Approved for Sabbatical

On Tuesday, May 17th 2011 the Pastoral Relations Committee presented a proposal to the Church Council regarding granting me a full three-month sabbatical in 2012.  After conversation about the purpose and reason for a sabbatical and questions of how it may work for us, the Church Council unanomously voted to approve this proposal.  My sabbatical will be January 1, 2012 through March 31st 2012.

I am so pleased, happy and thankful for this decision.  Too often these days we loose good, qualified, educated, trained and seasoned ministers from the vocation of local Church pastorates due to burn out and stress.  This sabbatical will not only allow me to have a break from the day to day pressures, responsibilities, stress and continually on-call schedule of being a pastor, it will also provide me with renewal time, training and new experiences of service in order to remain in ministry.

I am thankful to the Pastoral Relations Committee, Church Council and congregation for your support in taking the next step to reach our Conference Compensation Guidlines by including a full sabbatical leave.

I have already begun planning for my sabbatical leave.  I am working through my library selected potential books to read and I'm contacting colleagues who have had this experience to get ideas for mental, physical and spiritual renewal while I am away.  My plans will include some travel, workshops, classes and training, etc.  More of those details will be forthcoming.

Many of you will wonder how things will work at the Church during these three months, who will be in charge and the budget impact a sabbatical leave may have.  Those and other questions will be answered in a variety of ways in future blogs and church publications and forums.  But for now let me just say how thankful I am for this opportunity to care for myself professionally in order to continue with my call to ministry amoung you.

Blessings,
Pastor Keith