39):
.
If they'd be willing to share.
You can email me at crabbypastor at gmail dot com, whether
it's for yourself or someoneyou know, and we'd be happy to
have you on the podcast.
So, and while I'm at it here,if you ever have questions or
comments or there's a topicabout self-care or something
(21:00):
that is just on your heart andyou'd like me to dig at it and
explore a bit again.
Email me at crabbypastor atgmail dot com and I would be
glad to connect and explore andsee what I can find out to be of
help, because I exist tosupport you in whatever kind of
(21:23):
ministry God has called you to.
So how do the pieces of yourlife fit together?
Do they fit together well andthings are humming along just
fine, or are there some piecesthat are tight or absent or just
(21:45):
not fitting the bill?
This is your invitation to joinme in my glass workshop for a
video series, where I am goingto do a stained glass project
while I talk to you aboutsustainability and building
sustainability into your heartand into your life.
So I am going to be doing myart, which is a form of
(22:10):
self-care, and I'm going toinvite you into that space with
me and I'm going to chat.
I'm going to chat aboutself-care and I'm going to show
you how I create, and there's anifty, nifty analogy.
Stained glass seems to be avery good metaphor for what I
want to talk about.
(22:31):
So I'd love for you to join meTo do that.
To opt in, I'll need you toemail me at crabbypastor at
gmailcom.
That's crabbypastor at gmailcom, so you won't want to miss this
.
You definitely won't want tomiss this, so make a plan to
(22:53):
join me in the glass workshop.
Are you wondering whether yourfatigue, your lack of motivation
, your lack of interest isburnout maybe?
I just wanted to let you knowthat I have a resource on the
(23:15):
website, margiebryce dot comecom, that's B-R-Y-C-E margie
bryce dot com and it is aburnout questionnaire, free for
you to download and kind of selfassess and get a sense of where
you're at.
There are questions that notonly ask about what you're going
(23:37):
through but maybe how oftenyou're experiencing it.
And that's kind of a key towhere you might be, because you
have to know where you are inorder to chart a course forward.
And most pastors who experiencepastors and ministry leaders
who experience burnout rarelyknow that that's where they're
(24:02):
at until they're well into it.
And if you're unsure about thatlittle statistic, so far,
everybody that I've interviewedon this podcast who has
experienced burnout, when I askthat kind of question, they're
like, yeah, I didn't know,that's where I was at.
So again, go to MargieBricecomit's on the homepage of the
(24:25):
website and you can get yourburnout questionnaire and kind
of see where you're at.
Burnout questionnaire and kindof see where you're at.
Hey, friends, the Crabby Pastorpodcast is sponsored by Bryce
Art Glass and you can find thaton Facebook.
I make stained glass as part ofmy self-care and also by Bryce
(24:50):
Coaching, where I coach ministryleaders and business leaders,
and so the funds that I generatefrom coaching and from making
stained glass is what issupporting this podcast and I
will have opportunities for youto be a part of sponsoring me
(25:11):
and, as always, you can buy me acup of coffee thing in the show
notes.
But I will have some other waysthat you can be a part of
getting the word out about theimportance of healthy self-care
for ministry leaders.
Hey, thanks for listening.
(25:34):
It is my deep desire andpassion to champion issues of
sustainability in ministry andfor your life, so I'm here to
help.
I stepped back from pastoralministry and I feel called to
help ministry leaders create andcultivate sustainability in
(25:56):
their lives so that they can gothe distance with God and
whatever plans that God has foryou.
I would love to help, I wouldconsider it an honor and, in all
things, make sure you connectto these sustainability
practices, you know, so that youdon't become the Crabby Pastor.
Hey there, it's Margie Bryce, your host of the Crabby
Pastor podcast, where we talkabout all things sustainability,
whether it's sustainability inministry, in your personal life
and we acknowledge that thechurch is in a transitional time
, so we hit topics there toothat are going to stretch your
(00:22):
mind and the way you lead,especially how you lead yourself
, so that you don't become thecrabby pastor.
