SkintightTransformation

Sabbaticals for Pastors 101

Taking time for sabbatical rest is crucial to the success and longevity of your ministry. How often you take a sabbatical and what you do while on sabbatical is incredibly important.

 

Rhythm

We all have natural rhythms to our lives.  We take our vacations at a certain time every year.  We ramp up ministry seasons for short periods of time and have special focuses in our churches on missions, prayer and leadership from time to time.  Getting into a rhythm can be helpful in sustaining a healthy ministry pace as well as setting up a good way to plan from year to year.

 

Just like our ministries, our lives have a rhythm also.  Take a few minutes looking at your yearly calendar.  Where are the natural places for you to rest?  Keep in mind that you may need a first, second and third choice.

 

Frequency

How often should you take a sabbatical?  For every person it is different but here is a good rule of thumb for pastors:

 

• Once a month do a quick recharge –            

Take 1 full day where you don’t produce anything for a quick recharge to your personal batteries

• Once a year, unplug-

Every year take 2-3 days, get alone with just you and God to unplug from your duties and responsibilities

• Every 6 years take an extended sabbatical

Plan an extended sabbatical that includes time away, time for family, time for counseling or coaching.  This could be for 1-3 months

 

Types of Sabbaticals

 

Quick Recharge

Most people assume that if they have one day off a week, it is enough rest and they simply continue with ministry and life.  For most people, however, this is not true.  Your mind, spirit and body need a regular recharge.  This could be a day for prayer and fasting, relaxing or time in the Word.  If we’re honest, most of us would admit that our one-day-off a week is more about catching up with things around our home and doing things that keep us just as busy as we would be at work.  Take one day a month for a quick recharge

 

Unplug

Ministry life can have a fast pace and it can take a toll on us over long periods of time.  Unplugging helps to get us out of task mode and focused on what God is doing.  It’s important to take a 2-3 days a year to get away and listen to God.  Consider that a good time to take a 2-3 day sabbatical, is right before you begin planning.  Use this time to discern where God is moving in your church.  One possible upgrade to this plan is to take a key elder or staff person with you and spend time listening and praying together.

 

Extended Sabbatical

This is the most difficult sabbatical for most pastors to take.  It requires more planning beforehand and it is more about getting you, the pastor healthy than it is about just resting.  Most of us identify who we are with what we do.  An extended sabbatical forces us to clarify our identity, passions and calling.  You can use this time to do almost anything… as long as it has nothing to do with work!

 

Where to start

If you haven’t taken a sabbatical in more than 10 years, then I would suggest you start small, versus jumping right into the extended sabbatical.  (an exception would be if you feel like you are on a crash course to ministry burnout)  Start with doing six months of the quick recharges and then move to an ‘unplug’ (2-3 day) sabbatical.  This way when the time is right for you to take an extended sabbatical you have some good disciplines worked out before hand.

 

You Need a Mentor

No matter which sabbatical you are taking you need to have a mentor.  A mentor is someone you talk to about what you will be doing on your sabbatical before it starts and your mentor is the person you connect with to process after your sabbatical.  If you do even a one-day sabbatical and don’t use a mentor you’re missing out on perspective and good accountability for how you use your time.

 

A mentor can be someone in your church, like an elder or it can be someone outside your church, such as another pastor or elder.  You can also choose to hire a coach.  A coach will be able to set you up with an agenda and offer you valuable outside perspective.

 

Do you have any sabbatical practices that are helpful?   Please share them!

Surrendered & Untamed

 God is involved in our lives every day.  He is in the big details and the small details.  Jason Clark, in his book, Surrendered and Untamed, gives us a chance to see how the stories that make up our lives are God calling us to live an exciting and abundant life. 

I believe you will especially relate to this book if any of the following statements are true about you: 

When it comes to living the Christian life, it seems I’m on the outside looking in.
A lot of people find it difficult to ‘fit in’ to the normal Christian life or in church ministry.  In his book, Jason recounts his journey with stories from his recent and distant past that led him to key crossroads in his life.  If you feel like you’re out on the fringe and looking in, then you don’t want to miss Jason’s honesty about his calling and ministry.

 

It is hard for me to see God at work in my daily life.

I love to listen to someone share a personal story; stories are great because they are easy to identify with and fun to listen to.  Most of us don’t really see God at work in the ‘average day’ in our lives.  In fact, I can go days and weeks with out taking the time to reflect where God is at work in my daily life.  This book will help you to see how significant our day to day lives are as Jason unpacks the big and small truths of God’s nature from his life.  This book is jam packed with story after story of how God’s truth impacts Jason’s life.

