At a staff meeting in a church I was serving, we were discussing how we could attract more people to join the church and increase their involvement. Someone did the math and pointed out that there were already at least five time commitments per week expected of those who wanted to become church members!

Outwardly I tried to be supportive of the meeting's purpose, but on the inside I was screaming, Who would want to sign up for this? I was already trying to combat CFS (Christian fatigue syndrome) in my own life and couldn't imagine willingly inflicting it on someone else.

How is it that life in and around the church often gets reduced to so much activity, so much busyness, such incessant expectations?

As I looked around the planning table that day, I realized one of the main reasons church life is full of so much activity and busyness: this is the way its leaders are living.

Most of us know only one speed: full steam ahead. And we have been stuck in that speed for a very long time. If we do ...