I'm talking to our stewardship team about a possible sabbatical in 2010. I've taken a preaching sabbatical where I'm out of the pulpit for a month. But I've never taken an out of the office sabbatical so I have more questions than answers. Love to have some pastors weigh in.
Have you ever taken a sabbatical? How long? How often? What did you do during your sabbatical? Any suggestions?
Have you ever taken a sabbatical? How long? How often? What did you do during your sabbatical? Any suggestions?
17 Comments:
In the United Methodist Church our Bishops are required to take a one month sabbatical every few years, but I can't recall if it's every 3 or 5 years. The time is to be used by them (with full pay by the way) for personal rest, reflection, and spiritual development.
Mark
Highly, highly, highly encourage it. I have taken two and woven them into the DNA of our church for our staff.
I have seen guys best invest them with either an academic bend (going somewhere to study or write, finish a DMIN, etc) or a decompress | heart nurture bend.
I would encourage you get away and out of town as much as possible. There are grants and foundations who fund pastors to take sabbaticals. Many awesome camps have cabins you can have and use for free.
I would encourage you to invest some of the time with a professional counselor to help you decompress and also re-imagine your future.
I would encourage you to do it in the summer and get some high end time with the kids.
I would use it to try and tackle | create a new normal in some areas of your personal life you've been wanting to re-engineer.
Log some time on the front end and back end to ramp into and ramp out of the time away.
The better job you do delegating before you leave and educating your staff and body of your departure, the more "away" you can be.
I'd weave in funds to the church budget to help fund some of the sabbatical investments to remove that hurdle from sabbaticalling staff (like paying for the counselor).
Spend time in places that fuel you creatively and get time with leaders who can fuel you...making the "ask" that while on sabbatical you would love to get some time opens many doors.
Don't combo this time with vacation time. Let this be separate time.
JB
John Bryson
www.fellowshipmemphis.org
Consider the Lily Endowment program that underwrites senior pastors so they can take a sabbatical up to six months for rest, travel and study.
I'm on Day 42 of a sabbatical this summer. It's harder than you would think! This is uncharted territory for me and going 100mph is a lot easier in some ways. I've been taking notes along the way...
I'm very grateful for the experience. It is good to get off the treadmill, for sure. Wayne Cordeiro's book 'Leading on Empty' is a recommended read. I also REALLY appreciated John Bryson's comment of wisdom. Excellent! Thanks John.
I prepared a 'Sabbatical Plan' for our leadership prior to leaving. All the bases were covered, of course, but the plan listed out some of the goals for the sabbatical. Now, midway through, this plan is proving to be a vital document to keep me about the purpose of the sabbatical.
We'll have other staff taking sabbaticals, but I'm the first one through (guinea pig). Our policy is 3 months of sabbatical every 7 years.
In the Seventh-day Adventist church pastors get
a paid 3 month Sabbatical every 7 years.
Sounds biblical enough. Cheers.
Like Neil, I am also on day 42 of my sabbatical! Yes, it is hard in some ways when you love your church. You just miss people you love! But I too think that physical seperation is best. We rented a place in Colorado.
I studied sabbaticals quite a bit but ended up breaking the mold a bit. Mine has been for physical and spiritual habit development. For the first time in my life, I am spending 2+ hours a day with God and exercising regularly. 5am-10am every day have been mine. 10am-10pm with the family bonding and doing stuff. Then sleep. Then repeat. It's been so special. I also have sabbatical docs and letters if you wanted them I could email them.
I too thought that John's comment were exceptional.
I too am looking into taking one... HIGHLY recommend Wayne Cordiero's book "Leading on Empty" as a primer. Very helpful!
Mark:
We are in the process of writing a Sabbatical policy for our ministry staff.
I came on staff at this church after coaching the lead pastor through his sabbatical. Our goal was to focus on his spiritual, emotional, and physical refreshing. The need for his sabbatical was a reactive response to many years of ministry stress.
We are now planning a proactive approach to include sabbaticals as a part of our calendar rhythm.
Every 6 or 7 years of service at SpringWell will entitle ministry staff a sabbatical. Lead & Executive Pastor will receive 3 months, department heads 2 months, and all other ordained staff will receive 1 month.
We are also including a policy that ALL ordained staff will receive 6 sabbatical days each calendar year. They can be used for one day God Getaways or be combined with a maximum of 3 days for a personal retreat. If used this way, we all can have two 3 day personal retreats each year.
Hope this helps.
The longest one I ever managed to pull off was a week. I went out to Valyermo, CA and lived in a monastary for a week. Mind blowing experience. No cell phones, no internet. Nothing. Just church and fellowship. Even as a protestant it was totally incredible.
I think my favorite part was the silence. Two out of the three meals were eaten in silence and talking was not allowed from 8:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. except in small designated areas.
It gave alot more time for personal reflection AND when we were allowed to talk, it was much, more meaningful!
