All of us experience stress. It’s part of life. And let’s be honest — ministry is both wonderful and stressful.
The nature of being a missionary certainly exposes you to more stress than most. Factors like constant travel, adjusting to new cultures, language barriers, fundraising, and intense ministry all take a toll.
Stress is bad when you’re overloaded — rushing around to get too much done in too little time or being overburdened with pain and problems. Internalized stress can become anxiety and affect your body in unhealthy ways. It’s especially sad when stress becomes debilitating or damaging for those serving the Lord.
But stress isn’t all bad. It’s an inevitable part of living and participating in Kingdom work. And trying too hard to avoid stress can make you even more stressed!
You might be surprised to learn that some stress is good and healthy. Experiencing and growing through moderate stress — challenges, struggles, conflict, and pain — is a marker of living a vibrant and purposeful life in Christ. Those who experience no stress might even be depressed.
That’s why the most helpful question to ask yourself isn’t, “Am I stressed?”. It’s more fruitful to ask, “How stressed am I?”.
Optimal Stress
All of us are the most healthy in our lives, ministry, and relationships when experiencing optimal stress.
What is optimal stress? It means that your stress is not too high or too low. You’re not zooming around anxiously but you also aren’t lethargic and depressed. You are rested, energized, and focused in your relationship with Jesus, formation in Christlikeness, relationships with loved ones, and ministry to those around you.
Optimal stress draws you closer to Jesus. You aren’t over-functioning in response to pressure and eventually burning out. But you also aren’t avoiding the reality that becoming more like Jesus and growing as a loving leader means “taking courage” with the Good Shepherd to face challenges like stepping out in faith, sacrificing for others, recovering from hurts, navigating relational tension, and living from your heart.
Moderate stress in life and ministry invites us to take Jesus’ hand and move forward into challenges that feel uncomfortable or impossible in our strength. Rabbi Jesus is waiting to teach us how to pull the weight of purposeful life with him in his easy yoke of grace (Matthew 11:28-30).
Learn to R-E-L-A-X with Jesus
So, how can you achieve optimal levels of stress? It’s important to learn to “R-E-L-A-X” with Jesus.
Spiritual disciplines that cultivate rest help pastors and missionaries overloaded with stress to set aside all their frantic activity and trust God. Cultivating a restful attitude also helps those who could benefit from increased levels of healthy stress.
Here’s an acronym to help you R-E-L-A-X in Jesus’ easy yoke and trust Jesus in optimal stress:
R-est regularly
Learning to rest regularly trains your heart, mind, and body to trust God instead of your own work. Of course, you want to do your best at work while honoring the limits that keep you healthy and whole. But trusting your best is misguided and too big of a burden for anybody to shoulder — you can trust God instead!
Practicing a regular rhythm of rest is the path to living in peace that comes from abandoning outcomes to the Good Shepherd. It’s leaving the all-important needs of your ministry in the capable hands of Almighty God.
You might establish a rhythm of rest in your life by getting more sleep — try sleeping at least 8 hours at night or taking naps when you feel drained. You can also rest in God’s care through spiritual disciplines like Sabbath.
E-njoy yourself
It’s easy to get too serious about your work as a missionary. Your ministry is certainly valuable and caring for the souls of others is sometimes weighty.
But Jesus served others with a contagious, overflowing joy (Luke 15:5-7). He desires you to experience the fullness of his explosive joy while you live and work (John 17:13).
Cultivating joy with God fosters strength and resilience (Nehemiah 8:10). Try making space in your schedule for activities you enjoy with Jesus — hang out with soul friends, appreciate nature, and have fun!
L-earn to say no
Some stress is inevitable, but some can be limited. Many of us take on too many responsibilities or carry heavy burdens from the weight of our own unrealistic expectations. This can make it seem like the only answer is to quit ministry or totally shut ourselves off from others.
We’re sensitive to those who are burned out and need dramatic change. This could look like a longer time to heal.
But normally, limits are a great starting place to deal with stress. Many missionaries are overloaded with family and ministry responsibilities. But taking on too much for too long will eventually leave you running on empty.
Learning it’s unrealistic to “do everything” or to “do things perfectly” is also helpful for those reluctant to take on healthy stress. This posture opens your heart to Jesus’ empowering grace and frees you to be a blessing to those around you.
Looking closely at Jesus’ life illustrates the power of limits to us.
It seemed Jesus was always ready to be interrupted to care for people. The Gospels are full of his vibrant teaching, mighty miracles, and insightful wisdom.
But how was Jesus so full of life? He set boundaries that kept him refreshed and relaxed by constantly stepping away to practice silence and solitude. He sometimes told people “no” and never created more work for himself by stepping outside God’s grace (Mark 1:32-38, John 5:19-20).
Limits help us accept our humanity and lean into God’s sufficient grace and power (2 Corinthians 12:9).
Like Jesus, you might try trading overworking or overthinking for times of silence and solitude to rest in God and listen for what he puts on your heart to do.
A-ccept yourself
You are loved by God and others just as you are. You don’t have to earn people’s approval through ministry success. And you certainly don’t have to wait until you’re perfect to bless others.
Being intentional about asking for help, receiving care, and actually believing the compliments of others helps you embrace both your humanity and your value as a child of God.
Appreciating the encouragement of others as a gift from Jesus empowers you to see yourself the way Abba sees you and builds healthy self-esteem (2 Corinthians 5:20).
This secure bond will help keep you from both too much and too little stress. You’ll feel confident in your relationship with Jesus — free from the pressure to prove yourself by overloading your plate but also confident to step out in faith as the Spirit stirs your heart.
X-ray and X-press yourself
It’s important to talk to God and safe friends about your feelings regularly. This is a healthy way to release your stress. Getting honest about your emotions keeps stress from turning into anxiety that can leave you feeling panicked or paralyzed.
Paying attention to your inner world is the path to ministering to others in love instead of projecting unhealthy stress. It’s important to regularly pray along with David: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts” (Psalm 139:23). He rightly understood that his Papa was a safe place to process and unload his stress, burdens, and emotions.
Spiritual direction is a powerful way to help you become more authentic in your relationship with God. Talking to a spiritual director is a prayerful conversation of seeking God together. Spiritual directors encourage emotional honesty as they listen with empathy and help you become aware of God’s presence and guidance.
It’s a safe place to open your heart to Jesus and a trusted companion — to bring your stress and fear without worrying about judgment. Spiritual directors ask thoughtful questions, reflect your needs and longings, and help you experience Jesus’ presence and follow his leading.
Spiritual Direction Helps With Stress
The spiritual directors at Soul Shepherding are trained in Jesus-centered psychology and prayerfully help ministry leaders with issues like stress. They’re equipped with spiritual disciplines to help you relax in Jesus’ easy yoke and enter God’s rest (Matthew 11:28-30, Hebrews 4:11). Most importantly, they’ll make space for you to connect with the Good Shepherd who knows what you need.
Friends, we are passionate about the value of spiritual direction — especially for missionaries who are subjected to stress so frequently. That’s why we want to provide the opportunity to try spiritual direction with Soul Shepherding for half price.
*SPECIAL OFFER: You can find a spiritual director here and use the code MDMARTICLE to receive 50% off through 3/31/25.
We pray your life and ministry become peacefully spacious and vibrantly purposeful as you surrender your stress to Jesus and learn to stay in step with him.
