Burnout or Breakout: Systems Thinking for Stifled Leaders and Stuck Churches

Burnout or Breakout: Systems Thinking for Stifled Leaders and Stuck Churches

John Messer | 2020

Abstract

Ministry leadership is fraught with occupational hazards. Two prominent hazards are the stifling forces that produce leadership burnout and the processes that keep churches stuck and ineffective. Burnout or Breakout addresses both hazards. This book brings new insights to churches and church leaders frustrated with working tirelessly, yet constantly falling short of their goals and objectives. The primary emphases are equipping stifled leaders to see from a new perspective to avoid burnout and freeing churches from the unhealthy processes that keep them stuck. Burnout or Breakout equips church leaders to apply systemic thinking to common church system problems, such as declining attendance, mission confusion, and volunteer shortages. Based on a comprehensive overview of systems thinking (systems dynamics), leaders are encouraged to see their congregations as complex systems of interrelated and interdependent elements. Effective leadership, from a systems perspective, aligns organizational elements to achieve intended outcomes. The book describes how “a church can be structured to accomplish the exact opposite of its stated mission” because the structure and mission are not properly aligned. Building on biblical and experiential evidence, the author suggests that burnout is largely a systemic problem. Further, it diagnoses systems designed for burnout from the account of Jethro and Moses in Exodus 18. The book proposes that “there are no dysfunctional churches” and methodically demonstrates how what we might perceive to be as a church gone awry, is more accurately diagnosed as an organization lacking in functional structures. Burnout or Breakout was written to bring hope to leaders on the verge of or experiencing burnout by providing straight-forward solutions and resources to achieve effective long-term results.