SBC could do better in helping pastors with sabbaticals

I never had a sabbatical, not after serving as pastor for more than a decade in two different Southern Baptist churches. By way of abject confession I'm sharing why my resume would not include any brief or extended period away from my church for renewal and rest:

I never asked.

Had I asked, the two wonderful congregations where I served longer pastorates would likely have worked with me to arrange some period away. I am none the worse for not having done that but believe now that it is a good thing for a pastor (and ministerial staff as well) to be able to take an extended time away from their church for a sabbatical.

There is, I admit, a subset of SBC pastors who have slipped into the unhealthy and unproductive attitude that they are overworked, underpaid, that the work is uniquely difficult. These are the brethren who depress gatherings of ministers with their personal and church woes.

But it is tough for the average pastor. The SBC as a whole is flat or declining meaning that most churches are not growing and that many are having difficulty properly supporting a fulltime pastor. Congregations these days have far more exposure to the megachurches with their celebrity pastors. The amount of respect given to the minister has been eroded by our scandalous, greedy, immoral, and racketeering fellow clergy. There is a consumer mentality among many prospective church members leading to an attitude from the pews that focuses more on what the church and staff can do for them and their family than how they can serve Christ through the church.

All this adds up to the pastor having to sustain a higher level of stress.

So, churches, give the guy a sabbatical who has labored for the Lord and the church five or ten years faithfully. Pay him during that period. Tell him not to worry about anything, the church will take care of the routine ministry needs while he is away. Tell him to go somewhere where he can enjoy himself (and family, of course), where he can develop fresh, new ideas. Where the daily pressures have been suspended.

Our moderate and liberal colleagues who identify with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship have a plan and program in place for sabbaticals. If we SBCers have anything, I haven't seen it. Is the SBC doing what we do best here - talking a subject to death but not actually doing anything about it?

Our North American Mission Board has an information page on sabbaticals along with an occasional article on the subject.

Thom Ranier, LifeWay CEO, had a fairly recent article on sabbaticals. He estimates that 5% of SBC churches offer sabbaticals.

If sabbaticals are only a big church thing in the SBC, then I'm wasting time here. The vast majority of SBC churches are small congregations, single staff. Baptist Press has a nice article (rather dated but still relevant) on one of these. Noteworthy in the piece is that when the pastor returned after his five-week sabbatical he preached a month of ten minute sermons. The congregation liked them. (I know of a couple of pastors for whom I would fund a sabbatical if they would preach 10-minute sermons rather than preaching their 10 minutes worth of sermonic material and expanding it into 45 minutes).

If megachurches are the model for us these days and megapastors are the few, the mighty who are emulated by the average pastors, then here's a place where something good could come from the mega-satellite-franchised church up the road from you. Almost certainly their pastors takes one or more months away every year.

We invest hundreds of millions of dollars in training and helping Southern Baptist ministers. I would consider setting aside some funding for a sabbatical initiative that would encourage and assist churches in giving their pastor a sabbatical a good investment.

If your association, state convention, or any of our entities have a sabbatical plan for SBC ministers, feel free to comment on it and post a link.

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Photo: Surf fishing at Padre Island, my idea of part of a sabbatical plan. Wiki Commons.

Pastor, how about a month off?

"You bet," sayeth most all of us at one time or another.

Ah sabbaticals. I'm on one now but had to retire to get it. The usual route to a sabbatical for most of us is to (a) resign, (b) get fired, or (c) retire.

Back in 1999 Baptist Press did a piece on a small town, average sized church pastor who took a sabbatical. It was a story most of us could identify with:

“I was not overworked; the church was not asking too much of me. That was not the problem,” he said. “The problem was that I needed a freshness of purpose in my life and in the church’s life.”

The solution agreed upon was five weeks off, unheard of among SBC churches unless the church is a mega or large church.

I like the concept but am not certain that many churches would grasp it.

I can hear the conversation now,

"Brethren, I'm mentally and emotionally exhausted" the pastor might explain to the deacons, "could we work out a sabbatical, a month or so when I could be away?"

"But pastor," one of the deacons might respond, "you only work one day  a week anyway. How could you be exhausted?"

Megachurch pastors can be exhaused. Large church pastors can be thought to deserve a sabbatical every few years. But average sized churches? Probably not.

Bring up the idea of ministry burnout to your church and you're probably toast in their minds from that point on.