 

I think God is calling me to take new risks for His Kingdom

I can only play it safe for so long before I am chomping at the bit to take some risks in my personal, spiritual and ministry life.  I love to see God reward faith in my life and in the lives of others.  Jason does a great job of building your faith in his book to take some risks and live a Kingdom minded life!

 

There is something new for me, I just know it!

Is there something intangible about your future that you can’t quite put your finger on?  Deep down you know God is calling you to more or something new but you’re not sure what that is.  This book will challenge you to take what God has deposited in your life already and apply that in new ways.  Maybe you’ve had a few false starts or times when things didn’t go the way you wanted.  What do we do with these kind of experiences?  Through his own life, Jason demonstrates how to recover and use what seems like a set back and see how God wants to use some of our negative experiences to propel us forward.

 

Discipleship Pathways :: Is Discipleship Linear?

I used to think people need options, maybe even lots of options when engaging their discipleship pathways.  For a while I was kind of anti-steps, bases or check-points.

 

People do need choices, right? 

 

There is some merit to this way of thinking.  The more limited and fewer options a system has, the more people it will not serve.  If you’re a door company and you only offer brown doors, you’re only going to serve people who want a brown door or who are willing to settle with a brown door.

 

I discovered that too many options however could be equally as bad.  It’s kind of like the scene with Aladdin and the Genie in Disney’s Aladdin.  The scene where they are on the magic carpet and Aladdin is informed that there are exits in all directions.  If our people have discipleship options in every direction, how can they determine which direction is the best for them. (Do I work on prayer and Bible study or do I go and participate in an outreach project?)

 

Shouldn't we have a system that directs people where to go? 

 

As it turns out, some people approach things in life linearly; and others are never concerned if something has a sequential order.  Some people want step by step direction and some individuals have a more adventurous approach to their discipleship path.

 

The discipleship systems in our church should encourage the people who need a first and second step approach to growth, and our system should envision the adventurous individuals to try something new in their spiritual growth too.

 These days, I'm finding that each step (linear step) needs just two or three choices.  Choices that help a person 'triage' their next best step.  I also believe that we have to be OK with people bypassing whatever system we're using.  I'm not going to say some people are rebellious, just that they like to find their own way of doing things.

How about you, do you need steps or choices… maybe a mix of both?

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Other Posts Like this ::

Discipleship Pathways: Effortless Discipleship?

Discipleship Pathways: Christ-Centered Discipleship

 

Discipleship Pathways :: Christ-Centered Discipleship

If you have been discipleing people for 10 years or 10 days, Jesus still remains at the ultimate example of effective discipleship.  If anyone ever says they want to learn how to disciple people more effectively they should take a careful look at how Jesus did it.

 

Jesus Modeled

I’m putting this one as the first example because I’ve heard this principle repeated many times over my life.  It’s true!  Jesus modeled ministry to his disciples first.  Here’s the challenge, if you want people to be great preachers then all of your modeling can be done from the stage/pulpit.  If you want people to become known for bringing the Kingdom of God to our present reality, then they will need to see you do that too. 
Are you REALLY modeling what you want people around you to do? 

 

Jesus Listened

Jesus was interacting with God the Father and the Holy Spirit on a regular basis.  Many times in scripture, we see Jesus pull away to pray; followed up by immediately joining God with His will on earth.  Jesus was in tune with what the Spirit was doing.  Many times the disciples were surprised by Jesus’ “deviation” from “the plan” in order to speak with someone or to pray for their needs.  (Check out the e-book, Fight Clubs: Gospel Centered Discipleship for more thoughts on this topic.)
Are you listening and looking for the small changes in your day or are you implementing ‘the plan”?

 

The Work of the Cross

Jesus didn’t try to teach or prepare his disciples for every possible circumstance possible.  Jesus actually made the work of the cross to be centric in their preparation.  Even though they didn’t fully understand what he was saying, Jesus kept reminding the disciples of what was to come, what the Son of Man would go through.  Jesus knew that if the disciples would rely on the work of the cross as their preparation they would have the compassion and the servant’s heart to accomplish their calling as well.
Are people becoming experts on what a disciple does or how to BE a disciple of Jesus Christ?

 

These are just three examples.  Jesus provided many more than this.  How else did Jesus demonstrate great discipleship?

 

Previous Post: Discipleship Pathways: Effortless Discipleship

Discipleship Pathways :: Effortless Discipleship?

