Articles on Clergy Sabbaticals

• 1. Falling in Love AgainGrant Origin: Louisville InstituteBy:Goodman, Ross Date Added: 6/11/2010St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, Arlington, Massachusetts
  Quoting Ron Heifetz's dictum that leaders need to "get to the balcony" every once in a while to gain perspective, Ross Goodman found his sabbatical "balcony" allowed him to return to his congregation as a beloved community that previously had been "hidden in plain sight by weariness."
• 2. Fully Alive?Grant Origin: Louisville InstituteBy:Williams, Juliette Date Added: 5/7/2010St. Elizabeth Catholic Church, Altadena, California
  Juliette Marsh Williams recalls how her sabbatical unexpectedly drew her to look beyond the gift of an extended period of time away and reconsider day-to-day living as the real opportunity to be “fully alive.”
• 3. Before and After: Sabbatical Reflections and Ministry Grant Origin: Lilly Clergy Renewal GrantBy:Gaskill, William Date Added: 5/7/2010First Presbyterian Church of Merchantville, Merchantville, New Jersey
  William Gaskill recounts a sabbatical embedded within the context of grief and healing, a healing in which he experienced God “loving me forward.”
• 4. What Difference does a Pastoral Sabbatical Make?: What Pastors and Their Congregations Have to SayGrant Origin: Louisville InstituteBy:Sorge, Sheldon Date Added: 12/22/2009Louisville Institute, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
  Sheldon Sorge, Associate Director of the Louisville Institute, reports on a study of the effects of pastoral sabbaticals on both the pastors who receive them and the congregations that they serve.
• 5. Four Intersections: Family, Friends, Faith, and CultureGrant Origin: Lilly Clergy Renewal GrantBy:Henderson, Robert Date Added: 12/1/2009Covenant Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, North Carolina
  Traveling from Kenya through Egypt to Bethlehem, Bob Henderson rediscovered the life-giving nature of friendships both in and out of the context of ministry and the surprising adaptability of the Christian faith in challenging cultural environments.
• 6. Flight from Fear, Pathway to a New SongGrant Origin: Lilly Clergy Renewal GrantBy:Leininger, Andrea Date Added: 10/11/2009Bethel United Methodist Church, Indianapolis, Indiana
  Andra Leininger recognized that fear is the great enemy of faith until appreciated as an invitation from God to move beyond the distraction of fearing rejection, failure, change or death. So she employed a renewal blog during her sabbatical to maintain contact with her congregation and enliven planned experiences in this congregation to parallel her journey. In the process, she and her congregation recovered their sight of God’s living presence and their voice in song and action praising God’s daily activity in their midst.
• 7. Finders KeepersGrant Origin: Lilly Clergy Renewal GrantBy:Mather, Mike Date Added: 9/4/2009Broadway United Methodist Church, Indianapolis, Indiana
  Mike Mather recalls that his two sabbatical experiences in India, Bangladesh, South Africa and New Mexico allowed him the space in his life to search in the "unlooked for" where he found clear evidence of God's abundance in the most unlikely places and lessons in persistent faith despite what appeared to be intractable obstacles.
• 8. Africa and New SightGrant Origin: Lilly Clergy Renewal GrantBy:Young, Malcolm Date Added: 8/24/2009Christ Episcopal Church, Los Altos, California
  Malcolm Young and his family expected their pilgrimage to Africa to help them build better neighbors, to understand their own faith and the conflicts within it. But what they could not have planned was the spirit's capacity to transform them by giving them new sight for their church and ministry.
• 9. Prayers and Dreams: Answered and ExperiencedGrant Origin: Lilly Clergy Renewal GrantBy:Hux, Tom Date Added: 8/2/2009Our Savior Lutheran Church, Salem, Oregon
  Tom Hux explores his opportunity to live a dream first conceived during his seminary days to visit a South African pastor who had taught him more about what it means to be a Christian than any other person that he had known. This, plus a side visit with the London founder of the Alpha Course, renewed his commitment to the gospel's dual call to evangelism and social service.
• 10. Meeting the Weaver: Experiencing the Strands of Religious DiversityGrant Origin: Lilly Clergy Renewal GrantBy:Papile, Jim Date Added: 7/2/2009St. Anne's Episcopal Church, Reston, VA
  Jim Papile wanted to travel to places where Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Eastern Orthodoxy and contemporary American culture were dominant in order to experience how the faithful expressed their religious beliefs in their day-to-day lives. His pilgrimage led him to the monastery of Shantivanum, to the Hindu Sivananda Ashram, to a silent retreat with Tibetan Buddhist teachings in Dharamsala in India and to Saint John’s monastery on Patmos in the Greek isles.
• 11. The Power of Sacred Places and PracticesGrant Origin: Lilly Clergy Renewal GrantBy:Phelps, Joseph Date Added: 6/29/2009Highland Baptist Church, Louisville, KY
  Joseph Phelps was not burned out nor questioning his calling. Instead, he was excited about his church's future plans. But he sought through his sabbatical of travel to search for an integration of "message and medium, community and context, and spirit and space." This journey allowed him in the end to discover with new eyes his home congregation.
• 12. Bread and Breath for the Breadth of the Journey: Reflections Three Years OutGrant Origin: Louisville InstituteBy:Cooper, DorisanneDate Added: 11/9/2008Lake Shore Baptist Church, Waco, TX
  Dorisanne Cooper describes her exploration of spiritual and physical practices that would provide a nurturing rhythm to her ministry now and into the future.
• 13. The Ministry of Mentoring in the 21st Century ChurchGrant Origin: Louisville InstituteBy:McCreath, AmyDate Added: 9/27/2008Episcopal Chaplain at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  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.
