Family Pastors as Entrusting Endurers: A Pastoral Identity for Burnout
Introduction
If you spend enough time in family ministry, you quickly realize that the work is filled with joys and challenges. There are days when everything feels fruitful, encouraging, and life giving. But there are also days when the load feels heavy. Programs do not go as planned. Volunteers step away. Parents struggle. Kids wrestle with difficult circumstances. The spiritual needs feel endless.
In those moments, it is easy to wonder if your ministry is making a difference. I have felt that. Every pastor I know has felt that. One of the most pressing concerns revealed in my dissertation research on family pastors was the amount of emotional exhaustion and burnout they experienced.1
The Scriptures speak directly into those moments. They remind us that pastors are not only called to shepherd and equip. We are also called to endure.
One of the pastoral identities that has helped me the most is this one:
Family Pastors as Entrusting Endurers.
This identity recognizes two truths that every pastor must hold together. First, the work of ministry requires perseverance. Second, the strength to persevere comes from entrusting the ministry to the Lord and to His people.
Endurance Is Part of the Calling
When Paul wrote to Timothy, he spoke openly about the hardships Timothy faced. Timothy was a young leader facing pressure, discouragement, and opposition. Paul did not tell him to escape the difficulty. He urged him to endure it with faith. Paul said, “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus,” and encouraged him to continue in what he had learned and believed (2 Tim. 2:3).
Paul also encouraged the church leaders in Rome and Galatia not to give up during trials; suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character, maturity, and hope (Rom 5:3-5; Gal 6:9).
The writer of Hebrews encourages believers to “run with endurance the race that is set before us” and to “not grow weary and lose heart” highlighting how Jesus perfectly modeled perseverance, enduring hostile treatment to the point of death (Heb 12:1–3).
All pastors at some point feel burned out, overwhelmed, and tired. Ministry is full of good days, but it also includes seasons that test our patience. We experience criticism. Sometimes we face unrealistic expectations. We carry the weight of caring for families who walk through grief, brokenness, and uncertainty, all while trying to care for our own families.
Endurance does not always mean pushing through in our own strength, but relying on God’s power. It means remaining faithful to the work God has entrusted to us. It means showing up with patience. It means loving people even when it is hard. It means trusting that God is doing more than we can see.
Endurance is not simply something pastors do. An endurer is someone pastors can become. Scripture also teaches us that endurance is made possible by entrusting God and others with the work of ministry.
Entrusting the Work to God
Endurance becomes possible when pastors do not carry the work alone. The ministry belongs first to God. He is the One who sustains us. He is the One who changes hearts. He is the One who builds His church.
Family pastors are at their best when they remember that the outcome does not rest on their shoulders. There are times when I have had to remind myself that God cares more for the families in my church than I ever could. Don’t get me wrong, I genuinely care for all the people in my church, but my capacity to care is like “filthy rags” compared to God’s care (Isaiah 64:6). He is perfectly faithful. He is always present. He is working even when I cannot see the results.
Entrusting family ministry to God looks like:
- Praying consistently for families, volunteers, and kids
- Releasing unrealistic expectations
- Trusting God with the spiritual growth you cannot produce
- Resting in His strength, not your own
- Believing that God is faithful in every season
When we entrust the work to God, our endurance is renewed. We can continue with joy instead of fear. We can lead with confidence instead of anxiety. We can serve with gratitude instead of pessimism.
Entrusting the Work to Others
Entrusting is not only vertical. It is also horizontal. In the Old Testament, Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, warned Moses against carrying the weight of leadership alone, urging him to “delegate responsibilities” to “capable” leaders so that Moses could “endure” (Exod. 18:17-23).
Similarly, in the New Testament, Acts 6:1-6 supports this idea of entrusting others and carefully delegating responsibilities. In context, the church at that time was rapidly growing, leading to a host of logistical and spiritual needs that were seen as being overlooked by the apostles (Acts 6:1). The apostles were overwhelmed by the number of diverse needs in addition to all of their other responsibilities to fulfill the Great Commission. So, the apostles appointed men of good character and faith to help manage the overwhelming tasks at hand (Acts 6:3-6). This allowed them to devote themselves to prayer and their apostolic calling.
Pastors are called to entrust ministry to people. This is part of the Ephesians 4 calling to equip the saints. Family pastors endure not by holding on to everything, but by releasing ministry to volunteers, parents, and leaders who share the work of discipleship.
Entrusting others in family ministry looks like:
- Training volunteers and giving them real responsibility (delegation)
- Allowing for mistakes, which is part of the learning/training process
- Empowering leaders to teach, lead, and disciple, rather than personally filling the role
- Encouraging parents to lead spiritual conversations, even if they expect you to lead
- Trusting your team, and even some kids, with meaningful serving roles
When pastors entrust well, the ministry becomes healthier. Volunteers grow. Parents gain confidence. Kids experience more spiritual support than one person can ever provide. And the pastor does not burn out trying to carry everything alone.
Entrusting is one of the most freeing pastoral habits we can practice. It allows us to endure faithfully without being crushed by the weight of ministry.
Conclusion & Encouragement:
Run the Race and Pass the Baton
Family Pastors as Entrusting Endurers is a pastoral identity for the long haul. It keeps us grounded in the truth that ministry is hard, but God is faithful. It reminds us that we do not labor alone. It reorients us when we feel overwhelmed. It helps us stay steady, patient, prayerful, and hopeful.
When we entrust and endure, the ministry is strengthened. When we entrust the work to God and to His people, the ministry grows beyond what one person could ever accomplish. That is the beauty of the pastoral calling and the Great Commission. We plant seeds. We water faithfully. God gives the growth. Sometimes we sow. No matter what, to God be the glory.
So if you are in a season of discouragement, take heart. You are not alone, there are thousands of pastors and ministry families that know that struggle all to well. Your endurance is not wasted. Your trust in God is not misplaced. Keep walking faithfully. Keep entrusting. Keep enduring.
My encouragement to you is simple.
Stay faithful. Trust others. Endure with hope.
God will use your steady ministry to shape families in ways you may not fully see on this side of eternity.
- My dissertation research will be published in book form soon. If you’re interested in a copy, Subscribe to my email list to be notified of when it becomes available. ↩︎