Be open and vulnerable and disclose that you are mildly depressed to the church and you are likely viewed as damaged goods to them, worthy of whispers in the hallways.

 Bryant Wright is on sabbatical right now. I don't begrudge him that.

Johnny Hunt gets every August off and two years ago notably extended that through mid-September.

I'm guessing that average sized and smaller churches do not love their pastor any less than a megachurch loves theirs but I'd speculate that smaller churches would look askance at a request for a sabbatical.

Here is one smaller church pastor's story:

On June 4, 2006, I drove to the church for evening worship intending to announce my resignation.  After 21 years as a pastor, and 27 years in professional ministry, I had hit a wall.  I was not only exhausted; I was empty.  My faith had not wavered, nor had my commitment to ministry or my church.  Like a car that had run out of gas, I just stopped.  Fortunately, by the time I pulled into the parking lot, I had reasoned myself out of such a drastic act.  When pastors run out of steam, they generally do one of three things:  they move to another church; they get sick; or they do something stupid.  I came very close to my stupid!  Instead of resigning, I walked into the service and announced that I was prepared to teach, but I was unable to teach, and that I would see them next week.  The congregation witnessed what I had been fearfully anticipating for several years – a total shutdown

His church gave him five weeks off.

Many pastors could identify with the problem, depression, burnout, shutdown, but few could identify with the solution, a sabbatical.

One of the ways that associational missionaries, state convention workers, denominational press, and SBC leaders could help the tens of thousands of workaday, average church, average pastors is to regularly promote the concept of an occasional sabbatical even in smaller churches.

Money is tight all around at every SBC level but I bet that there would be a lot less profitable ways for state conventions to budget money than to put a sum aside for grants to churches who wanted or needed to give their pastor a month or so sabbatical. This would give the idea a modest push among smaller churches.

I can envision a state convention program whereby churches were told, "We will fill your pulpit at no cost to you if you give your pastor a sabbatical month off." State conventions and associations would benefit by having an extended opportunity to share some of their work in a church over an extended period. Such an incentive would be persuasive to many churches who fret over finances and supply honoraria if the pastor is out.

In the past I have been pessimistic about the idea of sabbaticals being realistic in average and smaller sized SBC churches but I think it is doable and is certainly worth encouraging.

Some pastors might need to start thinking and praying about it, although you could just act like a fighter pilot and stubbornly believe that others may crash and burn but not you, you've got the right stuff.

I wouldn't risk it.

Admit it. You've been depressed in your church.

Pastors get depressed.

Pastors’ wives get really depressed.

It’s Monday morning and I’m a little morose myself.

A steady stream of SBC folks write about pastors and depression. The latest is Thom Ranier whose recent article, When Pastors Experience Depression
offers helpful suggestions and informative links.

Ranier writes,

The articles [linked] note that the problem of depression in the ministry is not only real, but that it is growing. Further, the rate of depression among ministers is now higher than the rate of the general population.

He suggests ways laypeople can help their pastor: pray for him, make him take vacations and days off, pay him adequately. Good.

Other things I've read on depression recently are less helpful. A megachurch pastor who is depressed takes a several month sabbatical and some large church pastors near me get the month of July off.

Did I miss this trend in SBC life, where you get a month in the summer off? Guess so.

Average-sized church pastors don’t get a month off and they don’t have an ice cube’s chance in Gehenna of a sabbatical. They might live with a meager salary. They probably don’t have a staff to handle church things on his days off or vacation. Which leaves most of us without these options altogether.

If Ranier has good suggestions for laypeople, Plodder will step in with humble suggestions for pastors. No, I don’t have any special training or qualifications for such things, aside from observing some of my colleagues over the years:

1. Reevaluate how you handle ministry. Ranier suggests that one cause of clergy depression is unrealistic expectations. He's right about this.

Do you really need to be at the hospital for every type of medical issue for all of your congregation? I don’t think you can survive in a church if you try to meet everyone’s expectations.

There’s always one of your pastor predecessors who did more, more often, in ministry that you can possibly do. To some in your congregation he's a hero and you're lazy. Better to smile and ignore these people and do what you feel is proper in your ministry.

2. If called while on vacation, consider whether or not it is really necessary to cut it short. I like vacations. My wife really likes vacations. I like being away. I rather like not having the same weekly routine.

So, when on vacation and you get that phone call, is it really something that you need to get back for, immediately? How about a phone call? I admit to some anxiety when away but thinking back on almost thirty years of pastoring and vacations, there have been only a few times when I needed to drop everything and return. Most members will be understanding and considerate about this.

