"Sabbatical"

           Beginning on Monday, August 5th I will be on sabbatical for four weeks.  This is the first time that I have taken an opportunity like this since I have been a pastor for a little over ten years. That being said, in addition to not being at the office, I will also be taking a sabbath break from all social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.). I am both excited and a little uncomfortable with that, but I think it will be a really life-giving time with space to breathe.
          Our UMC Book of Discipline (our United Methodist "rule book") allows pastors to take one week each year, and four weeks every quadrennium (four-year period) as a spiritual renewal leave.  I have plans for my time away, and although I am not in any way "burned out" I think this time away will be very healthy for me and for the congregation and community I serve at Covenant UMC.
          I am grateful and humbled by the privilege of being a Christian pastor and leader, and I have tremendous hope for our future as people of faith.

Have any of you taken sabbatical?  What did you do/not do?  What advice would you give to someone starting a sabbatical?

Culturally Relevant

Recently I had a conversation (okay, it was a Facebook conversation, but it was still a conversation) in which people were commenting on why some folks leave Methodist churches, for instance, to go to large, non-denominational churches. And this happens EVERYWHERE... I heard these kinds of conversations in Kansas when I was serving a church there, and on each side of this state in every community I hear similar sentiments. And everyone wants to know WHY?

There seem to be a few underlying concerns, and they are all intertwined and difficult to separate.

1. Our decline feels like a "death" is imminent.
2. We need to change to be more like “them” in order to stave off death.
3. Their theology and music is not of my liking, so I don’t want to change to be more like them.
4. Do we really have to choose between being culturally relevant and theologically sound?

I think that last question unearths the most pertinent assumptions. Are these two really mutually exclusive? BY NO MEANS!

I wholeheartedly agree that we have to be culturally relevant, but that does not have to mean that we sell our collective soul. I have a few convictions about this particular trend of people leaving for bigger, more performance-driven congregations and church worship services.

1. People more often make a decision to attend a church based on its’ music style instead of theology. I don't think most people think that deeply about it.

2. Those that do choose to attend these churches based on theology often need the certitude that a more conservative, literalistic understanding of God, the Bible, and faith will provide (and I am not saying that pejoratively at all).

3. Our world is filled with increasing chaos and change, and people who feel uncomfortable with ambiguity often need their understanding of faith to be more stable and unchanging. Often this is characterized by a need for black and white in a gray world.

I think we can and should be culturally relevant AND completely authentic. If we can do that, then people won't have to choose between "good" music (which is different for everyone) and "good" theology (ours, of course!).