Is It Burnout In Church Leadership or a Lack of Clarity?
The Week After Easter Feels… Heavy
It’s the week after Easter. The sanctuary is quiet. The inbox is loud. And if you’re honest, your soul feels caught somewhere in between. For many, this is the moment when burnout in church leadership subtly surfaces—not as a breakdown, but as a slow, aching fog that follows the emotional high of Holy Week.
For many pastors and ministry leaders, the week after Easter feels like a strange letdown—like coming off a mountaintop only to find yourself… in a fog.
It’s what some have come to call “Resurrection Monday.” But ironically, it doesn’t always feel resurrected. It feels buried—in fatigue, questions, or even disillusionment.
Why am I so drained? Is this burnout? Or is something deeper going on?
What the Data Reveals (and What It Doesn’t)
While exact numbers are hard to pin down, it’s a well-known pastoral adage that more pastors consider resigning on Mondays than any other day of the week. And the week after Easter? It magnifies what was already beneath the surface.
Even if Monday isn’t your breaking point, you’re not alone in the struggle:
A 2022 Barna study found that 42% of pastors had seriously considered quitting full-time ministry in the past year—citing stress, isolation, and division as the leading causes.
A 2024 report from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research showed that over half of clergy have considered leaving ministry altogether since 2020, with 44% considering leaving their current congregations.
These stats aren’t about weakness. They’re about a system and rhythm that too often runs on depletion, not resurrection.
What If Easter Didn’t Deplete You?
This year, as I stood at the pulpit on Easter morning, I preached this truth:
The resurrection isn’t just a miracle event—it’s a new operating system.
Where death used to have the last word, life now speaks louder.
Where fear once ruled, freedom walks in.
Where brokenness once seemed permanent, hope breaks in.
The resurrection rewrites the ending. But it also rewrites how we lead.
We proclaim resurrection… But we lead as if we’re still wandering through the fog of uncertainty—like the in-between silence that fell before the dawn of new life.
We preach that Christ is risen… Yet too often, our leadership feels like that long pause between the cross and the clarity of resurrection—shrouded in mist, not momentum.
We’re not living in defeat. But we’re not quite alive with purpose either. And that’s where many leaders get stuck—not in sin or failure, but in spiritual fuzziness. In the fog of too much doing and too little clarity.
Burnout or a Lack of Clarity?
Here’s a question I’ve been carrying with me—and asking other leaders:
Is it really burnout… or is it a lack of vision clarity and personal alignment?
When your calendar is full but your purpose feels fuzzy… When you’re performing for people but not rooted in calling… When you’re saying yes to everything because you’re unsure what to say no to…
It may not be exhaustion from too much ministry. It may be erosion from unclear mission.
You weren’t called to manage a ministry schedule. You were called to participate in the resurrection story.
What If You Knew the Ending—And Your Role in It?
The women who showed up at the tomb came to grieve. But the angel told them something different:
“He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.” – Matthew 28:6
What looked like the end was actually the beginning.
And that’s true for your leadership too.
If you knew—deep down—that the story was already secured… If you knew what part your church was uniquely called to play in that story… If your team shared clarity and alignment about why it all mattered…
Would you lead differently?
Would you rest more confidently? Would you preach more freely? Would you stop hustling and start trusting?
You Weren’t Meant to Burn Out After Easter
You were meant to live from it.
Not to collapse at the finish line, but to awaken into a calling that flows with the resurrection, not against it.
If you’re weary today, let that weariness be an invitation—not an indictment.
A 30-Minute Reset for Soul and Strategy
Take 30 minutes this week. Journal your honest answers to these three questions:
If I could only accomplish one thing in ministry over the next year, what would truly matter?
What am I doing now that’s draining more than it’s giving?
Who do I trust to process the next faithful step with me?
This post is part of our Personal Renewal & Calling category—a space for leaders who want to go deeper, not just faster.
To support you in this journey: 📩 Book a free Clarity Callto refocus and realign 🙏 And remember: Your soul matters more than your sermons.
Final Word
Jesus didn’t rise so you could burn out in His name. He rose so you could lead from rest, from resurrection, from clarity.
Today is not the end of Easter. It’s day one of something brand new.
Let’s lead from there.
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Jeff Meyer
Jeff Meyer helps pastors and church leaders gain vision clarity and strategic alignment. Through coaching and Auxano consulting, he equips churches to lead with focus, purpose, and lasting impact.
Clinton3806 says:
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