If You Love Your Pastor, Send Him Away (+ List of Places)

October is Pastor Appreciation Month. As a semi-retired pastor’s wife, I’d like to share with you one way to show love to your pastor.

In 2015, I wrote a blog post, The Best Gift My Husband Ever Received for Pastor Appreciation Month. I’m amazed at how many people are still viewing that post!

I want to update you on my husband’s pastoring journey, and how we believe even more now, that sending your pastor away is one of the greatest acts of love. Plus, I’m including a list of places that offer free or reduced-price lodging for ministry leaders.

First, the update.

The Pastoring Journey

Called into the ministry later in life, my husband served as a full-time, bi-vocational pastor for fourteen years. During that time, he took one sabbatical for five weeks. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, that was one of the best gifts he ever received.

After my husband retired from full-time pastoring in 2018, we worshipped at various churches in search of a new church home.  It was a blessing to sit under the teaching of different pastors and to build new friendships among believers all across our county.

God used each church we visited to teach us something. We gained numerous insights being the visitors of the churches, instead of the members—but that’s for another post.

Eventually, we felt called to join a church which was in the middle of replanting. The replanting process has been educational and encouraging. We continue to find great joy watching God do magnificent things in this church.

Currently, as we worship and serve in this church, my husband is also doing supply work—preaching for churches whose pastor is absent.

After the past few years of experiencing a different kind of sabbatical, he feels led to help churches in their time of need.

We’ve learned that 30% of the churches in our county are without pastors. My husband still works a full-time job in our community. However, if God opens the door, my husband will serve as an interim pastor while assisting churches in their search for full-time pastors.

So, that’s where God has us right now in our journey. Where is your pastor in his journey? Whether he’s fresh out of seminary, or he’s an experienced shepherd, his job is challenging–physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Send Your Pastor Away

If you love your pastor—send him away. Not as a banishment, but as a booster!

A pastor carries a lot in his heart and mind as he cares for the sheep in his fold, as he cares for his family, and quite likely, as he works another job in the community. Even under the best of circumstances, this can take a toll on his physical and emotional well-being.

Every pastor needs time away for reflection and revival. This is different than the annual family vacation time. A vacation focuses on the family. A sabbatical is a set time away from one’s normal duties to dig in deep with the Lord. That may come through a pastor’s retreat, special counseling, hearing Biblically-sound preaching from other pastors, taking a class, or carving out lots of quiet time with the Lord. You’ll hear various viewpoints on what a sabbatical should include. I found two great websites. Each one varies a bit on how they view a sabbatical. You can read them at SoulShepherding.org and at 9Marks.org.

Because pastors always seem to be needed in some way at their churches, it is challenging for them to ask for that time off. Some will, but many won’t. This is where the church steps in. Realizing that taking care of the church body means taking care of the pastor, the church needs to prayerfully consider offering a sabbatical.

Many sources recommend a sabbatical every seven years. But, that’s typically for a sabbatical lasting 6 – 12 months. For shorter sabbaticals (6 – 12 weeks), churches may consider more frequent sabbaticals. A friend of mine said her church has set regular sabbaticals every other year for their full-time ministry leaders.

Matt Schumucker of the 9Marks ministry for church leaders said his church “allows each pastor to accrue one month of sabbatical time per each year of service. The pastor can take a maximum of three months sabbatical at any one time.”

Another suggestion is for churches to consider giving a two-week sabbatical every two years.

There are plenty of resources available to help churches prayerfully plan with their pastors for some time away.

Free or Greatly Discounted Places to Send Your Pastor

After love and prayers, the sabbatical has been the best gift my husband has ever received from the church. He came back wiser, healthier, and ready to lead his flock once again. During his sabbatical, my husband did not attend a retreat. Instead, he chose to seek wisdom and biblical teaching from seasoned pastors. Also, he spent a great deal of quiet time with the Lord through prayer, reading the Bible, and just being still before Him.

You may want to offer a place of retreat for your pastor. We have stayed at the following places and can highly recommend the Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove in Asheville, NC; the Whitestone Inn in Kingston, TN, and the Ridgecrest Conference Center in Black Mountain, NC.

Here’s a comprehensive list of retreat centers in western NC.  A quick search on the internet should help you discover retreats and discounted places for ministers in your area. One good place to start is with this state-by-state list at ChurchLeaders.com.

Pastor Appreciation

During Pastor Appreciation Month, go ahead and shower your pastor with cards, gifts, and a potluck dinner. He’ll appreciate all of those! But, if you love your pastor, then also consider sending him away—just for a little while. Pray diligently for him and his family. Then, watch and praise God for how He works through the giving of your gift. 

Do you have further thoughts or suggestions concerning sabbaticals for pastors?

A freelance writer, Sally Matheny’s writing is published in worldwide, national, regional, online and print publications including Appleseeds, Clubhouse Jr., Homeschooling Today, and The Old Schoolhouse.

As a writer, blogger, and speaker, Sally encourages parents to live victorious and to courageously tell the next generation wondrous things. Connect with her on several social media sites, but her favorite hangouts are at SallyMatheny.com and Pinterest.