Twenty years ago I was coming apart at the seams. As a pastor I was dealing with a number of challenges—and I was not dealing with them well.
My young congregation was experiencing impressive growth, but I'd become a workaholic. About the same time my wife became unexpectedly pregnant with our third child. To add to my stress, the associate pastor and I were struggling to get along. I was emotionally exhausted and spiritually flat.
Since I'd been at the church for seven years, my conference superintendent privately suggested I take a three-month sabbatical. But when I approached the church council with the request, the council members balked. What? You want to leave the church for 12 weeks? And collect a salary for doing nothing?
After a long discussion, it was decided that the church could not afford the luxury of paying for a pastor's extended "vacation." My absence, they feared, would negatively impact weekly giving.
To their credit, the council relieved me of the administrative details of my job description. They also encouraged me to limit my time in the office, get more rest, and seek the resources of a Christian therapist.
Disappointed by the decision, I devised what I called a "sabbatical-in-the-office." It included renewed attention to church/home boundaries, diet, exercise, sleep, and personal counseling. My jerry-built sabbatical had some positive benefits. I was treated for clinical depression and improved. I even wrote an article about it for Leadership Journal. But the long-term impact of not having a legitimate sabbatical soon became painfully clear. Within four years I had resigned from the church, all the while continuing to deal with issues of depression, burnout, and resentment. In retrospect, here are the steps I wish I had followed to secure a sabbatical.
Discuss sabbaticals at the outset. Before starting in a new ministry role, express your expectations about sabbaticals. Ask if your new or prospective employer would be willing to give you time away for personal renewal after you have been at the church for a certain number of years. This is the best time to broach the topic. If your leaders honor the request, ask that a future sabbatical be written into the terms of your call (along with annual vacation, sick days, study leave, conferences, etc).
If the church has not granted sabbaticals previously, it will likely express concern over the financial cost. Anticipate this reservation. What such churches should realize is the greatest cost associated with health insurance increases for pastors who burnout or experience stress-related illnesses. In addition, when a congregation invests in the personal renewal and spiritual growth of its shepherd, the flock doesn't need to deal with the major expense of finding and moving a new pastor every few years.
Based on what I have observed, sabbaticals are often granted at different anniversaries of a pastor's tenure. Even though sabbatical comes from the word "Sabbath" (or seventh), pastoral leaves have been given after five or six years as well. And the length of leave can be anywhere from a month to three months (or more).
If you have a clear idea of how you might use your time away, the church will be more open to releasing you to take a Sabbatical.
Define your sabbatical. Guess what? You have permission to plan a getaway that will be most renewing and energizing for you. It's your sabbatical, and no one knows what you need more than you. It can be spent in a classroom, at a cottage, doing construction, in contemplation, in solitude or community. Think purposeful but not necessarily productive. And don't feel like you have to conquer the world in your time away. Doing nothing can be the most important something you do.
A colleague spent three months working as a longshoreman in Boston. He wanted a complete change of venue and a chance to experience the struggles of the physical laborers in his congregation. Another friend had a one-word goal for his sabbatical: refreshment. His leaders agreed. Because they knew he loved to travel, read and write, they provided a budget for him to do those three things for three months, with his wife at his side. My brother-in-law traveled to England to study the revivals of John Wesley and George Whitfield, with an eye toward incorporating principles of renewal into his life and that of his congregation.
You may want to work on a Doctor of Ministry degree. Or this might be the time for you to visit missionaries overseas that your church supports. Perhaps your time away would be best spent at a marriage enrichment retreat center with your spouse. It's entirely possible that you just have lengthy visits with your grown children and grandchildren without feeling the pressure to prepare a sermon the following Sunday.
Talk to colleagues. Most likely you already know other pastors who have taken a sabbatical. Gather information on what they did with the time they were given. Where did they go? What was the focus of their time away? How did they secure funding? If they had it to do over again, what would they do differently? Where would they plan to spend more time? What books did they read?
This list will serve you well when it comes time to talk about your sabbatical with your church. If you have a clear idea of how you might spend your time away, the church will be more open to releasing you. It will also provide you with names of those who could serve as references who can speak to your church about the value of ministerial leaves.
Make peace with your leaders. This is a critical step in scoring a sabbatical. If members of your board or leadership council are at odds with you, expect resistance when it comes time to request time away from the church. On the other hand, working hard to keep short accounts with those in key positions of influence goes a long way. If you're in conflict with key leaders, work on resolving the conflict before floating the idea of a sabbatical.
As I reflect back on my experience 20 years ago, I realize that I had not spent sufficient time mending fences with members of my team. Because of the stress that was percolating in my life at the time, I had said and done things that resulted in strained relationships. Nothing major, mind you, but let's just say my trust account was low on deposits. When I needed to withdraw a little goodwill, I found the trust between us had been depleted.
When you are on good terms with those to whom you are accountable, they will be more apt to celebrate your decision to care for yourself than to criticize it.
Seek support from your denominational hierarchy. The wider church body is a blessing to those who are denominationally connected. Although my superintendent had recommended my church grant me a sabbatical, I did not insist that he attend a council meeting and speak to that issue in person. Looking back, that was a fatal flaw. What I could not do (without sounding condescending or self-serving), he could have done with grace. The local congregation in most cases has come to respect the wisdom of denominational executives who have proven their concern for the health and well-being of the churches they serve.
If your denomination is like the one to which I belong, there are financial resources available to assist in underwriting the cost of tuition, therapy, travel, or career counseling.
Some years ago the Evangelical Covenant Church received several million dollars from the Lilly Foundation to ensure pastors of local Covenant churches could experience continuing educational opportunities. The Sustaining Pastoral Excellence grant monies are awarded to Covenant ministers who make application for experiences from an approved list. Although most of the approved enrichment opportunities are a week or two in scope, a three-month leave could incorporate one or two of these short-term experiences as part of a larger plan.
Denominational colleagues are often an underutilized resource for pastors who are battling burnout. Fear of being labeled as ineffective or "damaged" is a false concern in this age of complex ministry demands. Pastors who admit the need of a tune-up are viewed as conscientious leaders. Such pastors are the kind regional and national bodies want to invest in for long, productive ministries.
Greg Asimakoupoulos is a writer and the former senior pastor of Mercer Island Covenant Church in the Seattle area.
Copyright © 2012 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
