Amy McCreath considers the historic and present needs and challenges for Christian mentoring especially with what she calls the present “open source” generation in a post-modern society of increasing complexity. She also discusses the unique requirements of mentoring to the three particularly critical seasons of life, college/young adulthood, early professional life, and early retirement.

Faced with a group of potential members from a new generation who drifted away after finding the church wanting, Robert Kyte employed his time on sabbatical to ask whether there is a future for the traditional “name brand” (Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Lutheran, UCC) American Protestant churches. What do adults aged 45 and under look for in a church? Do they look for a church at all? What are some mainline churches doing differently that causes them to thrive, and what do pastors need to learn and practice now?

James Wolff recounts a remarkable event when the Holy Spirit connected the “word read” with the “word lived” in the life of a man who drew Wolff himself into a dance set to the rhythms of grace.

Janet Wanner describes how with the help of a group of writers she developed a plan for her sabbatical that allowed her to dance in a sea of practices beyond her “home” tradition and thereby enrich her relationship to God and her ministry in congregation and ecumenical settings.

Virginia Herring recounts a pilgrimage with her daughters into Celtic spirituality that has taught her to “bless the more mundane parts of ordained life” as the ever new beginning of a desperately needed reconciling ministry.

Talitha Arnold considers the lessons that the church might well learn from Renaissance artists who persistently embraced creativity as a calling akin to that of the Creator despite the risk of failure and the inevitable imperfection of the works of human hands.

Marion Aldridge developed his sabbatical plans to ensure "scheduled shocks" that would help him attend to the voices of those in his church and culture that the Christian community has for too long ignored. In the process, he discovered a world beyond his comfort zone where the fresh winds of the Holy Spirit are blowing and Christians are called to minister.

Linda Jo Peters discovers keys to becoming a source of peace in the disciplines of silence found in prayer, Sabbath taking and receiving blessings.

After thirty-three years in the ordained ministry, James Lamkin offers three seminal pieces of his credo that can help other parish clergy pay attention to the emotional processes within their congregation.

Walter Hermanns offers a refreshing draft of insights into the possibilities and locales for ministry that he discovered unexpectedly from the vantage point of a wheelchair during his sabbatical.

Angelique Walker-Smith recounts a sabbatical that underscored the importance of finding approaches that would more carefully define the difference between a focus on “the doing” of ministry tasks versus “the being” in ministry. Approaches that she calls “standing still” with God.

This is the first of two articles examining programs that provide grants to religious leaders, allowing them to take time away from their demanding lives in order to renew themselves spiritually, physically, emotionally, intellectually and in their personal relationships. This article will focus on what the sabbaticals and clergy renewal grants programs are meant to accomplish, what promise they hold for persons who receive grants in the programs, what pitfalls should be avoided and what expectations should be. See National Clergy Renewal Program

This is the second of two articles about grants to religious leaders that allow them to take time away from their demanding lives in order to renew themselves spiritually, physically, emotionally, intellectually and in their personal relationships. This article highlights the experiences of several pastoral leaders who experienced sabbaticals. For more information and applications for the program on the web, see National Clergy Renewal Program.

Convinced that preaching is the primary spiritual discipline for parish leaders and yet must be connected to effective leadership in other dimensions of congregational life, Mariann Budde pursued two projects during her sabbatical. First she asked how preaching reflects the relationship between the congregation and preacher and can set a tone for spiritual exploration and adventure within the community. At the same time, she studied how large congregations are structured to encourage growth and transformation. Her discoveries, outlined in her reflections here, have led to an integration of her preaching with transformational leadership.

Lawrence Pray compares his sabbatical experience as a “set-aside time” akin to the practice of farmers when they “set aside” certain parts of their acreage so that the earth can be renewed and provide in the future more plentiful harvests. He describes in detail the ways that he assisted his congregation in preparing for his departure and their assumption of full leadership in the congregation, and he offers an account of how the laity’s growth as spiritual leaders proved essential to the congregation and his own spiritual sustenance when upon his return from sabbatical he experienced a major stroke.

Vincent Rush observes that the life and work of the minister necessarily involves skills in two domains -- the fixed and constant world in which outcomes are definable and more or less subject to control and a contrasting world of allusion, symbol, story, parable, ritual and directionless play where outcomes always come as a gift. He discussses how a period of sabbatical proved essential to rebalancing these two sides of ministry which he calls "the prose and the poetry" of ministry.

Kevin Phillips draws on the insights of Martin Buber, John Macmurray and Daniel Elazar in order to show how the ten commandments apply outside of a religious setting. He then outlines a typology of leadership based on five root values expressed in the decalogue that he suggests has direct application in the forming of leaders who can foster creative, high functioning organizations.

Recounting the healing experience of her sabbatical, Ann Helmke asks, “When did much of the Church at-large abandon the sense and reality of Mystery? It is our heritage. Scripture is filled with countless accounts of ordinary people experiencing holy transformation and relationship in their lives. What are we afraid of? That others might call us fool?

Terrie Anderson notes that far too often we seek to give back to God a tithe of all we have while trying to make a difference in our world all by ourselves. But, she observes, it is only when we rest in God’s arms that we can fully experience the wonders of God moving in our lives.

Sherryl White notes that “the challenge for ministerial health and holiness seems lightly tethered to a fragile equilibrium of intersecting orbits: (a) an attentive listening to what has been; (b) an active participation in the moment before me; and (c) a ready availability for what is yet to come.” But she asked: “How can I hold myself in a state of ready hope so as to be available to transformative invitations of future?” For her an answer came in “desert grace” during a sabbatical in the American southwest.

From his experience over thirteen months with an ecumenical group of pastors, William Buchanan finds hope for the church's future in the notion of "ambiguous vision" and direction for ministry in the inculcation of Christian practices generally and hospitality in particular.

Recognizing that no one is called to ministry without first being called by God, Peter Luckey proposes practical means by which congregations and religious leaders can plan their essential role of confirming and nurturing those called to serve and guide the church in the future.

Paul Grabill proposes that an emerging “City Church” movement may well bring about a “New Reformation” of American Protestantism by generating a transdenominational, relationally driven unity among Christian congregations at the local level.