Sabbatical: Renewal for the Future

Policy

The New England Synod strongly encourages congregations and other organizations within the Synod to provide for and grant their pastors and other full-time rostered and/or professional workers a sabbatical or renewal leave of three consecutive months after every four years of service in that setting.

The Synod also recommends that, every four years, the pastoral and lay leadership of the congregation engage its members in developing a comprehensive vision plan for the following four years. The Synod suggests that the pastor’s three-month sabbatical begin shortly after the development of this plan in order that the pastor might disengage, pray, study, rest, reflect, and prepare prior to leading the congregation in its new plan. The pastor’s renewal leave need not be focused specifically on the vision plan, but it is expected that the pastor will return to minister to the congregation refreshed and renewed in body, mind, and spirit.

While some congregations may choose to separate the sabbatical from the development of a vision plan, they are encouraged to engage in both activities. A sabbatical is not a vacation, nor is it a time for routine work, parental leave, searching for a new call or a new career, or retirement planning. The pastor will be expected to commit to remaining in that congregation for a minimum of a full year following the sabbatical.

During the renewal leave, the pastor should be paid full salary, housing, and benefits. The congregation will assume the cost of staff replacement during the sabbatical. The congregation is not required to pay for any of the pastor’s costs directly related to the leave but is encouraged to include in each year’s budget funds that will be set aside for the pastor’s sabbatical-related expenses (e.g. tuition and other fees, travel costs, etc.) so that the pastor does not have to spend personal funds for these professional expenses. The pastor and Congregation Council should seek the guidance of the Office of the Bishop as they plan the details of the sabbatical.

A renewal leave is not to be a substitute for regular pastoral self-care and growth, but it is an important contribution toward maintaining a vibrant long-term ministry in that congregation.

The above policy assumes the typical arrangement in our Synod of a congregation with one pastor. Congregations with multiple rostered staff and those with full-time rostered and/or professional lay workers are encouraged to make appropriate adjustments to the specifics in this policy and in the suggested procedures that follow later in this brochure. The Office of the Bishop and organizations within the Synod also might need to adjust some of the policy and procedural details.

Why Grant a Sabbatical?

Roy M. Oswald, a Lutheran pastor who serves as senior consultant at the Alban Institute and who has written and lectured extensively on many aspects of congregational life as well as on pastoral ministry, has offered several motivations for a congregation to want its pastor to experience a renewal leave, and his suggestions are summarized here. A pastoral sabbatical:

• Encourages longer pastorates. Congregations have difficulty realizing long-term goals without having long-term pastorates. Adopting a policy for periodic renewal leave is one way to increase the congregation’s chances of keeping its pastor. Whenever there is a change in pastorates, more than five years can be lost before development and growth can happen (including a few years of burnout before the pastor resigns, a transitional or interim pastorate, and a few years for the new pastor to get to know the congregation and to lead them in developing a strategic direction).

• Contributes to spiritual growth. Spiritual growth does not happen by accident. Growth calls for intentionally setting aside time for reading, prayer, solitude, and reflection. For some, growth may involve a study program or participating in a retreat or working with a mentor or traveling to appropriate locations or engaging for a time in a focused, non-parish ministry. Being intentional about spiritual growth is very difficult when working 45-55 hours per week. If a pastor is to provide dynamic leadership and deliver deep and challenging sermons regularly, he or she will need to get away for extended periods of time dedicated to spiritual development.

• Refocuses ministry approaches. A pastor not only is a spiritual leader, but is a corporate leader as well. As such, a pastor needs an astounding array of skills to be effective. In addition, parish ministry today is changing rapidly, and fresh ways must be developed to be on top of these changes and to reach new and younger persons with the message of the Gospel. A sabbatical offers an opportunity for a pastor to learn from others, to sharpen his or her skills, and to return to the congregation with new ideas and a new vitality for leadership.

• Prevents burnout. People in helping professions tend to burn out the fastest, in part because the constant, intimate involvement with the emotional burdens of other people’s lives is very draining. Many have come to refer to this as compassion fatigue—a vicarious trauma experienced by helping professionals. A common result is that a pastor, over time, will demonstrate key characteristics of burnout—exhaustion, cynicism, disillusionment, and self-depreciation. Pastors experiencing burnout usually become dull, hollow, and uninspiring and are more likely either to seek another call or to leave parish ministry altogether. A regular schedule of sabbaticals every four years will go a long way to preventing such results—for the well-being of both the pastor and the congregation.

• Strengthens congregational leadership. While some ministry tasks require ordination and others call for specific training, many tasks can be assumed by lay leaders. Granting a renewal leave to a pastor provides an excellent way for members of the congregation to develop roles within the congregation that correspond with the gifts they have been given by God.

Suggested Procedures

In congregations that are in pastoral transition, Associates to the Bishop will introduce the concept of a sabbatical in the call process and will encourage the congregation to include in the call a commitment to granting a leave of three months every four years and preferably following the development of a congregational vision plan.

In other congregations, pastors are encouraged to introduce to their lay leadership the concept of a four year cycle that includes the development of an extensive vision plan for the next four years and a pastoral sabbatical of three months following the completion of that plan. Associates to the Bishop are available to assist pastors in presenting such a program in their congregation. In addition, this brochure may be utilized in such an introduction.

Planning for a renewal leave should begin a year before the sabbatical, and a “time-line” needs to be developed. The pastor should present to the Congregation Council an outline showing how he or she plans to use this leave. The pastor and lay leaders should engage in specific efforts to explain the purpose of the sabbatical to the congregation as well as to develop and communicate all relevant details (e.g., pastoral coverage, assignment of responsibilities, financial adjustments, etc.).

Whether or not the pastor receives any financial assistance from the congregation for this sabbatical, he or she is encouraged to research other potential sources of funding and to apply for them as is appropriate to the specific nature of the leave. Associates to the Bishop may be helpful in suggesting potential funding sources.

Within six weeks of the completion of the sabbatical, the pastor shall submit to the Council and to the Office of the Bishop a report of how the three months were used and shall share learning experiences with the congregation.

Resources for Additional In formation

• Clergy Renewal: The Alban Guide to Sabbatical Planning by A. Richard Bullock & Richard J. Bruesehoff, Alban Institute (Book)

• Why You Should Give Your Pastor a Sabbatical by Roy M. Oswald, Alban Institute (Video with Leader’s Guide)

• Journeying toward Renewal: A Spiritual Companion for Pastoral Sabbaticals by Melissa Bane Sevier, Alban Institute (Book)
  The above are available from the Synod Resource Center (508-791-1530)

• Associates to the Bishop of the New England Synod:
  The Rev. Theodore W. Asta (508-791-1530) The Rev. Alice Kerr Laird (508-791-1530)

• Director of the Ministry Assistance Program: The Rev. Howard Mathisen (508-754-1803, Ext. 123, or 508-949-2566)
  

This brochure was developed by the Health and Wholeness Team together with Bishop Margaret G. Payne and her Associates. It was endorsed by the New England Synod Council and was adopted by the New England Synod Assembly on June 7, 2003.