Laying on his bed, staring too intently at a crack in the ceiling, church planter and charity founder, Dai Hankey was questioning the meaning of it all,
“Am I done? And if I’m done and what’s that mean for my family. for my ministry? Am I charlatan? Am I a joke? Have I burned bright and am I now burnt out?”
Sam D-H realised he wasn’t healthy when he became unable to sleep, to switch off, to cope with the pressure of church planting on an urban estate. Natalie Lane was stopped short at the onset of her husband’s seizures – causing them both to ask questions about the way they were living.
In our latest podcast episode, in collaboration with the Hopeful Activist’s Podcast, we meet these three incredible and passionate Christians. Three people who have experience of reaching the end of themselves in their urban contexts, and found the joy of a life more centred on Jesus, and less on a culture of productivity that we often find ourselves soaked in!
As Natalie said, “as much as we’re called to live for others and to serve others … we are neglecting our responsibility where we’re not being obedient to God’s where he says in His word that we should be having rest.”
Natalie, Sam and Dai have all found a route to a healthy Christian walk in learning to rely more on God, and to devote more time to being with Him, than to doing for him. As Dai said, he use to find talk of devotion “a little bit namby pamby … but now I’m just realising, there’s something really important and essential in the Christian life about finding ways of gazing on the beauty of God and finding things about him to rejoice in.”
For Sam this has meant leaning into silence and solitude, not as passive time, but as an active pursuit of God and a way of enjoying his love. He told me that it takes practice, but it doesn’t need to be expensive:
“In your home, you could have a chair and go and say God, this is your hour, I’m going to be silent… it’s just going to be me and you… I would suggest actually the the chair in the house, the walk around the estate, the finding a beautiful place, that’s a great place to start.”
As Ellie Gage from Kintsuigi Hope shared, developing healthy Christian cultures in our churches and organisations comes from two simple principles,
“I think a healthy Christian is someone who knows God really well. I used to say to our interns, you’ve got two main things to learn … one is to know God, and two is to know yourself.”
When we begin to spend more time with Jesus, to learn about the character of our Father, to experience the presence of the Holy Spirit we can allow ourselves to be brought into a “cwtch” as Dai told me – that’s a hug for any non-Welsh speakers! And being held and being loved by our God is the healthiest place to start any mission. From that place we learn our strengths, our weaknesses and have a healthy view of our own limitations and the greatness of God (and to be reminded that he is at work with or without us!). Then our compassion and passion to serve will be healthy and helpful. As Dai said,
“I work every every week with victims of modern slavery and human trafficking people who have suffered in unspeakable ways…My heart is massively compassionate towards those men and women who have been so badly abused and badly treated. But compassion alone, runs out. Only Christ can truly keep us going and can truly give us the strength and the motive to keep doing this ministry.”
In a world that glorifies productivity and business, the experiences shared by Natalie, Sam, and Dai remind us of a deeper, healthier way to live out our faith. It’s not in burning ourselves out for the sake of ministry, but in learning to rest, to be still, and to find joy in God’s presence. To be loved. When we step back and allow ourselves to be held by God, we can step away from burnout and discover a healthy pattern for a Christian life and have the strength and compassion to continue our work.
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To listen to the podcast episode in full visit: Keeping Going