The Good Gift of a Great Sabbatical
Our family had the gift of taking a sabbatical this summer. After more than 20 years of full-time ministry this was a first for us.
If the idea of a sabbatical is new to you, in the context of church life it’s meant to be an extended time away for a pastor so that he might invest in deep rest and renewal. You can see the obvious relation to the word sabbath, which is the spiritual discipline of resting one full day a week.
We’ve observed other ministry families take a sabbatical over the last several years and know there are a variety of ways to carry it out. Different families have different ideas of what is restful. Churches have various thresholds for what they can offer. There’s no handbook or exact way to do it.
After about four months away from full-time ministry we are fully back at Redemption Parker. Mark preached today and I am gearing up for various women’s ministry events and Bible studies. Our sabbatical was truly glorious. We couldn’t have asked for it to go more smoothly. I want to share some insights from our experience below, in hopes of helping other ministry families and church members think through how they might take a sabbatical or offer one.
Today’s article will highlight seven observations of our sabbatical through the lens church life. Tomorrow I’ll offer more observations and highlights, but through the lens of our family.
1. Our church is healthy and was able to sustain our absence. Our church had its fifth birthday this past February. One year ago we hired another pastor who works alongside my husband. We have elders who are deeply engaged in leading our community. We have Gospel Community (small group) leaders who care for their small communities well. People are connected, leading and discipling one another. Life within our faith family is vibrant. We don’t take that for granted and we know full well this is the work of God through his people. It’s a treasure! All that to say, though we were one of just a few families to plant this church five years ago, it has grown to a level of maturity and service to one another such that it wasn’t detrimental to the life of the church for us to step away for awhile. As a leader it’s a fine and awkward line to walk: you know no one “needs” you—this is the Lord’s church. And at the same time, you don’t want to burden your church members and leaders in a thoughtless way by stepping away before everyone is ready. While I know we are dispensable, we also wanted to be responsible in our timing. Redemption Parker was ready and I think that was key to our sabbatical being so successful.
2. Our church was extremely generous in offering this break in ministry to us. We know many pastors and pastor’s wives around the country. We know that not all church communities are willing to let their pastor take a break like this. Many faith families feel like they cannot manage without their pastor present. And, sadly, we know of churches who resent the idea that their pastor would even consider taking a break. Our elders especially, and really, all of our church members have a generous and caring spirit. They happily covered the bases while we were gone. They were careful not to contact us about any concerns big or small. They just texted us words of encouragement and assured us of their prayers. My husband did not receive any emails, phone calls, or Slack notifications about church life. They let us truly disengage.
3. Our church thrived in our absence. One of the greatest joys of our time away was hearing whispers of good news from home. While our leaders and members were careful not to burden us, they did sometimes reach out to let us know about an abundance of visitors, or a terrific sermon given by a church member, or sweet connections various groups were making inside the church. We caught glimpses here and there of how well they were doing without us. As a church planter, I cannot overstate how good that felt. We returned to a community that had grown over the summer and was more connected than before we left. Our absence allowed the community to get creative and innovative and serve in new ways. Everyone is the better for it.
4. We attended other churches whether we were in town or abroad. Our sabbatical weeks were spent in Hawaii, here at home in Colorado, and in various countries throughout Europe. Almost every Sunday we visited a different church. It was encouraging to see how other church families worship on Sunday. Our faith was strengthened by so many different expressions of the body of Christ. The universal church is beautiful! We sang hymns in foreign languages, took communion in various ways, chatted after services with pastors and leaders and heard their stories. It was like being welcomed into a family reunion every week with cousins you had never met. Some differences, but also so much in common.
5. We missed our church family. While it was invigorating to visit other churches, it also made us miss our own faith family. Absence really did make our hearts grow fonder. I know this isn’t the case for everyone in ministry. I can imagine pastors and wives who might read this and feel like they cannot relate—we know many who’ve taken a sabbatical and did not want to return. My heart aches for these co-laborers. The fact that we missed our church is a gift of grace. It’s undeserved and I don’t know why God has given us such a sweet family to miss and return to. But he has indeed given us this good gift and we are overwhelmingly grateful. Redemption Parker, thank you for being an incredible family. Thank you for all you did in our absence. Thank you for serving and loving one another well. Thanks for being people we wanted to come home to.
6. We re-entered gradually. My husband carefully and slowly re-entered full-time ministry. While I kind of scratched my head at his careful plan, I see now that it was wise. After returning from overseas we attended another Denver-area church on that first Sunday. Then we attended our own church the next Sunday, but without any role or responsibility—we just attended and hugged people and soaked up the ministry already in place. The following Sunday we served in a couple different ways. And then this past week and today, our fourth Sunday back in town, we dove fully back in. This gradual process allowed us to think about how we wanted to apply the renewal we received on sabbatical to our daily lives here.
7. We were really happy to return. As I said above, a major key to our successful sabbatical was the maturity and generosity of our church. Without that, it would’ve been hard to leave and likely even harder to return. A second key to our successful sabbatical, I think, is that we truly rested. It took about a month at the beginning to feel really disengaged, but we finally did. My husband and I took daily slow walks together. He took up gardening. I paused my seminary classes (that took some arm twisting, but I’m so glad I listened to my friends and did that). Our family lingered for a couple hours over dinner every night. We got out of our usual setting and usual routine. Everything was disrupted, but in a very good way. The long pause made us eager to re-engage when it was time.
Our sabbatical was a good gift and I am so grateful. I thank God for his grace through our church. In my next article I will share some observations of our time away from my perspective as a wife and mom. Our family was so very nourished and I’m excited to tell you how.