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On Sabbatical "I've been working for 30 years, and I've never gotten three months off." I can pretty much tell you exactly how the conversation goes when I tell anyone from my congregation about my recent sabbatical, and the above line is always in there. My outward response is usually polite laughter. My inward response is, "Too bad for you." After five years on staff at Colonial Church, I was awarded a three month sabbatical; my life has changed forever as a result. Easter Sunday was my last day in church, and then I took offI mean itI flew to London that night. And I didn't officially come back to the church until July 1. I didn't take any church-related phone calls, I had my e-mail automatically forwarded to my assistant, and I wouldn't let my family even talk about Colonial. I figured a sabbatical was meant to be a break, just like the Hebrew verb intends, "to cease." So I ceased from my duties as youth pastor. I did not, however, "get three months off." Of course, I spent much more time with my wife, Julie, and our two toddlers, Tanner and Lily. But I was given a very direct commission by our senior pastor: "This church is giving you a sabbatical so that you can reinvent yourself and your ministry." I wasn't about to take that charge lightly. I knew exactly what I neededto go inward; to go deeper; to find some silence. As a youth worker, my days are busy with paperwork, developing staff, going to meetings, trying to be attentive to whoever happens to walk into my office, and, naturally, spending time with students. Between that and two toddlers at home, I'd found it quite difficult to practice the type of contemplative prayer about which I'd been reading. So on my sabbatical, I visited with some leading youth ministry thinkers in London and Dublin. I traveled to the Taizè Community in southern Francean unforgettable experience. I took Julie to an adventure spa in Utah for a week of hiking, massage, yoga, and hot tubs (big points there!). I went to study at Fuller and Princeton Seminaries. And I went on Youth Specialties' Sabbath Retreat. Through it all, I sought to develop a rule of lifesome spiritual disciplines that would guide me in my spiritual journey toward Christ. And Sabbath and sabbatical are part of that rule. So are contemplative prayer practices and a lot more silence than I'd ever known. Has this column made you jealous? I hope so. I want you to be jealous, because I want you to take a sabbatical. Whether you're a professional youth worker or a diligent volunteer, remember that ceasing your work and ministry for a while is biblical. Heck, it's in the Ten Commandments. Push your elder board, senior pastor, or boss to give you a sabbatical. Scour the employee handbook for your church's sabbatical policy. If there isn't one, write one up and propose it at the next church meeting. Then start to dreamdesign that time away so you'll be refreshed, renewed, and reinvented. It'll change you forever. Tony Jones is the Minister to Youth and Young Adults at Colonial Church of Edina, Minn., the author of Postmodern Youth Ministry, a Senior Fellow at Emergent, and a contributing editor to Youthworker. He is currently writing a book on ancient spiritual practices.
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