I started at Faith Church in October 2002 as full-time youth associate pastor. That meant, given my denomination’s recommendation that pastors receive sabbaticals every seven years, that my first opportunity for a sabbatical could have been as early as October 2009. But I didn’t take a sabbatical until January 1, 2018. Nine years later. Why?
For many reasons. First, I became senior pastor on July 1, 2008, and my wife and I felt it unwise for me to ask for a sabbatical only a year after I became senior pastor. We felt it best to put in seven years as senior pastor, thus seeking a sabbatical on July 1, 2015.
Second, Faith Church had never given a pastor a sabbatical before. And there were three pastors in a row before me who had been here for seven years or longer. So even when I reached the seven year mark of being senior pastor, a sabbatical was not offered because it had never been offered before. It wasn’t part of the normal rhythm of Faith Church.
The seven-year period from July 2008 through July 2015 here at Faith Church were some of the most joyous and most difficult in our lives. When there is a pastoral transition at a church, any church, research has shown that on average 20% of the congregation moves on. That happened when I became pastor. We had numerous people leave the church, in a kind of trickle, because they were not in favor of changes happening in the life and ministry of the church.
Much of those changes had to do with worship. For example, in July 2008, we had a part-time choir director and a part-time organist. By July 2010 we had discontinued the choir director and organist positions, and created a new part-time worship leader position. That worship transition was very difficult for some. Some of our leaders and I had numerous meetings with people to discuss the changes, and still numerous people chose to leave. It is hard to communicate the toll that people leaving the church takes on a pastoral couple. I wasn’t prepared for how it would affect me. It still affects me.
In those first seven years, we also had a number of people pass away. There was one stretch in which I did eight funerals in seven months, with at least one every month. I was also not prepared for how staring death in the face so regularly would affect me.
There were also two two-year long difficult situations during that time that were pointed at me. Those were very painful.
In August 2015, I started manifesting symptoms of anxiety and panic. I got medication, counseling, prayer, and the symptoms subsided. I remain on medication to this day.
So July 1, 2015 came and went. I had put in seven years as pastor, and Michelle and I did not have a sabbatical after seven years as senior pastor. Why? Again, because Faith Church had never given a pastor a sabbatical in its 50 years. The idea of a person having three months off seemed luxurious, over the top, unnecessary. Still, we were feeling the burnout and tiredness of pastoral ministry, so we asked for a sabbatical in 2015, but the request was denied.
Over the next few years, still feeling burnout and tiredness, we kept asking, and some others started advocating for it on our behalf, and by 2017, opinion changed, and PRC and Leadership approved a three-month sabbatical. We planned for a sabbatical in 2017, but at the same time, we hired a new worship leader. To give the new worship leader time to acclimate to the church, we held sabbatical off until January 1, 2018.
As final planning came together in the fall of 2017, I was concerned that the sabbatical might not go well. I really wanted it to go well because this was new for the church family. Thankfully, it seemed to me it went very well. So many people stepped up to serve, and in some cases enjoyed it so much they wanted to keep doing what they were doing even after sabbatical was over. For example, the rotation of worship hosts. Prior to sabbatical I was the host every Sunday. Now, we have a rotation. It is so much healthier for more people to be involved, to hear more voices, and perspectives.
There were even more ways that sabbatical was beneficial. A major way is that it helps the church family learn that they are not dependent on the pastor to do the work of ministry. A church family was never meant to be dependent on their pastor, and yet there are plenty of churches and pastors that can treat the work of ministry that way.
Instead in Ephesians 4:11-12 Paul writes that pastors are to help train the people in the church do the work of ministry. The people in the church are not to be spectators. They are not to be consumers of ministry. And the pastors and other ministry staff are not the players or actors, and they are not the providers. Instead all the people in the life of the church are to be involved, all are important. All have their role. And one of the roles of the pastor is to help the people in the learn church learn and serve in their role, in their gifting. By going on sabbatical, that growth in people serving happened!
As a result, Faith Church’s first ever pastoral sabbatical was January through March of 2018. And quite frankly, I made a few mistakes during that sabbatical. First mistake, I did two weddings right at the beginning. Second mistake, I didn’t realize how weird, awkward and even difficult, sabbatical would be for me. The first month, I was an emotional wreck. It took time to get used to sabbatical. That’s one reason why sabbaticals are best if they are at least three months. The next two months were great. Third mistake, my first Sunday back from sabbatical was Easter Sunday. Big mistake. To come back from a three-month sabbatical on the biggest Sunday of the year was not a wise idea.
But all in all, the sabbatical went very well. What has happened since April 1, 2018? In the past seven years, so much has happened. I’ll talk about that in the next post.
Engaging Scripture 