Mondays, for many pastors and church leaders, are one of the more difficult days of their week. Regardless if you have a
“good” Sunday: or one that you felt was not so good, the day that we set aside for a day of rest, our Sabbath, is often physically and emotionally draining. For this reason, I recently felt a need to designate Mondays during the summer as a day of prayer for pastors and church leaders in LifePoint Ministries. There are many reasons why pastors and church leaders feel drained on Mondays, but here are a few:
• Fatigue on Mondays – Research states that standing to preach one hour is like doing physical labor for eight hours in other places of employment. According to Pew Research in 2019 the average preaching time for a minister is 37 minutes. This does not include other pastoral duties you have on Sundays. Over one million pastors in America will go to their “second” job on Monday, regardless of how physically tired they are from Sunday.
• Emotionally drained on Mondays – You worked all week preparing for the Sunday service(s) and sometimes the worship experience doesn’t go as well as you had planned. Oscar Moore, a former IPHC General Superintendent, in his classical book “Preachers You Asked For It” describes his preaching as sometimes “feeling as if he came in on four flat tires;’ when he didn’t feel his sermon went well.
• People sometimes say hurtful things on Sundays. The adage “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” is not always true. Harsh words spoken to you on Sunday will often cause a broken spirit on Monday.
Fortunately, for the pastor and the church leader, there are many rewards of serving a local congregation as a pastor or church leader, that far outweigh any physical and emotional drain we experience on Monday. Often, we walk out of the pulpit feeling great about how our Sunday went. On Monday however, Satan likes to remind us of all that went wrong on Sunday. Monday can become a roller coaster of a ride, as we reflect on yesterday. This is how I deal with Sundays on Monday:
1. Reflect on God’s blessings from Sunday Service(s), giving thanks!
2. Read encouraging text messages, notes, and books on Mondays.
3. Relax. Find time to have a personal worship experience with God on Mondays.
4. Remember that you plant and water, but God is responsible to give the increase.
5. Rejuvenate on Mondays so that you can minister effectively next Sunday.
Trust God with your Sundays, and you can overcome the physical and emotional drain on Monday. You are a great leader! Thank you for leading! You are loved and appreciated!
-Bishop Tim Lamb