Hey there, podcast friends,it's Margie Bryce, host of the
Crabby Pastor podcast, and Ihave an announcement to make,
(00:44):
two things actually.
The first is that I am going tobe taking my own advice and I
will be doing some sabbaticaltime in June and July of this
year, but I'm not going to leaveyou with nothing.
I am going to serve up to youmy collection of Back From
(01:04):
Burnout stories from ministryleaders who are telling the
truth about their trek back fromburnout.
It's always something that wecan learn from listening to
other people's situations andstories and maybe prevent our
own burnout episodes from evenhappening by doing the self-care
(01:26):
that we need to do.
So I will serve those up to you, but I will be back revived and
ready to serve Margie Brycehere, and I wanted to bring up
the topic today to you aboutcalling.
(01:59):
What is your calling?
You know we say this asministry leaders.
I being called to leadershipwithin the institutional church
and if you will just bear withme on the title institutional
church I'm thinking more of theformal church structure, talking
(02:20):
about an individualcongregation, or you're talking
about something more formal andlarger, like a denominational
structure.
So I want to bet about callingwith you today, and some of
what's been on my heart has moreto do with some foundational
(02:43):
reasons, one in particular aboutwhy I even do this podcast, and
that is that the church is in atransitional time, and I'm kind
of hearing a few of you mightsay well, no duh, transitional
(03:03):
with a capital T, it's beingchanged a bit Now.
Some of you might say that thathas a lot to do with COVID, and
that is one reason.
Although many churches werechallenged and struggling even
prior to COVID, to COVID, one ofmy key foundational reasons for
(03:30):
doing this podcast is there's atransitional period going on
and if we want to hear the newthings that God is asking us to
do, we're not going to be ableto be running on the hamster
wheel and think that we're goingto hear it, which is why I
advocate heavily for self-care.
You know whether it isspiritual self-care, physical,
(03:55):
mental, emotional.
You know the whole gamut in avery holistic way.
I see this as a form ofstewardship with the bodies that
God has given us to trot aroundon planet earth with.
So if you add some of thesethings together, you know, in a
(04:17):
transitional period like we'rein, what it might look like is
ministries arising from withinan institutional setting and
again that just kind of meansmore organized and formal, with
structures like a governance,how you handle your money,
(04:39):
policies probably have a humanresources, people in there, as
well as trustees and the wholegamut, the whole thing that
guides your administrativefunction.
And, as many people know, youcan't just have an
administrative function ifthat's all you're doing.
If you're doing Sunday morningand you're doing, you know, your
(05:02):
whatever you want to call themcommittee or group meetings, and
that's the extent of whatyou're doing as a church.
You can look on any churchtimeline graph and see that
you're toddling your way towardsa demise.
That mission and vision doindeed need to be functional.
(05:22):
So I would say to you thatevery church group would need to
have some kind of missionalministry to bless their
community and that's going to bea function of your community.
It's going to be a function ofthe passion, of your leadership,
(05:42):
and somewhere you are going tointersect with the needs of your
community and how you want togo about serving, based on the
spiritual gifts in yourcongregation.
So you can see from that thattwo churches might live in the
same community but serve indifferent means.
(06:04):
So, going back to calling though, because that's kind of the
essence of what I wanted to chatabout, you know, if you're
looking at church in atransitional time, a time when
you need to slow down so thatyou can hear the new things that
God is asking of you as anindividual believer of Jesus
(06:24):
Christ, then you're looking atministries that might arise from
within a traditionalinstitutional church setting.
You might also have ministriesthat arise connected to, but not
necessarily under the auspicesof, a traditional setting, and
(06:46):
then you're also looking atministries that might evolve
independent of a traditionalinstitutional setting.
Okay, so bear with me on this.
Go with me on this train, alittle bit of a train ride here.
This.
(07:07):
Go with me on this train, alittle bit of a train ride here.
So, if you're going to havesome of these newer ministries
spring up.
Maybe and maybe not connectedto the institutional setting,
you're going to have people whoare called and feel passionate
about whatever thing that Godhas put on their heart, and that
is one of the things that Ithink we're going to start to
(07:28):
see, because if you add in COVIDwhich you know, we're all tired
, I get it of adding COVID in inany way, shape or form.
