Sabbatical The Necessary Option

Transcription

1 Sabbatical The Necessary Option A Guide To Planning And Implementing A Sabbatical Leave That Will Benefit Both The Pastor And The Church A HANDBOOK FOR PLANNING 1 SABBATICALS: ARE THEY REALLY NEEDED? One must anticipate that when the subject of sabbatical leave is raised, it will be met with a chorus of questions. High on that list will be some form of this question: Why should our pastors have a sabbatical? I don t get a sabbatical from work, and the work I do is just as hard, if not more demanding than the work of a pastor. Pastoral ministry is a 24/7 commitment to care for and nurture a family of redeemed sinners. The demands of pastoral ministry make it easy to lose focus, purpose, and even a sense of God s leading in the affairs of the church. Joy the fruit of the Spirit the Scriptures mandate pastors display in their service (Heb 13:17) can quickly be replaced by despondency and discouragement. A pastor is a giver everyday and there comes a time when he needs to receive. Why do pastors need an extended break (rest and renewal) from the pressure-cooker of pastoral ministry? In his book, Support Your Local Pastor, Wes Roberts quotes from a revealing survey of pastors conducted by the Fuller Institute of Church Growth. 90% work more than forty-six hours per week, and often more than sixty 80% believe that the pastoral ministry is affecting their family negatively 33% say that being in ministry is clearly a hazard to my family. 75% have reported a significant crisis due to stress at least once every five years in ministry 50% feel unable to meet the needs and demands of their job 90% feel they were not adequately trained or prepared to cope with the ministry demands placed upon them 40% report having a serious conflict with someone in the congregation at least once a month 37% have been involved in inappropriate sexual behavior with someone in the church 70% have a lower self-image after they ve pastored than when they started 1 Handbook is a revision from Pinnacle Ministries, Inc., PO Box 275, Mosinee, Wisconsin, ;

2 Statistically, 1500 pastors leave the pastorate each month due to: moral failure, spiritual burnout, and conflict at church. A high percentage of pastors marriages end in divorce. Seventy percent fight depression. Why are pastors at such risk? Because pastors are required to move from sick-bed: To administrative meeting To planning To supervising To counseling To praying To trouble-shooting To budgeting To staff problems To newsletter To community leadership To study To funerals To weddings To preaching More than this, people expect pastors to be in-charge, but not too in-charge. Pastors are expected to be sensitive, skillful, dynamic, spiritual, charismatic, intellectual, but not too much so. People do not expect pastors to be depressed, discouraged, cynical, angry or hurt. People expect pastors to remain positive, strong, up-beat, and available. Now, we all know these expectations are unrealistic. But they exist nonetheless. This is a real burden that pastors feel. Even though many churches provide 2, 3 and sometimes 4 weeks of vacation, pastoral pressure continues to build during short vacations simply because it takes longer than 7-14 days to really mentally and emotionally leave the demands of pastoral ministry behind, if even for a short period of time. Perhaps the most compelling reason why sabbaticals are necessary is because they are biblical. The word sabbatical finds its root in the word Sabbath, which means to rest. The Scriptures make it clear (Genesis 2:2; Exodus 20:8-11; Leviticus 23:3; 25:1-5; Deuteronomy 15:9; 31:10): there is a work/rest design in God s plan for man, both in the short-term (weekly) and an extended cycle (the year of Jubilee). Also, in the New Testament we see two other important examples that demonstrate the need for rest and renewal, especially for God s servants. After thirty some years of living, and just before entering into the most demanding and stressful time of His life, Jesus spent forty days alone to fast, pray and reflect. (Matthew 4). Furthermore, the Apostle Paul, following his conversion and earliest ministry, spent time in obscurity in his home area before Barnabas sought him out for his life s work (Acts 11:25). While neither New Testament examples could be called a sabbatical in contemporary terms, they do illustrate that an investment in reflection and renewal only serves to enhance a servant of Christ s ministry. This is a key reason that churches should set aside sabbatical

3 leave for their pastors. If we are truly interested in productivity for the Kingdom, and not just hours put on the clock, we would do well to consider the examples set before us in Scripture. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE SABBATICAL? There are ultimately two kinds of sabbaticals. The first is the study sabbatical. This is very common in academic circles, were professors are given time to further their education or write books in an effort to serve their academic study and standing. The second kind of sabbatical is the rest and renewal sabbatical. This is the one that we will be considering. In order to define what a sabbatical should be, we must begin by defining what it is not: A Sabbatical Is Not A Vacation. While it is a time of rest, it is not a vacation. Sabbaticals should involve a plan, a goal and accountability. For this reason, sabbaticals should be not be considered vacation, and should be taken in addition to any earned vacation time. The sabbatical is an opportunity to receive grace, refresh fellowship with God, review past commitments, reshape and revisit future commitments, restore the joy of one s salvation in the Gospel, and re-imagine one s pastoral ministry for the future. A Sabbatical Is Not Academic Leave. Earning an advanced degree is a commendable goal, and every pastor should be a life-long learner, but this is not the purpose of the rest and renewal sabbatical. Academic work is rarely conducive to vision-building. A Sabbatical Is Not An Escape. Sabbaticals should not be given where a pastor is looking for leave to escape ministry problems. It would be unethical for a pastor to use his sabbatical as time to seek out a new place of ministry. This is not to say that a pastor who is experiencing problems in ministry should be denied sabbatical leave. Because pastoral ministry is full of challenges, such leave could provide the optimum environment for a pastor to get the proper vision and clarity to confront ministry problems. But pastors should never use the sabbatical as a means of escape from ministry or problems. The marks of an effective sabbatical should include: relaxation, recreation, rest, renewal, revival, rethinking, refocusing and return. During sabbatical the pastor may be inclined to: Spend extended time with family (both immediate and extended family) Travel Visit other churches for perspective and renewal Visit with friends Read Write Spend time in solitude and silence Spend time in personal bible study and prayer for the sake of one s personal growth without the burden of caring for other souls in view Take a class at a community college Learn a new language Etc The sabbatical should involve the following:

4 1. Intentionality. Sabbaticals should not be an afterthought or a response to an emergency. The time frame for the sabbatical should be established by the church. Typically the word sabbatical connotes some time off every seven years. Some churches allow pastoral staff to accrue sabbatical days based on time served (i.e., 1 day per month served). Other churches allot sabbatical time in increments of years served (five, ten, fifteen, twenty, etc) which increasing time for each period (one month, two months, three months, etc). The point is this: there should be incentive for longer periods of stay in ministry and built-in points of refreshment throughout a pastor s ministry stay. 2. Continuation of Ministry. The ministry needs of the church will go on whether the pastor is present or not. An adequate plan needs to be in place so that remaining staff are not over-worked or required to make decisions that extend beyond their authority. This is a wonderful opportunity for the body of Christ to mobilize to meet ministry needs, including outreach visitation, membership care, and other Body-life needs. The pulpit ministry may be filled by other pastoral staff, retired local pastors, equipped lay pastors in the congregation, etc. 3. Accountability. Since the sabbatical is not just time off, there needs to be a plan. Whether the plan calls of reading, research, reflection, retreating or writing, it should be done under some form of accountability. This should not be a person from the leadership team of the church, but rather likely another area pastor would serve as the one who oversees the retreat or sabbatical. The sabbatical should not be so tightly structured that the Spirit has no freedom to lead or reveal. Therefore the plan should involve a certain amount of flexibility. 4. Family Involvement. A pastor s family must be a welcome element to his sabbatical leave since the whole family shares in the stress of the pastor. 5. Feedback. At the end of the sabbatical the pastor would submit a written report to either the personnel committee or board of elders. The pastor would also submit an oral report to both the deacon and church body highlighting the benefits of the sabbatical leave. The church needs to be helped to see how this investment in their pastor s life will serve the overall future health and vitality of the church s ministry. MISCELLANEOUS CONSIDERATIONS CONCERNING SABBATICAL LEAVE 1. One person will be in charge of reaching the pastor on sabbatical leave in the event of an emergency (another pastor on staff, chairman of deacons, etc). This is meant to discourage members of the congregation from dropping in on the pastor during his leave. 2. No major decisions will be made by other pastors, deacon s or congregation in the absence of the pastor on sabbatical leave. This is especially important in the event that the senior pastor is on sabbatical leave.

5 3. The accruement of sabbatical leave is at the discretion of the church. One denomination had the following model: Three weeks sabbatical leave after 4 years Five weeks sabbatical leave after 5 years Seven weeks sabbatical leave after 6 years Nine weeks sabbatical leave after 7 years Once the leave was used you had to start over in accruing sabbatical leave. POTENTIAL CONCERNS 1. Who assumes the responsibilities of the pastoral staff member while on sabbatical leave? No pastor will be granted sabbatical leave without assurance that his ministry responsibilities are assumed by other qualified individuals. Responsibilities will be distributed to remaining pastoral staff, lay pastors, deacons, and other qualified members of the Body of Christ during sabbatical leave as determined in advance of sabbatical leave by the Personnel Committee. Ideally all teaching/preaching ministry would be assumed by pastors/teachers within the Church, but in cases where the teaching/preaching ministry cannot be handled within the church body, arrangements for pulpit supply will be made in advance of sabbatical leave. 2. Who has authority in the absence of the Senior Pastor? Ultimately, within congregation rule, the church has final and absolute authority. However, recognizing that the church body is called by God to willingly submit to the leadership and authority of Her pastoral staff (Heb 13:17), it should be noted that no major decisions should be made in the absence of the Senior Pastor. However, authority within the church is shared by the entire pastoral staff, and therefore, the remaining pastors would bear this shared responsibility during sabbatical leave in the same way they do during any other time of the year. 3. Is there any danger of the Church discovering that they may not need their pastor during their sabbatical leave? Yes, some congregations may realize in the absence of their pastor(s) that there are many things they can do, and perhaps do well, in the absence of their pastor(s). But the question, by its very nature, misunderstands the primary role of a church s pastors/elders. Pastors are not meant to do the work while the Body remains spectators. Pastors are called by God to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:12-14). So while a sabbatical provides an optimal opportunity for the Church Body to exercise Her gifts in ways that may reveal too much dependence upon the pastor(s), it should never cause Her to conclude that She doesn t need his leadership as he follows Christ. Why? Because the role of the pastor is to equip the saints for the work of ministry, and in doing ministry, the saints move towards maturity in Christ. However, since none will ever achieve full maturity in Christ, the Body will never outgrow Her need for godly pastoral leadership.