A Pastor’s Sabbatical: The Why, the What, and the How
April 4, 2024 | by: Dale Thiele | 0 Comments
Posted in: Pastoral Encouragement
This article is a more personal article for the church family of Oak Hills. I want to let my church family know that I have requested of the elders a sabbatical for this summer. The elders have approved my request with the plans I presented. I want to share those plans with you.
First, let me answer the question, “Why?” Why did I request a sabbatical? Or why should a pastor take a sabbatical? This August marks my thirteen-year anniversary of serving Oak Hills as her pastor. These years have been filled with my ups and downs, highs and lows. It is widely known that pastoral ministry is one of the most taxing and stressful callings to fill. The hours are long and irregular. The tasks are far beyond any human ability to fulfill. The cares and needs of people weigh on one’s heart. Throw in a pandemic and growing political turmoil, and these past few years have been even more challenging. Through all these circumstances, however, God has been gracious to me. I know many of you pray for me on a regular basis. God has used your prayers to sustain me.
While it is only by God’s grace that one can serve any length of time in pastoral ministry, it is wise and beneficial for a pastor to take periodic, extended periods of time away from regular pastoral duties for personal growth, reenergizing, and refocusing. Such time away only strengthens a pastor’s walk with the Lord and his ministry with the church. Like many churches, we have a sabbatical policy that allows our pastors to request a sabbatical once every seven years. I began to put a sabbatical request into action early in 2020. And then the pandemic hit. I did take a few weeks that year to work on my doctoral dissertation, but a true, full sabbatical was not an option during that crisis. Now, with Pastor John fully settled in his ministry at Oak Hills, this seems like an appropriate time to request this sabbatical.
Second question: What will I be doing? A sabbatical is not an extended vacation. It is a time for renewal through intentional study and the use of gifts in different avenues. I will be on sabbatical for the months of July and August. In July I will travel with Training Leaders International to Ethiopia to serve as a teacher for two cohorts of ministry leaders. I will be teaching the Pauline Epistles, mainly focusing on equipping the students to study and teach from Paul’s letters. After my time in Ethiopia, I plan to travel to Cluj, Romania, to visit with Chase and Sha Johnson, missionaries supported by Oak Hills. For the month of August, I will be Stateside, using my time for reading and writing and dreaming. The week-to-week responsibilities of pastoral ministry often do not afford me much time for strategic reading. I have a growing list of books that I will select from in order to dig deep into topics like preaching, evangelism, and church planting. I also have a couple writing project ideas that may work out to be future Touchpoint articles or more. Since I will have flexibility of location to do this work, I will use the opportunity to visit family as well.
Third question: How will Oak Hills manage? Short answer: as it always has, by God’s gracious provision. This is God’s church which he loves. God has given Oak Hills gifted men and women who have served the body faithfully in many capacities. He will continue to use your passion for the gospel and your gifting to serve the body. Pastor John will preach more. We will also have a few guest preachers fill in on a Sunday. The Elders and Deacons will be ready to meet needs and care for the congregation. The Care Team is well established and will support the elders and deacons in meeting those care needs. Ministry leaders will continue to provide vision and oversight for their respective ministry areas. I believe a sabbatical is an excellent time for members of the body to step up and serve. I hope you look forward to this time as an opportunity not only for me, but also for Oak Hills to be stretched and grow in her service for the Lord.
As we get closer to July, more details will be available. In the meantime, do not hesitate to ask questions. I appreciate your prayers, as always, for the Lord’s work in our midst.
