The Best Way to Avoid Ministry Burnout That You Keep Forgetting

While reflecting on Exodus 18, I was struck by how Moses nearly wrecked himself trying to meet everyone’s needs alone. His father-in-law Jethro saw both the greatness of Moses’ past deliverance and the weakness of his present leadership habits. This moment forced a necessary shift—raising up other leaders, teaching the why behind the work, and entrusting responsibility instead of clutching it. Here’s what this passage teaches about avoiding burnout and cultivating healthy leadership.

Here are some other thoughts on this passage:

Moses recounts his miraculous story of escape from slavery and Jethro worships God. What we overcome points people to God, but we can’t live on past accomplishments. Jethro saw that what Moses did was great (freeing his people from slavery), but also that what he was doing was bad (trying to help everyone by himself).

The Myths That Exhaust Leaders and Distort Ministry

Moses believed in ministry leadership myths which burn out leaders and create unhealthy relationships:
“I have all the answers or at least I know more than the others around me do.”
“It’s just easier to do it all myself.”
“People need me to connect to God.”

Jethro encouraged him to raise up other leaders. Leaders who could oversee 10, 50, 100, and even 1000 people. More people are capable than we think!

The Wisdom of Shared Leadership and Intentional Training

Jethro encouraged Moses to teach them the scriptures (emphasis on why we do what we do), show them the way to live (emphasis on who they become), and show them how to do it (job description, more of the big picture). Moses could entrust to these new leaders how to do it (details—Moses never shared with these new leaders instructions on what to decide in each case), when, what, and where. We need to invest in leaders and entrust leaders.

Moses was still available for the hard cases (didn’t disappear). Sometimes the leader needs to make the hard decisions.

The result = the people were satisfied (the new leaders and those whose disputes were solved by these new leaders).

What changes do most leaders need to make to avoid burnout? What changes do you need to make?