However, even in this post-COVIDera, we are dealing with the
effects, not just the trauma inthe lives of all the people, but
also that many churches aredown maybe half of what they
(07:53):
were prior to COVID, and thishas impact.
It impacts your budget, how thechurch spends its money.
In some cases, staff has had tobe let go.
So you have a lot of ministryleaders, and some of whom have
you just flat out pooped out andburnt out, fried out.
(08:17):
However, you want to say thatand just totally said I can't do
this anymore, whether it'swithin the time frame of COVID
or shortly after.
Or maybe you were one of theones who were let go because
your church no longer couldafford to pay you or have you on
staff in that way.
(08:37):
So what we're looking at is agroup of ministry leaders who
may not be serving in theinstitutional setting.
And you know, did any of thiscatch God by surprise?
No, and you know, I have totell you, I'm right there with
(08:58):
you when someone says, oh,nothing comes to you that didn't
get sifted through the hands ofGod first.
You know, depending on whatthat is and depending on how
painful that is, you know, andeven if somebody wants to toss
Romans 8, 28 at you, there'sjust, there's a day that
somebody should not do that,because you're in a little bit
(09:21):
too much pain and you're tryingto wrangle with yourself,
wrangle with God through it.
So I don't want to make lightof anything like that.
However, there is going to be acore of people who are without
ministry work and maybe it'sjust like fine, fine, I'd rather
(09:42):
go be a greeter at the Walmartanyways, you know, because you
leave there and there's nothingelse pressing on you to do, and
maybe you need to do that for atime.
But what I'm going to say toyou is, I believe that the
spirit is going to blow andthere is going to arise an
(10:02):
entrepreneurial spirit for newways to reach people for Jesus
Christ that may be apart fromindependent of the institutional
structure or maybe, if yourinstitutional structure can
handle it, it might be fromwithin the structure itself.
(10:23):
All of us are called.
I remember when I felt calledto ministry and people would
talk about it like that wassomething that happens to you
but maybe not to me, which isincorrect if you buy into the
priesthood of all believersnotion that we are all called.
(10:44):
And I believe that today, allof us, if we follow Jesus, we
are all called.
And I believe that today, allof us, if we follow Jesus, we
are all called.
Now, the place that you servewell, that could be up for grabs
.
Where is it that I am to serve?
And I would say to you thatthat's going to be according to
(11:04):
the gifts that God has given toyou, going to be according to
the gifts that God has given toyou.
So in some cases and I think Isaid this from the pulpit before
that the only reason that I'mstanding on the platform
delivering a sermon is becauseGod has gifted and equipped me
for that.
Because, as I also frequentlysaid, usually the people that
(11:28):
are delivering the sermons arethe ones that have encountered
trauma and trial and seen God'srescue.
And so we have, while we haveprobably some of the bigger
dings spiritually or emotionallyor whatever that God has worked
us through we still are thosepeople who want to draw others
(11:49):
to Christ because of the Christthat we have experienced.
So all of us are going to beplaced according to our gifts.
Maybe that's leadership, maybethat's not, but maybe you have
an entrepreneurial bent whereyou can envision and I guess
(12:10):
that is also visionary where youcan see a need for something
that doesn't exist yet and Godis calling you to arise and meet
that need.
So that is, I think, a distincttype of calling for today, and
we used to just relegate that tochurch planters.
(12:31):
Today you might see it arise insome marketplace, meaning
regular old job businesses wherethe owners are Christians and
adhere to a set of Christianprinciples and values, are
Christians and adhere to a setof Christian principles and
values.
You know, and depending on whatkind of business it is, they
(12:52):
might or they might notexplicitly be evangelistic in
their effort.
It just depends and it dependson what God is asking you to do.
So what I'm saying here is,while the formula to get a call
and to then become a pastor or amissionary even, we need to
(13:13):
expand our thinking about that.
We need to drastically expandour capacity to allow the Holy
Spirit to really work on us andallow us to step into whatever
it is that God is placing onyour heart.
