5 Thoughts for Leaders Considering A Sabbatical
Since returning from my sabbatical, I’ve had numerous leaders reach out to me with questions on how I prepared personally and how my team and I prepared for my absence. Here are some thoughts that may be helpful for you if you are considering taking a sabbatical in the future.
Plan with your team to get clarity on roles and responsibilities while you are gone. Here are a few questions you can ask: What are your responsibilities? Who is leading in which areas? Who is primarily responsible for taking your responsibilities? What are the projects and initiatives that the team will work on while you are gone? What should they not work on? I wrote out every responsibility that I was carrying and made sure it was assigned to someone before I left. Going through this process will help you to be able to detach in a way that is ultimately helpful.
Determine not to check-in on everything that is happening. I committed not to attend our prayer room or services or watch online nor to keep tabs on how things were going week to week. My team and I agreed that they would only contact me about ministry things if there was a significant emergency, a life threatening situation or a major financial crisis. Otherwise we just related as friends, sharing meals and times of fellowship.
It’s helpful to break down the sabbatical into 5 parts:
planning - pre sabbatical
Rest - first third, spend as much time resting and doing those things you enjoy the most
Depth with God - connecting deeply with the Lord in worship, prayer and devotion in the word. Don’t prepare messages or write. (Unless your sabbatical is specifically for those purposes)
Vision - Pray into what God has in store for the future for your ministry and family
Re-entry - Come back slowly. Don’t show up and start going full speed according to your previous schedule, you need time to get back in. I took about 3 months to get re-acclimated to our regular schedule.
Stay connected relationally with your team in times of fellowship or prayer. Do fun things together. I fished a TON with a couple of my staff. It was great.
Allow the Lord to love you and restore your soul while you’re on sabbatical.
I hope these thoughts are helpful. There are a lot of resources out there that you can glean from as well. I would encourage you to prepare really well in order to make your sabbatical as successful as possible.