Sabbatical Leave

In the past couple weeks I have had email messages from two former parishioners in response to this blog. It is fun to hear from folks I know! One had a question about sabbatical leave, which I will answer today, and the other had a fine suggestion for a blog topic, which I will tackle in the near future.

Sabbaticals are a relatively new idea in the life of the church. After a period of six years of service by a rostered leader, a congregation is encouraged to grant a paid sabbatical leave of no less than two months. The purpose is two-fold: time for extended continuing education and rest. Note that sabbath and sabbatical have the same root. After a sabbatical, pastors report a sense of renewal and re-commitment.

Granting a sabbatical leave for a pastor takes a lot of advanced planning. It is a special challenge financially for smaller congregations to pay the pastor’s salary and benefits and also provide for appropriate coverage for pastoral leadership and care.

Today I begin my second week of a three month sabbatical leave. Bishop Wollersheim has made sure that all of my areas of responsibility have been covered so I am free to focus my attention elsewhere. I did convince my colleagues that this blog is not really work, so I have been permitted to continue writing.

After 25 years of ministry (seven in service to the synod) one might think that I would be ready for a break. I am finding that it is really difficult to temporarily give up things I love to do. The thought of not preaching for 14 consecutive Sundays is not particularly happy. Daily I have the privilege of working with rostered leaders and laypersons throughout the synod. Today I flipped through the pages of my calendar and I do not have a single appointment scheduled for three months.

I did learn a couple of things last week. It takes a while to decompress and relax. I also learned that it does not take long to get underfoot. My wife and I have our normal routines and suddenly I am the one who is out of synch, prompting this warning, “I don’t think you’d better plan on retiring.”

Lest you think that I am complaining about some time away, I should tell you that I am excited about what I am doing and thankful that the synod has granted me this time. I will tell you more of what I am doing in the coming weeks.

Thanks for reading. Comments are always welcome. More information regarding sabbaticals may be found at www.nisynod.org/resources. --JC