Rest. Reflection. Renewal.
This past summer our family was blessed with the gift of a sabbatical.
Four months of rest from ministry. Sundays where we visited other churches. We traveled and enjoyed a reprieve from the burden of ministry. We were renewed.
My husband, Jason, and I have been at our church in northern Vermont, his first full-time pastorate, for the past 14 years. We love our life here. It is where God has called us, and the ministry is slow and steady and fulfilling. We have not felt “burnt out,” although our lives are busy. Jason, in addition to weekly duties of sermon preparation, visitation, services at two churches, and counseling, performs about 20 funerals and 4-5 weddings a year. We have four children: a daughter, 11; and sons, 10, 7, and 5. I teach public school music four days a week and lead worship each Sunday at both churches, in addition to being actively involved in our community. (I’m sure you’re getting tired just reading this and are probably thinking, “Gee, that sounds familiar!”)
So even though we were not burnt out, we were weary, and the time seemed right for a sabbatical. We are in it for the long haul here and felt a rest would be just what we needed. Being familiar with a sabbatical grant opportunity through the Lilly Foundation, we decided to pursue the possibility.
After the slow process of getting approval from both church boards and both congregations (Jason very wisely seeks approval above and beyond what is necessary, and that helps build credibility and trust), we applied. We had dreamed of taking our children to Europe, and 2017 was the 500th Anniversary of the spark of the Protestant Reformation, when in 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Castle Church doors in Wittenberg, Germany. We devised a plan and drafted the lengthy proposal in April 2016. The following August we were notified that we were among that year’s recipients.
In Lilly’s sabbatical grant program, you may designate up to $15,000 of the grant funds for pulpit supply. We were able to arrange for a local retired pastor in our denomination to be our interim pastor in Jason’s absence and were able to give a generous stipend to a church member who led worship in my place. This was a tremendous blessing to our church community and to us, as we did not have to worry about the church.
Following months of planning, our sabbatical began on May 1st, 2017. For the first few weeks, while the kids and I finished school, we visited local churches on Sundays, which was a wonderful start to our sabbatical adventures. We sat together (I did not for one moment take this for granted!) at each church we visited. All six of us. No preaching, no leading worship, just worshiping together as a family. It was such a blessing and something I had been looking forward to greatly during our months of preparation. While it was a little harder keeping them corralled during each service than I had expected (whew!), it was a wonderful time of discipling our children. Our 10 year-old son rarely sang at home while I was leading worship, and I prayed that he would begin to change this practice. On our very first Sunday, as I stood next to him singing “In Christ Alone,” pointing to the words in the bulletin, he began to sing, and I was filled with joy as my eyes filled with tears. I had spent the days prior grieving the loss of our church family for the next four months, but God used this moment to confirm that He was working, that He was going to be working.
And He worked. After a couple of weeks, the weight of ministry began to lift, and we enjoyed the end of the school year and the anticipation of our coming travels. Each Sunday we visited different churches, gleaning all we could from the preaching, teaching, and other elements of worship. God nourished our souls and began giving us vision for our own ministry through all of these experiences.
Sabbatical is truly a gift, one for which we were humbled and grateful to receive. In Part 2, I look forward to sharing with you about our travels and how God is shaping us and our church for the future.
Thanks for sharing, Jennifer! What a gift!
So many encouraging statements tucked in this Blog! I especially relate to not taking for granted any chance to sit and sing together in church as a family. Thanks for sharing!
I also could relate to the blessing it is to have all of our family sitting together in church. We rarely have that, too, with our girls. In fact, it’s been a point of frustration for my youngest at times as I am involved in leading worship, too, so we are not often able to sit all together.
Maybe we need to share some ideas with each other for how to find creative ways to have that time together and still complete our responsibilities on Sundays. Any ideas you’d like to share, ladies? 🙂
Thank you for sharing! My husband is on sabbatical right now. He didn’t do as much preparation as (it sounds like) you guys did. We are so grateful for this time, as it has been much needed. He is feeling like a great weight is off his shoulders. He seems so much more relaxed and happy. Some of his symptoms of depression are easing up. We are not traveling, as we have 4 kids age 4-11, and can’t afford it. But he has taken a LOT of time with each kid, one-on-one, and with me 🙂
I do wish we had known about this Lily Grant… We have both received comments from people in our congregation that indicate some feel resentful that he is “getting a 3 month vacation.” There were no major objections, but enough of an undercurrent of grumbling that puts a bit of a shadow on things.
Blessings on you. I’m glad you are able to sustain some rest. Sometimes the people in our congregations don’t understand the spiritual weight that a pastor feels…I pray that becomes apparent to your church. And I hope you are all able to soak up every moment you have together! God bless!