rience,” said Rapp, 57, who had served as the sole pastor of congregations and as an assistant to the bishop of the Northern Illinois Synod over a 19-year period. Rapp was a psychotherapist for five years and owned a restaurant before being called to the ministry. She holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology and is a certi- fied spiritual director, in addition to having earned her master of divinity degree from Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa.
Rapp found herself feeling burdened after she had pro- vided pastoral leadership for a $600,000 project in which Shepherd of the Hills moved its building up a hill and added a basement, a fellowship building and a pastor’s office.
“I was so excited when I started doing ministry in 1993, it was like sliding downhill. After the project, it felt like I was going uphill with a huge load,” she said. Rapp felt fortunate that many of the congregation’s members are teachers who understand the purpose of sabbaticals.
She had to wait 18 months to take her three-month leave after the congregation granted it because she had to fulfill a full six-year pastoral term first. The standard time for sabbaticals in the Northern Illinois Synod is every six years. In other synods, this period varies from six to eight years, said Walter May, assistant to the presiding bishop. Rapp, who received a $6,000 matching grant from Wheat Ridge, spent her first month preparing for her trip to Israel and Greece for her time away. She read novels, scholarly books and made travel plans, in addition to set- ting up a wellness program, joining a workout center, and spending time creating and savoring healthy meals. “I used food lists on the website of the ELCA Board of Pensions (now Portico Benefit Services), which worked with the Mayo Clinic to recommend meals,” she said. “I had time to fix meals and to eat properly, versus just grab- bing something.” (Go to
www.elcabop.org and search for “Mayo Clinic embodyhealth.”) Rapp’s Wheat Ridge grant covered 40 percent of her travel expenses and the salary of an interim pastor who, as a daughter of the congregation, agreed to handle pastoral- care duties, preach and attend council meetings. The pastor spent 12 days in Israel, then 12 days tracing the footsteps of Paul on the Greek leg of her journey. “You can hear about the apostle Paul, but unless you [travel] the 6,000 miles that he walked, through the hills and the 110-degree heat—and we were in an air-conditioned bus—you don’t realize how passionate he was,” she said. Rapp also gained great insight into the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, partly through her initiative in contacting the Lutheran World Federation and visiting
the LWF-run Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem. She recommends that other pastors arrange for tours of the Holy Land with a Lutheran seminary, a plan she attempted but couldn’t accomplish due to timing issues. After returning to Shepherd of the Hills following her sabbatical, Rapp said she realized how much she had needed to be invigorated by a change of pace. “My admin- istrative assistant said, ‘Wow, have you changed,’ ” Rapp said with a laugh. “Anyone who came to worship prior to and after the sabbatical saw a difference in me.” Her most successful post-sabbatical experiences include working with parishioners to prepare PowerPoint presentations about her travels and studies, and planning biblical-era meals to share with the congregation. Rapp’s experience echoed the Wheat Ridge study’s three key findings: • A sabbatical improved the ministry leader’s mind, body and spirit, enabling him or her to return more energized and committed to the ministry.
The experience also improved the minister’s com- munication and quality time with his or her spouse and/or family. The sabbatical improved the pastor’s relationship with the congregation, too, as one minister said he real- ized that he should model healthy relationships with the church council and with congregants to have a healthy, relational church. • The experience refreshed the congregation and its lay leaders, opening the way for new lay leaders to come forward, boosting energy for new ministries and allowing greater clarity about the congregation’s mission and min- istry. The congregation also gained a greater appreciation for the pastor’s work and role. • The rejuvenation led to a greater commitment to start new ministries. The study offered some cautionary notes too. To be successful, a pastor must make clear that a sabbatical isn’t an extended vacation and should include guidelines for when the minister can be contacted about church business, the Wheat Ridge study said. Sabbaticals shouldn’t be scheduled around major changes such as during a building project or when new staff members are coming on board, the study noted. They also aren’t the time for the church council to try to usurp the pastor. One congregation hired a consultant and created a task force to assess the church’s vision while the pastor was away, resulting in a difficult re-entry for the minister. Finally, sabbaticals aren’t meant to be one-time-only. Of the need to rejuvenate, Rapp said, “I may do it again before I retire. It may keep me in the ministry a couple more years.” M
January 2012 31
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52