• 14. Ministry RelearnedGrant Origin: Louisville InstituteBy:Kyte, RobertDate Added: 9/27/2008Pastor, First Congregational United Church of Christ, Dalton, MA
  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?
• 15. A Lifelong Pull into an Unlikely DanceGrant Origin: Louisville InstituteBy:Wolff, James E.Date Added: 9/27/2008Senior Pastor, Lawndale Christian Reformed Church, Chicago, IL
  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.
• 16. Dancing in the SeaGrant Origin: Lilly Clergy Renewal GrantBy:Wanner, Janet LillyDate Added: 9/5/2008Westlake Community Church of God, Indianapolis
  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.
• 17. Reflections on MinistryGrant Origin: Lilly Clergy Renewal GrantBy:Herring, VirginiaDate Added: 9/5/2008Holy Trinity Church, Greensboro, North Carolina
  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.
• 18. Brick by Brick, Sunday by Sunday: Creating God, Creating StillGrant Origin: Lilly Clergy Renewal GrantBy:Arnold, TalithaDate Added: 8/13/2008The United Church of Santa Fe, NM
  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.
• 19. A Pilgrimage through Latin AmericaGrant Origin: Lilly Clergy Renewal GrantBy:Smith, TomDate Added: 8/13/2008St. Rita Catholic Church, Louisville, KY
  Tom Smith discovered the experience of a pilgrim as he traveled in various Latin American countries in order to understand better the cultures and religious practice of his Hispanic immigrant parishioners and why they have chosen to immigrate to the United States.
• 20. It’s a Big Big Big Big Big Big Big World: Sacred SerendipitiesGrant Origin: Louisville InstituteBy:Aldridge, Marion D.Date Added: 4/16/2008Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of South Carolina
  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.
• 21. In Search of Sanctuary: A journey into silence finds God's peaceGrant Origin: Lilly Clergy Renewal GrantBy:Peters, Linda JoDate Added: 4/16/2008Unity Presbyterian Church, Terre Haute, Indiana
  Linda Jo Peters discovers keys to becoming a source of peace in the disciplines of silence found in prayer, Sabbath taking and receiving blessings.
• 22. Sabbatical As Fitting Room — A Pastoral ParadigmGrant Origin: Louisville InstituteBy:Lamkin, James E.Date Added: 4/16/2008Northside Drive Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA
  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.
• 23. Reflections on a Broken SabbaticalGrant Origin: Louisville InstituteBy:Hermanns, WalterDate Added: 4/16/2008Holy Communion Lutheran Church, Racine, Wisconsin
  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.
• 24. Being Still: A Spiritual Gift for Ministry and Mission EffectivenessGrant Origin: Louisville InstituteBy:Walker-Smith, AngeliqueDate Added: 4/16/2008Church Federation of Greater Indianapolis, IN
  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.
• 25. Clergy Renewal Programs (Part I): Taking Time to Renew Ministerial VocationsGrant Origin: Lilly Clergy Renewal GrantBy:Schier, TracyDate Added: 9/24/2005Lilly Endowment & the Louisville Institute
  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
• 26. Clergy Renewal Programs (Part II): Renewal is Key to Pastors' SabbaticalsGrant Origin: Lilly Clergy Renewal GrantBy:Schier, TracyDate Added: 9/26/2005Lilly Endowment & the Louisville Institute
  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
• 27. The Integration of Preaching & Transformational LeadershipGrant Origin: Louisville InstituteBy:Budde, Mariann EdgarDate Added: 6/11/2005St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church, Minneapolis, MN
  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.
• 28. A Clergy Sabbatical: God's 'Set Aside' for the SoulGrant Origin: Louisville InstituteBy:Pray, LawrenceDate Added: 6/11/2005First Congregational UCC, Big Timber, Montana
  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.
• 29. Waiting on Both Halves of the Soul: Ministry as Prose and as PoetryGrant Origin: Louisville InstituteBy:Rush, VincentDate Added: 4/24/2005Saint Hugh of Lincoln Roman Catholic Church
  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.
• 30. The Decalogue and LeadershipGrant Origin: Louisville InstituteBy:Phillips, KevinDate Added: 4/24/2005Saint Timothy's Episcopal Church
  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.
• 31. A Desert ExperienceGrant Origin: Louisville InstituteBy:Helmke, Ann E.Date Added: 1/1/2005The Peace Center, San Antonio, Texas
  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?
• 32. Reshaping Ministry in Light of My Sabbatical ExperienceGrant Origin: Lilly Clergy Renewal GrantBy:Anderson, Terrie RaeDate Added: 1/1/2005Family of Grace Lutheran Church
  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.
• 33. Ministry's Journey Toward MissionGrant Origin: Louisville InstituteBy:White, SherrylDate Added: 9/10/2004Sisters of St. Joseph of Baden, Pennsylvania
  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.
• 34. Reshaping Ministry in the Light of a Pastors Working GroupGrant Origin: Lilly Clergy Renewal GrantBy:Buchanan, William F.Date Added: 7/2/2004Fifteenth Avenue Missionary Baptist Church, Nashville, TN
  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.
• 35. A Joyful Calling: Mentoring Young Adults for the MinistryGrant Origin: Louisville InstituteBy:Luckey, Peter A.Date Added: 5/6/2004Plymouth Congregational Church, Lawrence, Kansas
  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.
• 36. Christian Unity: Local Movements & Congregational ImplicationsGrant Origin: Louisville InstituteBy:Grabill, Paul E.Date Added: 3/31/2004State College Assembly of God, State College, PA
  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.