Worship Leaders Hit with Pandemic Burnout

Author - Umn ministry

January 26, 2022

Music ministry has always been demanding, but the past two years have made it unsustainable for some.

Dianna Holden had been looking for an opportunity to step down as her church’s worship leader for a few years. After 27 years of serving, Holden felt like she was drawing from an empty well.

“I loved the whole thing,” said Holden, “even to my exhaustion.”

She was leading every Sunday, managing other musicians, and planning every service for her 200-person church in Kelso, Washington.

“I am a devoted person and a martyr to my demise. I just go for it and try to be faithful.”

Then, as the pandemic heightened the emotional and logistical demands of her (unpaid) position, she decided it was time. In January 2021, Holden wrote in a Facebook post that she was grateful to have someone to take over the music ministry for her. She was ready to step away. She didn’t have any reserves left.

“It wasn’t something I really hated in the end,” Holden said. “I was just tired.”

The emotional and spiritual toll of pastoral work is leading many to reevaluate their places in ministry. According to a Barna study released in November 2021, 38 percent of senior pastors have seriously considered leaving full-time ministry in the past year.

“Pastors are facing more intense scrutiny and pressure,” said Mike MacKenzie, a counselor who works with pastors as the director of Marble Retreat in Marble, Colorado, and author of Don’t Blow Up Your Ministry. “We have been just inundated with calls in the last couple of years from pastors who are [saying,] ‘I’m just done. I’m just so maxed out.’”

There are unique aspects of music ministry that leave leaders particularly vulnerable to burnout. Worship pastors are spiritual leaders, performers, ...