From VOICE, May/Jun 2015. Used with permission. Read Part 1.

I have a concern about one concept that is affecting all of the various ministries in the church, but I want to specifically focus on youth ministry and how this concept is affecting and changing it. My area of concern is what I am going to call intellectualism.

I define intellectualism as the process in which growth can only be realized and achieved by utilizing fresh, newly discovered information in contrast to the simple and profound. It is the concept that you must always teach something new rather than something simple (that is, the Bible). Though the exploration of new truth, and exposing ourselves to ideas that we previously did not know, is a good practice and a needed part of spiritual growth, intellectualism creates an adverse climate in youth ministries and churches across our nation. Intellectualism looks down upon the simple, yet profound, teaching of the Word of God in favor of teaching new ideas with fresh methods. Read more about Serving Students Stay - Part 2: Let the Simple Be Profound

Wrong Road #3—Malnourishment

Read Part 1 and Part 2.

by Debi Pryde

The third road to burnout is one without restaurants, without warmly furnished kitchens and dining rooms, and without refreshing drinking fountains available to its travelers. The traveler finds only fast-food restaurants, leftovers, and prepackaged food available on this route. Such food can keep one alive but never impart health or cause a weary traveler to thrive with energy. A steady diet of it quickly eroded one’s health and lead to all kinds of weakness and limitation. Christian workers commit a grave error if they believe they can stay spiritually alive and enthusiastic by feasting on books, sermons, seminars, and radio broadcasts while neglecting personal Bible study. Reading Our Daily Bread has never been a substitute for coming to the Bread of Life for daily spiritual nourishment.
Read more about Roads That Lead to Christian Burnout, Part 3

by Debi Pryde

When a Christian worker describes himself as “burned out,” he is usually expressing a sense of having exhausted all of his available physical, mental, or spiritual resources. Those in such a state of mind find it a fitting analogy to compare themselves to a candle that has burned to the place of consuming itself, its flame flickering in its final moments before extinguishing with a faint puff of smoke. We often use such colorfully descriptive words when continual hardship, fatigue, or weariness of mind have begun to severely erode our sense of purpose, enthusiasm, or resilience to opposition. Just as often, however, we use the same expression to describe a wearisome monotony that can be associated with continual boredom, a lack of challenging goals, unfulfilled expectations, or continual dependence on self rather than on Christ.
Read more about Roads That Lead to Christian Burnout, Part 1