How to Create Healthy Boundaries

2. Build in balance.

Ministry work is so closely related to our personal lives, it can be a challenge to maintain a healthy balance between work and home.

Start by scheduling regular office hours. Things will always come up, but the more you can stick to your “working hours” and encourage your staff team to respect those hours, the better.

Watch your phone and email time. How much time are you spending replying to phone calls, texts and emails? Could you develop a leader to help with these tasks? If you have an assistant, or the budget to hire one, you can establish a healthy boundary of what your assistant replies to and what you reply to.

If not, it can help to build specific times in your schedule for answering emails, writing sermons and other tasks on your plate. For example, you can devote a few morning hours, such as 8:00-10:00 a.m. for catching up on emails. You could also divide your time in a way that works for everything you need to balance—such as your personal time, family time and people time.

In that case, that balance might look something like this:

• 6:00 – 8:00 a.m. = Personal Time. You spend this time in prayer, study, reading, exercising, etc.
• 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. = People Time. You try to fit all ministry work and meetings into this time.
• After 4:00 p.m. = Family Time. All emails are sent for the day and the rest of the evening is blocked off.

3. Keep a Sabbath.

Since pastors work on Sundays, that means you just don’t get a day of rest, right?

Wrong.

It’s still important for pastors to have a day of rest, no matter what day of the week it is. Choose a day that works in your schedule on a regular basis (many pastors choose Friday or Saturday) and devote at least that one day as a day of rest.

Use that day to spend time with God, in nature, having some time alone and/or doing something you enjoy—a day of fishing, music, reading, etc.

Once you’ve chosen your day, create a boundary in your schedule by making sure you share with your church, spouse and children which day is your day of rest. They can help hold you accountable to get the rest you need to be a healthy pastor.

4. Watch what drains you.

We all have parts of our job that are easy and natural for us and other parts that are more challenging and draining.

For example, a pastor may be energized by writing a sermon and drained after delivering it. Maybe counseling is draining for you. Maybe it’s a long leadership team meeting.

Whichever part of your role it is, it’s important to pay attention to what drains you and proactively create healthy boundaries in your schedule to accommodate it.