5. Sabbaticals allow churches to reshape leadership models

Chances are leadership works in your church the same way it has always worked. That may be great. But there's no incentive (or time) to step back and think whether the shape is right and proper. Are the right people doing the right things, suited to their gifts. Are there nascent talents that need to be developed. The only way a sabbatical can work is if a church sits down and plans for the leadership change that will inevitably take place for a month or two or three. People may have to learn new skills. Some things may have to be dropped – and you may discover you don't miss them anyway! Again, it would be nice if this kind of assessment and reshaping happened all the time, but we all know……

4. Sabbaticals are great ways to develop local church leadership

Even those of us who put our money where our mouths are and identify and train up new leaders know that it can be a bit of a hit and miss affair – and, simply put, there aren't the opportunities to demonstrate leadership for up and coming leaders that a sabbatical actually provides. Take preaching. I might encourage a young guy to preach, say, once a month. All well and good. But that does nothing for him like giving him a month long series of his own where he's got to work at a book and wrestle with a weekly message. Quite a different skill, as anyone knows who has done it. Or any other leadership issue.

Here's my next contention:

3. Most ministers overwork

I recall going to an FIEC fraternal years ago when the ever-youthful Andy Paterson (he's really 82, he just looks 36) said that most ministers were either inclined to the sin of laziness or the sin of overwork. I think he's right, and what's more – most of us tend towards the latter. That's because we're always wrestling with self-righteousness, trying to solve the problems of the church and world single handedly. That's sinful of course, but it can be a vicious cycle that it's difficult to break out of. Many ministers struggle with sabbaticals themselves for this reason. A sabbatical requires them to think differently and will help them recover from the addiction that ministry may become. 

Part two of seven…

2. Rest is a biblical idea

A sabbatical fits the biblical pattern of work and rest. Now, we most clearly recognise that demarkation in the working week. But think about this – the working week for most ministers is, at best, slightly odd. I maintain that most ministers work at least six day weeks because that is the nature of the role. So, a clean break to recharge and refresh is necessary. Biblical sabbath for the land allowed it to refertilise and refresh. So it is giving your minister a few weeks or months rest. It will allow him to think of the ultimate rest and, at least, experience some of its eternal and physical benefits in the here and now.

This may not be a blog series for you – you may need to pass it on (carefully and graciously) to your church leaders. However, here are seven (geddit?) good reasons for ministers to have occasional sabbaticals.

1. The ministers walk with Christ shapes the church's walk with Christ

We've got to be careful making this link too strong, but there is a link. Paul thinks so when he writes to pastor Tim. "Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers" (1 Tim 4.16). To deny the link is to deny Scripture. Now, we're good evangelicals so we understand what this doesn't mean and what it does – but the link is real. Sabbaticals are an excellent way of making sure that the ministers spiritual health is in good order. Of course, it always should be. But time away from busyness allows time to cultivate this spiritual walk which will benefit the whole church.

Preachers should be simple with their words. We shouldn't make the mistake that simplicity robs words of power, depth or profoundness. Our number 3 is just reading a Michael Morpugo book called Cool. It's a very simple kids book – easy enough for our 8 year old to manage. It's well written and moving. As far as it can be said of secular writing, it has power – it grips, it paints pictures, it moves. This is interesting to me because the language is no more complex than the tales of Chip and Biff from the dreary Oxford Reading Tree (good for learning, I'm sure, but so, so boring). It reminded me that we don't need long words to convey deep thoughts. Simple words. Simple words. Simple words. 

Two good books. Shame about covers….

The latest issue of Modern Reformation has landed on the office doorstep and there is a short, but excellent article on the Insider Movement:

Maybe you haven't heard but the most explosive issue in global missions within the evangelical church today is something called "insider movements." You aren't alone if you don't know anything about it, as most of the evangelical world in the West knew nothing of the movement until about the year 2000…

But as Bill Nikides points out this movement is both unbiblical and contrary to the fundamental doctrine of the church. If you're still not sure what it is, this is where people from other faiths become Christians but stay inside their faith organisations and systems – so here are some of the aliases you may have heard: "born again Islam, incarnational Jesus movements, Jesus Muslims, Messianic Muslims" and so on. 

I've seen this movement in action in India, seen it decimating a church – perhaps you haven't come across it, but it's both dangerous and insidious. 

I've had a few months of highs and lows – such times are common currency for most pastor-teachers. Highs and lows can be caused by all kinds of things – things said to us (or not), sermons going well (or not), church happy (or not), people being saved (or not) and so on. But I took time out this week to assess why the situations I'm in – what I perceive to be the causes of my highs and lows – cause such fluctuations in my own heart. Here's my answer.

I let them.

Or, to be more theologically precise, I let the circumstances I face and the words I take in shape me. My identity, in other words, comes from what people do to me, say to me, think of me. That's not only wrong, it's, frankly, supremely dangerous. More of that in a moment.

As I reflected on this, I realised that many pastor-teachers are in the same boat. We desperately want people to like our sermons for good reasons – we believe this is how they will be built up. We want our church's evangelism to be successful – this is how the church will grow. We want our ministry to be appreciated – this is how ministry for the long term will be maintained. Surely, all good? Ultimately, if these things click then Christ will be glorified, won't he?

Er, that's not quite the whole picture. 

I spoke on Ezekiel this last week at a minister's meeting in South Wales. It was a happy time and I was reminded that in Ezekiel, everything is done for the sole purpose of ensuring people know that the Lord is the Lord. Judgement. Grace. Salvation. Wrath. Mercy. Exile. Discipline. Hard times. Good times – all with this one aim. And so, if my identity as a pastor-teacher comes from how "successful" ministry is in a worldly sense, I'm ignoring the thrust of books like Ezekiel. To base my identity on the wrong things is supremely risky. It takes me away from the Saviour who has redeemed me and made me his and makes me into an adherent of the prosperity gospel (though I would never admit to such a thing, of course). 

No, it's absolutely critical that my identity comes from who I am as a believer. My identity is found in Christ. This is what I need to preach to myself every morning. Every afternoon. Every evening. This is what, ultimately, will stop the cycle of highs and lows and give me quiet confidence and assurance that I am and always will be beloved of the Father, in the Son, through the work of the Spirit.

Perhaps you need an identity check too?

I was on double duty last Sunday – preaching from Numbers 11-12 in the morning and then in the evening we had a different kind of evening where we thought as a church about singing. It was all based on Colossians 3.16-17:

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. 

I had three points (hoorah!) interspersed throughout the evening with songs that we sung together. We have a smaller congregation in the evening so it allowed us to work through some of the implications together. 

1. Why do we sing?

Paul sees singing as having a vertical dimension ("Singing to God") and an horizontal one ("teach and admonish one another"). It is too simplistic to say that any particular song does one or the other. Often they do both. We tried a few experiments as to why singing serves that purpose -first of all everybody shouting out "Thank you God for……" Chaos. Then saying together, "Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to thee, how great thou art" – then finally singing that together. We thought through how what we sing teaches one another.

2. What do we sing?

It must follow that what we sing is of the utmost importance. We don't let anybody teach anything in the church – our preachers must preach the word of God. And we sing "the message of Christ." Three straightforward applications:

• content rules, not style – this is the other way around from the way most Christians think
• everyone takes part – we all exercise this ministry – no "sitting this one out"
• It can be good to modernise – we want a ministry of the word that is contemporary, i.e. understandable

Some good discussion on these points!

3. How do we sing?

Paul is clear – "with gratitude in your hearts to God." We thought through how we cultivated such an attitude. 

A good evening. I hope it makes us value this ministry more.