Sabbatical by Pastor Sam Smucker

Sabbatical
Pastor Sam Smucker

Sam Smucker was raised in an Amish home in Lancaster County. Sam and his wife Sherlyn went to RHEMA Bible Training Center in Tulsa, OK. After graduating in 1977, they received an invitation from a newly formed group that was looking for a pastor. Sam and Sherlyn returned to Lancaster in May 1977 and started pastoring Worship Center. In addition to his role as Senior Pastor, Sam leads Worship Center’s Global Ministries and serves as a Regional Director for RHEMA Ministerial Association International.

Why a sabbatical?

Around eighteen years ago, I experienced several difficult family experiences and sometimes to deal with personal issues and continue the ministry of a church at the same time can take its toll on a pastor.

I talked to my leadership team and board of directors about how we were feeling the need to have some extended time off. When your vocation is ministry to people – dealing with the problems people have day after day can have an emotional toll on you that you may not recognize until you are at a point of burnout.

So Sherlyn and I took 90 days away from ministry and when we returned we were refreshed and energized and filled with new vision and purpose. After that being a positive experience for us, we established a sabbatical policy for all fulltime pastors on our staff.  Jesus took time away from ministry at times to pray and be rejuvenated.

A sabbatical is for rest, renewal, further education, restoration, prayer and extended time with family. I felt that we should be proactive in this with our pastors to hopefully prevent burnout and emotional duress. Also it is an added benefit to them for being a part of our church staff and a reward for faithfully serving and caring for the people in our congregation.

Here’s how we do it at the Worship Center: A sabbatical is given after seven years of fulltime employment. A sabbatical leave is eight weeks at full salary. Additionally, five percent of the pastor’s salary is given for travel and educational purposes. The pastor must apply for the sabbatical six months in advance by submitting a written request including a schedule of events and activities he plans on doing.

Sabbatical leave is granted on the condition that the pastor is committed to continue his employment for a reasonable period of time after the sabbatical.  A report of activities and accomplishments during the sabbatical is to be submitted to the senior pastor within 30 days after returning from the sabbatical.