Concordia College

What To Do

1. Assume that it will take at least two weeks to disconnect from parish life mentally and emotionally. You can begin whatever program or plans you have in mind right way, but it will take awhile to adjust.

2. Keep track of your time well before the sabbatical and at different times of the year (e.g., one week in September, a week in July, a week in April). Use it to assess how you spend your time and as a reminder of tasks that need to be done while you are gone. Also, this will provide specific evidence for your board or council of what you do and why you need a sabbatical.

3. Keep a journal before, during and after your sabbatical (what you are doing, learning, feeling). This will help you not only discover what the sabbatical is doing for you, it will help when you report back to the congregation, and it will help planning the next sabbatical.

4. Plan to be gone completely. Do not return for weddings or funerals, and make this clear before you go. If the congregation is well aware of this before you go, you should not have any problems.

5. Make a list of your needs and identify those that are most important to you.

6. Make specific plans for your sabbatical, even if your plan is to sleep late and rest a lot, and discuss the plans with your board/council or other governing body.

7. Don’t try to do too much. This is a sabbatical, after all. Save some things for your next sabbatical.

8. Assume it will take several months to train your lay people to take over the various functions that are needed: taking care of the mail (be aware of confidentiality issues here), visiting the sick and shut-in, being on call for emergencies, planning and presiding at liturgies, chairing committee meetings, etc.

9. Include the congregation as much as possible in your sabbatical planning. Communicate, communicate, communicate! Be sure they are on board.

10. Reflect on how you want to do your re-entry when the sabbatical ends. Be sure to thank and recognize the lay leaders who helped you while you were gone. Be sure to report back – perhaps a written report mailed to all members of the congregation.

11. Don’t assume you’ll never get a sabbatical. Start now to make it happen and it will.