A New Connexional Year: Resourcing Ourselves for the Road Ahead
03 September 2025
By Corin Pilling, Vocational Flourishing Officer
As another Connexional Year begins, here’s a brief invitation, not to add another task to your list, but to pause. Just for a moment.
Take a breath. For many in ministry, the turning of the year doesn’t bring a clean slate, but a familiar question: “How on earth are we going to do all this again?”
Naming the Strain
Over recent months, conversations I’ve been having across the Connexion have revealed a common thread: the deep tension between our calling and our capacity. The work is meaningful-but it’s also relentless.
Even when ministry is fulfilling, the risk of burnout is real. And let’s be honest: it’s hard to be a sign of hope when you’re running on empty.
Burnout isn’t a personal failure. It’s often the result of systems that ask too much, too often, for too long. It rarely arrives overnight. It creeps in-through unresolved conflict, chronic overextension, or the slow erosion of joy.
While systemic change takes time (and let’s not pretend otherwise), there are things we can do-individually and together-to stay afloat. But they take intention. And that’s hard when urgency is the default setting.
Three Anchors for the Year Ahead
Here are three areas that might offer a foothold-not as silver bullets, but as ways to honour both your humanity and your calling.
- Reconnecting with Vocation
When demands pile up, our rootedness in Our Calling, and connection to God can feel distant. There may be specific ways you need to connect to your calling.
One spiritual director offered me this nugget: “Your task is to recognise the unique expression of God’s love that you are.”
That’s not sentimentality, it’s at the heart of the gospel. If you’re bone-weary, don’t force clarity. Instead, seek practices and places that offer peace. What helps you return to that place of spiritual home? - Protecting What Gives You Life
Not all ministry is life-giving. But some parts are, and those parts matter. What are the aspects of ministry that energise you? Preaching? Pastoral care? Creative liturgy? Theological reflection?
These may need protecting. You may need to renegotiate expectations. That’s not selfish-it’s sustainable. What’s life-giving for you? - Restoring What’s Been Depleted
Rest isn’t a luxury, It’s a necessity. It’s not just about sleep, It’s about restoration. My own experience as someone who has been close to burnout, showed me that recovery requires a slow and steady commitment. It might also take time to experience the benefits.
Ask yourself:
- Who helps you rest, or makes you feel more like yourself?
- What activities (alone or with others) genuinely restore you?
- Which self-soothing activities might you reach for that don’t help long-term?
- Where can you be 'out of role', not only how you’re known by the community you serve?
- What rhythms-weekly, monthly, yearly-need adjusting?
- What is your body telling you that your diary is ignoring?
- Who is trusted to share this with?
There’s no magic fix here, but there is wisdom. Many of us know what can help, but think the changes needed are immense, or that what we do ‘won’t touch the sides’.
Sharing with trusted friends and colleagues can offer momentum for change in the face of significant challenges. Here, and with God, there is grace-we don’t have to do this alone as we step into the New Year together.
Following reference to my role at The Conference, I’m looking forward to conversations in every district to explore how I can support each area informed by its unique needs and challenges.
Please contact me at any time. pillingc@methodistchurch.org.uk.