When Church is Exhausting, You're Doing it Wrong

Both Marys and Marthas abound in the church, and there is often tension between them. Sometimes this tension is expressed by exhausted Marthas spouting off the 80/20 rule:  twenty percent of the people are doing eighty percent of the work. As a pastor, Martha-like curriculums often bombard me with promises to help eliminate apathy in the pews or motivate my people for more service. Much of this type of teaching comes down to guilt-tripping people until they feel forced to do more, serve more, be better. In turn, I too am guilt-tripped about not getting my people to jump on to the latest craze, join a short-term mission trip, or something to that effect.