Thursday • September 02 • 2010

By Youth Workers for Youth Workers

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7 Signs You're Serving Outside Your Area of Passion

"Red Flags" to Look for

Doug Fields has been a pastor to teenagers and ministry leader for over 30 years. After graduating Vanguard University in 1984, he received his MDiv f...

Every leader experiences low points. There will be ministry seasons when the passion fades. The initial stages of this passion shift can be subtle, so it's important to discern the warning signs before discontent takes permanent residence. Here are seven signs that we've personally experienced:

1. Ministry feels more like a CHORE than a CALLING.

The passion is fading when it's difficult to get excited about showing up. Projects and tasks become monotonous and feel like obstacles rather than an opportunity to make an impact.

2. You become easily drained by people.

When passion shrinks...patience follows. A lowered tolerance unfairly transforms:

Questions into criticism
Personality quirks into character flaws
Minor mistakes into major catastrophes
People into problems

3. Bitterness and resentment.

You know you're moving close to the passionless edge when invisible tally marks build up in your heart and you categorize and agonize over all the wrongs committed against you. Resentment begins to push out joy and contentment.

4. Fatal Fatigue.

Even passionate leaders eventually tire. There's "normal tired" and what we refer to as "fatal fatigue"...it's an exhaustion mixed with feelings of insignificance. When we're regularly tired and wondering, "Does what I do even matter?"...that's usually a strong indicator that something is going wrong and an important feeling to pay attention to.

5. More distracted than usual.

Without passion, filtering excess noise and trying to focus on what's important becomes very difficult. In fact, passionless people are easily distracted and will turn to anything that's exciting at the moment.

6. Less self control, more self indulgence.

When we lack passion, we lack fulfillment. Lacking fulfillment can lead to feelings of entitlement (i.e. "life isn't good right now and I deserve [fill in the blank]..."). Self control soon erodes and indulgence appear when passion fades.

7. Burnout is lurking right around the corner.

Passion helps us to see beyond disappointments, but when the defeats pile up, it's easy to begin caring less and less. Apathy arrives and calls out to burnout and when that happens you can be sure that quitting is close behind.

If you recognize some of these signs within your own life, don't despair! YOU AREN'T ALONE. We have been there (and if you're new to ministry...these signs are coming) and it's important to know that there are some things that only God can do in our lives when our passion fades...and that's what we'll address tomorrow. Hang on!

More articles from this source: YouthMinistry.com