(13:34):
And I have to say today thatmany women especially have and I
don't know, this might be aboomer thing and if you say it
like my millennial son says it,there's a little bit of
disparaging with that wordboomer those boomers where a lot
(13:55):
of women would sit on thesidelines kind of and wait to
get asked to dance, if you knowwhat I mean.
Some of it might have been howwomen go at our employment,
where we would wait for someoneelse to initiate something
(14:16):
before.
The only person really that youshould be waiting to initiate
is God and the Holy Spirit, youknow.
And then you respond that way.
But I've seen a lot of womenthat have been associates and
they just don't go and ask topreach ever, whereas you know
(14:36):
the guys would be all about that.
When do I get to preach?
When do I get to preach?
So I guess I bring thatillustration up to you to say
the time is now illustration.
Up to you to say the time isnow, stop waiting on the
sidelines for someone to ask youto do something.
If God has put something onyour heart and on your mind, you
(14:59):
know you need to step into it.
And here's the thing.
This is a test, really.
If you start putting your footin the land, as they say, and
the doors start popping openhere and there, and here and
there, and here and there, well,there you go.
Even if just one door opens,there you go.
(15:20):
You get a sense of God's notgoing to hold the door open for
you for you know five years andstand there patiently and
waiting for you to you know, hey, you get over here.
I think there are times thatGod wants to see our initiative
and do you really believe me?
And so take a step of faithtowards something, towards
(15:43):
whatever God is bringing to you,towards whatever God is
bringing to you.
So I think the main piece thatI want to really really drive
home is that we're all calledand we need to broaden our
thinking of what that calling isgoing to look like.
(16:05):
Not everybody is cut out to dopastoral ministry in the way
that it has been done forever.
We may be stepping out of theprofessional pastor model and
into something else where maybeI know there's plenty of pastors
(16:26):
doing bivocational, where youare working in the in the
traditional marketplace, theregular old job place, but then
on the weekends you serve acongregation, or through the
week, because it doesn't alwayshave to be the same way.
You know, maybe it's not evenon a Sunday.
Sunday maybe you do church withyour people on Wednesday.
(16:48):
The important thing in thatcase is that you're doing what
God asks you to do, and maybe itdoesn't look exactly the same.
So I want us to broaden ourperspective of what it means to
be called, because the bottomline of it is, at the end of the
(17:09):
day, can you ask yourself haveI been faithful and obedient
with everything God has asked ofme, yes or no?
And if it's no, you know you'reone good repentance prayer away
from getting back on track.
But I want us to grab hold of,especially in this transitional
(17:29):
era, this concept that callingmeans being faithful with
whatever God has asked you to do.
Now I know that there arechurches that really press this,
and right now I'm blessed to bea part of a congregation that
(17:49):
does do this, where you know you, you can take some time to
explore and think through.
I don't think they call itcalling per se because for some
reason and in some people'shearts and minds, that still
means you know you have to bethe pastor up on the stage.
You know if you were to sayanything more they might go off
running into the night.
(18:10):
No, no, no.
But essentially, essentially,your calling is about being
faithful and obedient with whatGod has for you, in accordance
with the passion that justignites in your heart and you
know you need to address thisand do something about this and
(18:31):
the spiritual gifts that God hasgiven to you and maybe the
needs of the community, theneeds that you see around you,
those kind of things can cometogether, meld and mix in your
heart and there you go.
You're like well, I think Godwants me to what God wants me to
(18:53):
help students read, tutor.
You know that's a calling.
It really is a calling.
A calling is being faithful andobedient with the gifts and the
abilities according to thepassion and the need you see
around you.
It does not always, always haveto be.
(19:14):
I'm going to go be a pastor, soI just wanted to leave that
thought with you.
Maybe this is a podcast you wantto share with someone, just to
encourage them, because you cankind of see they're itchy a
little bit and they know theyneed to do something and they're
(19:36):
still debating about all ofthat.
So this would be your moment toencourage them that God is busy
doing a new thing and thatbeing called by Jesus might look
differently, and you know what.
