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Caring for the Pastor: The Sabbatical

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In light of Pastor Kevin’s sabbatical, which begins on January 1 and ends on March 31, I thought it good to post this helpful article from Matt Schmucker of Capitol Hill Baptist Church. I hope it helps you to understand the purpose and importance of pastoral sabbaticals for the pastor and people alike.

“I have often likened pastors to bell towers: unless they are careful, they will ring one bell in their tower repeatedly. What do I mean? Even the best of preachers can begin to repeat the same theme and tone over and over in their preaching. A staleness or tired familiarity—one bell—begins to ring week in and week out. Why?

This exists, in part, due to fatigue. The role of pastor-preacher, if done faithfully, is one of the most taxing jobs in the world. It demands so many skills. It’s emotionally taxing. And it’s both so regular (that sermon is coming!) and so variable (who can predict funerals, illnesses, or member crises?). Congregations need to be aware of this and make provision before the ‘one bell syndrome’ sets in.

“One way to care for the pastor is by offering a planned and regular sabbatical. What do I mean by sabbatical? I don’t mean the biblical ‘sabbatical year’ spoken of in the Old Testament, used to allow farm-land to remain uncultivated and debts to be forgiven (i.e. remitted). ‘For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat’ (Ex. 23:10-11). ‘At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed’ (Deut. 15 1-2).

“I do mean the kind of sabbatical that our culture typically understands today. Wikipedia defines the sabbatical this way: ‘A sabbatical year is a prolonged hiatus, typically one year, in the career of an individual taken in order to fulfill some goal, e.g. writing a book or traveling extensively for research.’

“Sabbaticals are not vacations. We would encourage the pastor to see vacations as time completely away from his regular work (and geography, if financially affordable) and with the focus aimed squarely on his family. Sabbaticals on the other hand are not work-less and not aimed at the benefit of his family. They are specifically aimed at reinvigorating and renewing the mind and heart of the pastor through research, purposeful travel, writing, etc. In other words, the goal is to begin using some forgotten bells and to hang some new ones in that bell tower for a fuller, clearer, and louder sound.”


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