Mark,
Our staff is given a sabbatical every five years. It is required study and relaxing time. Our leadership feels that we have given so much over the last five years and that our families have also given. So, this time is for us to reconnect and build into ourselves and our relationships with our families and then study and visit other churches.
Having just finished my first one last year. It was well worth it.
David
Hey Mark...I took a 3 month sabbatical last summer, and it was great for both the church and I!
The biggest thing I'd tell you is give yourself permission to COMPLETELY disconnect. In helping the church to catch the vision for the thing, I talked a lot about stuff I will be doing (visiting other churches, conferences, talking with other pastors about Multi-site, etc.).
Looking back, I think I did this more out of pressure to let them know I won't be just "sitting around"...when, actually, 3 months of "sitting around" was exactly what I needed! Don't overschedule, and give yourself permission to just veg at the beach or whatever for weeks on end!
My kids (10 and 6) will never forget this gift our church gave us (even though they still have a hard time pronouncing Sabbatical).
Scott Miller
P.S. I chose to deal with some of the questions our church had about Sabbaticals on my blog here if you're interested http://scottm.typepad.com/scott_miller/sabbatical/
I just returned from a one month sabbatical; the first one. It was needed. At first I didn't really think I needed it until I did it and yep, it was a great thing.
The firs week - spent a couple days with my wife at a high end Spa in Wisconsin Dells and a few days getting ready to travel.
Second week - took a spiritual retreat at Cedarly Pastors Retreat in Delefield Wisconsin, reading, praying and seeking God's vision for Highland Church. Awesome time and it was free to full time pastors and wives.
Third week - a full weed bonding and reinvesting into my kids and grandkids; simply amazing.
Fourth week - finished some course work and then played, played and played some more.
Mark, do it! It is not optional especially with your kind of ministry load.
Hey just wanted to let you know that "weed bonding" is not really a part of Sabbatical just in case you didn't catch the typo:)
I was fortunate five or six years ago to take a 12-week sabbatical. And fortunately,the church supported the idea and I was able to receive a grant from the Lily Foundation that covered my expenses. It was wonderful-although I came back to a hornet's nest at the church. I did a two week trip with my wife, one week with each of my three sons, a week as a family, and the remaining weeks on the coast just resting, thinking, dreaming, reading, re-visioning. Hint--if you take an extended sabbatical and plan to travel and rest, do the travel first and then rest.
Hey Mark,
Pete Hise from Quest Community Church in Lexington KY. I am on Study Month right now. Of Quest's 10 years I have taken July off 8 years running.
Verdict: Tough to really pull away...yet totally worth it. I come back every single August rested, eager & hopefully a little more like Jesus than when I left.
My breaks are a mix of chillin' with my wife & boys... sleeping, projects around the house, trips & fun...praying, reading & doing solitary stuff that I am just not disciplined enough to do "on the job." In fact, I am writing this response from the Monastery Thomas Merton lived at in KY (I come here for a week in July every year).
My church is glad to bless me with this each year & they feel the payoff in the creativity, energy & vision that spill out of me when I return.
Man, I recommend it Mark. It takes discipline but it is worth it. I get to do invaluable things that I never seem to make time for in the year. I visit with leaders & churches I never can get to otherwise.
In fact Mark...I was planning on concluding my break this year with a trip to National. I was hoping to buy you lunch, dinner or coffee if you are up for it. I have plans to be with you all July 25-26. Do you have the time to meet? Let me know...you can @petehise me to help me plan. Thanks Mark.
Pete
questcommunity.com
My feeling, Mark, is that if you are thinking that you might want to take a sabbatical then you probably really need one.
We're 4 years into a church plant in Washington State and I feel that If I don't proactively build a season for personal renewal into my schedule then I won't be good in the long run. I know you and I both are there for the long run.
I'm in the middle of re-calibrating and healing from near emotional and mental burnout. Realized I was as close as I ever wanted to get to "hitting the wall" and decided to fix it now instead of crash. Constant struggles, hard work, and battles etc. and now that the turnaround of victories and wins are coming I find it hard to be enthusiastic because of being emotionally and mentally numb from the fight.
All this to say that through it all God is showing me that he wants to "renew" me. I wanted God to take me to the shop to be "re-built" and God was thinking all along: "renew, Ryan. Not re-build". You think about it long enough and you get the picture.
The other thing I will add is the fact that God wants to help you personally.
I love you Mark and am praying for you. I am thankful for you.
I may be a little late with my suggestion, but the Alban Institute has a book called "Clergy Self-Care." Based on their research they put forward rationale as to why sabbaticals are a must, both for the church and the pastor. Check them out and see if their reasoning applies to you. Amazon has the book at http://www.amazon.com/Clergy-Self-Care-Finding-Effective-Ministry/dp/1566990440/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1248213709&sr=1-1.
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