3. Rethink exactly what constitutes success in ministry. OK, neither you nor I can do anything to change the settled fact that the coin-of-the-realm in SBC life to many, perhaps most, pastors and laypeople, is church growth: Buildings, baptisms, budgets. If this is the measure of success, then since the great majority of SBC churches aren’t growing, most SBC pastors are unsuccessful. Depressing. Maybe we need to adjust our thinking on this.

4. GO TO THE DOCTOR. Ranier didn’t make this suggestion but should have. Depression can be a serious medical problem. Every community I’ve pastored in has a story about a pastor who committed suicide. A corollary to this is: DO WHAT THE DOCTOR SAYS. Sorry, but this one needs to be shouted. Men are stubborn about healthcare. Men pastors are doubly stubborn. If your doctor says you need it then get the prescription and take the doggone pills.

While Johnny Hunt can talk openly about his depression (and can get 11 weeks off), I don’t think most of us can. Maybe I’m wrong here but my view is that the church will view their pastor as damaged goods if he is under treatment for depression or asks for extra time off to deal with it. I'd like to think I'm wrong about this but I'm probably right.

I’d speculate that many members recognize when their pastor is in a funk and are kind and considerate enough to make allowances. They’ve been there and understand. Thank God for these people.

Of course, if one’s approach to pastoral ministry is that the pastor is superman, then ignore all this.

Pity the poor pastor...

...or, can we get a dose of reality here?

Proposition: An SBC pastor is in a unique position. He is on duty 24/7/365. He can never relax. He has to be in pastor mode constantly. He has to respond to every need. The duty of sermon preparation, delivery, meetings, church administration; the cares of the congregation in an onerous burden that leaves him exhausted and spent physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Really?

The pastorate has certain demands. Sometimes these can be overwhelming if allowed to be. Some churches can be pastor-killers. Some people can be burdensome. GuideStone tells us that depression is a costly component of our health care costs and I recall some surveys saying that clergy are more depressed than the average American.

Woe is us?

Maybe.

But do we labor with unique responsibilities, extraordinary burdens, and job stresses that are far greater than the people we see each Sunday in the pews?

I think not, and frankly, I think it unhealthy for the brethren to constantly gravitate to the conversations, articles, and blogs that might be categorized as the "Woe is us" genre.

A couple of times a year, we get articles singing the praises of pastoral sabbaticals, as if that is really an option or even a remote possibility for any other than a few large/mega church pastors. The anonymous 'Bill' on the pretty good blog SBC Voices (who apparently eschewed any opposing views on this issue and closed comments) says:

For me, I think that the pastor should get the normal 15 days vacation that other people receive.

I also think that they should get the month of June or July off. Yes, OFF. I think they ought to be encouraged to travel, take a class, fish, spend this time with their family, anything but come into the office. They should also be paid for this time as well.

Go for it, Bill, but I'd speculate that the average SBC pastor would be laughed out of a deacon's meeting or search committee interview if that is put on the table. A pastor with a long tenure in a church may have sufficient credibility that his congregation gives him such, but not annually.

I once listened increduously to a pastor talk of how he expected to take the first month off from his new church (a church plant). When I shared that item with a layman, he just shook his head.

When I am with some of my lay friends, ones who are mostly not in my congregation, folks who are comfortable enough not to worry about offending the "Rev" they will quickly respond that pastors seem to be, well, uninformed about real life. Many occupations have stressful job responsibilities. Many jobs require availability around the clock. Many have long hours that are simply part of the job. And many other jobs have intense moments like delivering a sermon to a crowd. One doesn't hear these people whining about sabbaticals.

Sure, Johnny Hunt gets every July off. He certainly deserves it, academics get sabbaticals, and, thankfully, many churches work with their pastor when he has prolonged health issues, but only the rare pastor gets an extra month off.

Pastor pay may be suffering with the economy as of late but has steadily risen over the years and less of the brethren are required to live in a pastorium next to the church (although with plummeting housing values, some may wish that they did). In many ways life has improved immensely for the pastor (and his family, with the pastor's wife often having her own career and not available for any expectation of the two-for-one deal).

So, let the brethren have an occasional gripe session and whinefest, but then be done with that. And by all means don't do it in front of a layperson.

OK, my dozen or so readers may now start tossing the hymnals or pew Bibles at me.