(19:56):
That's okay.
Not only that, but it could bethe biggest and best adventure.
Not that there won't bechallenges, but it could be the
biggest and best adventure thatyou could go on with Jesus.
I also want to mention that I amalways on the hunt for back
(20:17):
from burnout stories and if youor someone you know has survived
burnout and come back, or maybeeven stepped back still to take
, you know, to come up for airfor a minute and put yourself
back together, I would love,love, love to hear their stories
(20:39):
.
If they'd be willing to share.
You can email me at crabbypastor at gmail dot com, whether
it's for yourself or someoneyou know, and we'd be happy to
have you on the podcast.
So, and while I'm at it here,if you ever have questions or
comments or there's a topicabout self-care or something
(21:00):
that is just on your heart andyou'd like me to dig at it and
explore a bit again.
Email me at crabbypastor atgmail dot com and I would be
glad to connect and explore andsee what I can find out to be of
help, because I exist tosupport you in whatever kind of
(21:23):
ministry God has called you to.
So how do the pieces of yourlife fit together?
Do they fit together well andthings are humming along just
fine, or are there some piecesthat are tight or absent or just
(21:45):
not fitting the bill?
This is your invitation to joinme in my glass workshop for a
video series, where I am goingto do a stained glass project
while I talk to you aboutsustainability and building
sustainability into your heartand into your life.
So I am going to be doing myart, which is a form of
(22:10):
self-care, and I'm going toinvite you into that space with
me and I'm going to chat.
I'm going to chat aboutself-care and I'm going to show
you how I create, and there's anifty, nifty analogy.
Stained glass seems to be avery good metaphor for what I
want to talk about.
(22:31):
So I'd love for you to join meTo do that.
To opt in, I'll need you toemail me at crabbypastor at
gmailcom.
That's crabbypastor at gmailcom, so you won't want to miss this
.
You definitely won't want tomiss this, so make a plan to
(22:53):
join me in the glass workshop.
Are you wondering whether yourfatigue, your lack of motivation
, your lack of interest isburnout maybe?
I just wanted to let you knowthat I have a resource on the
(23:15):
website, margiebryce dot comecom, that's B-R-Y-C-E margie
bryce dot com and it is aburnout questionnaire, free for
you to download and kind of selfassess and get a sense of where
you're at.
There are questions that notonly ask about what you're going
(23:37):
through but maybe how oftenyou're experiencing it.
And that's kind of a key towhere you might be, because you
have to know where you are inorder to chart a course forward.
And most pastors who experiencepastors and ministry leaders
who experience burnout rarelyknow that that's where they're
(24:02):
at until they're well into it.
And if you're unsure about thatlittle statistic, so far,
everybody that I've interviewedon this podcast who has
experienced burnout, when I askthat kind of question, they're
like, yeah, I didn't know,that's where I was at.
So again, go to MargieBricecomit's on the homepage of the
(24:25):
website and you can get yourburnout questionnaire and kind
of see where you're at.
Burnout questionnaire and kindof see where you're at.
Hey, friends, the Crabby Pastorpodcast is sponsored by Bryce
Art Glass and you can find thaton Facebook.
I make stained glass as part ofmy self-care and also by Bryce
(24:50):
Coaching, where I coach ministryleaders and business leaders,
and so the funds that I generatefrom coaching and from making
stained glass is what issupporting this podcast and I
will have opportunities for youto be a part of sponsoring me
(25:11):
and, as always, you can buy me acup of coffee thing in the show
notes.
But I will have some other waysthat you can be a part of
getting the word out about theimportance of healthy self-care
for ministry leaders.
Hey, thanks for listening.
(25:34):
It is my deep desire andpassion to champion issues of
sustainability in ministry andfor your life, so I'm here to
help.
I stepped back from pastoralministry and I feel called to
help ministry leaders create andcultivate sustainability in
(25:56):
their lives so that they can gothe distance with God and
whatever plans that God has foryou.
I would love to help, I wouldconsider it an honor and, in all
things, make sure you connectto these sustainability
practices, you know, so that youdon't become the Crabby Pastor.
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