I’ve been in a discipleship process my entire life.  Christ is engaged with me on a daily basis as I learn, grow and become more like him through every encounter I have with Him.  It’s easy to think that discipleship in our churches happens without much direction and effort.  After all, isn’t God completely committed to helping us grow in our Christian walk?

 

As I read through the Gospels and see Jesus’ interaction with the disciples, I can’t help but to notice that discipling the twelve came very naturally to Jesus.  That’s not the only thing I notice.  As effortless as Jesus made discipleship look, He still put time, energy and effort into the spiritual development of his disciples.

 

Churches today have the same responsibility that Jesus took up with the twelve disciples.  Investing in the lives of our people will take intentionality, time and energy to produce believers who are developing and maturing into Christlikeness.  This is not a small or easy task and should never be left as a side project or a yearly sermon series.

 

Let’s be honest, discipleship has its challenges. 
If you were giving advice to someone who wanted to be a better discipler, what would you tell them?

Being led by your kids…

This weekend we had two Communion services in our home. It started by Brian asking if we could have Jesus time on Saturday. I told him, "Sure!" I was assuming we would read the Bible and pray together (which we don't do often enough as a family). When I got upstairs I discovered that Brian and Zach had prepared Communion and a devotional.

First, Brian read out of his Bible (Jeremiah 29:11) and then Zach pretended to read out of his Bible as he recited the story of Jesus' birth, death and resurrection. I was blown away!

Brian and Zach explained what the elements meant. Zachary actually told me that the bread was for Jesus' broken body. And Brian told us that the juice (which was Gatorade lol) was for Jesus' blood which is for forgiveness.

We did this both Saturday and Sunday. I was completely taken by surprise and humbled as God used my kids to lead me this weekend.

Brian's verse, which says, "I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord…" It was clear to me that God has plans for both of these young men!

When a Pastor Sins…

When pastors sin, people are shocked, stunned, upset, grieved, offended and in most cases scarred. It's no surprise that when a pastor has a character fault or an immorality revealed the wounds run deep. If I'm honest, I tell you that I was shocked when the story about Ted Haggard came out. I heard what the press was saying and as the story was fading from the headlines I heard that he had stepped down from ministry… for life.

That didn't sound like restoration to me, but I didn't really give it any thought.

Recently, Ted Haggard has started speaking again, with the blessing of his overseers. If you haven't read it yet, I'd encourage you to take a look at Ted's story that is posted on his website. Although he and his family have a long journey towards restoration ahead of them, it sounds like God is working in and through this.

http://www.tedhaggard.com/overview.htm

This leads me to a couple of questions:

1. How will I restore people who work with me in my church?
2. If I ever make a potential ministry-ending mistake how would I want to be treated?

Is there such a thing as too much accountability?

I have an answer and it might surprise you….

A couple of weeks ago I asked my friends on twitter and Facebook if there was such a thing as too much accountability. I found that my friends could not agree. Some emphatically told me, "No, accountability is always a good thing and you can't have enough!" Others felt that we should be cautious in choosing people to be accountable to. Well, I've done some thinking about this and I'd like share with you my answer and also what I'm doing about it.

First, they were both right. That's because it depends. Most of the time, when 'it depends' we're talking about the circumstances or in the case of accountability, how sensitive the topic is. I don't think that should determine how much accountability we have in our lives, however. I say 'it depends' because it depends on how much success you're having with that area/issue. If I'm being challenged with a goal or a growth area in my life and I can't seem to find success, then in many cases, more accountability is exactly what I need. Chances are, I need people who care about me to know what I'm attempting to do to ensure my success. However, if I'm doing OK, then more accountability is really more about me and less about me trying to grow!

Here's how this plays out: I'm trying to lose weight and get in shape. I've been struggling with this for years..many years. I already have some accountability in my life with this goal and I'm having success. This means I'm not going to be posting how I'm doing with my weight loss.

Don't worry, that doesn't mean you're off the hook. I just told you I'm working on this, so now you know and you can do something about it. You can ask me how it's going (if you're inclined to care) or even better you can pray for me!

This week I was thinking about the apostle Paul when he was talking about his 'thorn in the flesh'. Whatever he was dealing with, he at least had the wisdom to ask for prayer. Asking for prayer can be a great start into developing accountability. For many of life's issues it's the perfect amount of accountability. This is because anytime we engage God's community and God himself in our goals we are tapping into a deep well of resources!