Burnout in Churches and Christian Faith-Based Organisations

committed leaders. Our experience of working with those with toxic stress and burnout suggests it is
relatively common and that even one instance is too many.
In order that leaders can be effective, they should be aware of:
• Their own state always, know the causes of stress to which they are susceptible and
indicators of when they are becoming stressed, together with management strategies that
work for them, etc.
• Indicators of possible stress in other people and be prepared to flex their own behaviour as
part of the support they offer them.
• The overall level of pressure within their part of the organisation and be willing to act, if they
consider this is likely to become detrimental.
There are a number of clinical concepts and terms that anyone looking at burnout will encounter as
they try to make sense of what this is, the potential causes, how the likelihood of it occurring can be
reduced and how people may be helped to recover.
We believe a combination of trauma, organisational purpose and culture can combine to cause toxic
stress which, if unchecked, is likely to lead to burnout (Figure 1).
ORGANISATIONAL
Trauma resulting from pastoral care
or pastoral concern
Purpose,
objectives
and actions
(What we do)
CULTURE (How we do things round here)
Systems,
Staff &
Power controls &
Relationships Leadership
volunteers
routines
Individual
Personality, faith,
values, context, etc.
TOXIC
STRESS
(caused by
prolonged
stress)
BURNOUT
Figure 1 - Stressors, Toxic Stress and Burnout
It should be noted that burnout is associated with organisational life, so while someone who is not
at work may experience a severe acute or chronic psychological event, this would not be described as
burnout.
This said, we believe that the extent to which someone experiences toxic stress and how they try to
handle this may be affected, but not caused, by how they are as a person. This is different from saying
that how they are as a person causes burnout. Life is, of course, more than work. In practice, people
move between different contexts every day: for example, between Church, home, work. Each of these
contexts are a potential source of pressure, as are the boundaries between them.
Concurrent pressure in two or more contexts may combine to pose a significant problem, as can
the interplay between them. Difficulties in one context may quickly cause pressure in another. For
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