Have you ever said this when someone has asked if you’ve taken a sabbatical?

Cru offers sabbaticals at regular intervals for its staff with a hope of offering time and space to connect deeper with the Lord and be refreshed, so we can serve out of a sweet connection with God. After 20 years on staff, Cru offers us a three month sabbatical. Some take it and some never do. Many staff with school-aged kids say that they just can’t imagine what it would like as a family– or what would they would do with the kids? How could it be restful or refreshing if we have the kids with us? These are valid questions and each family’s response will vary. But with the right expectations I think it is worth the effort.

We are currently in our third sabbatical and each one we had at least one kiddo. Here are a few reasons we’ve gone ahead and said, “yes!” to sabbatical (with kids).

1) Sabbatical is a gift that Cru offers our staff as a means of stepping away from ministry and focusing on renewing our souls. It didn’t seem like we “needed” a sabbatical this year but a friend wisely said, “That seems like a perfect time to take one.” Once we started planning, it became more evident the need and desire to step into a different rhythm and make more room for God to tend to my heart and relationships.

2) You can’t stockpile your sabbaticals, so if you wait to take one, you’ll just let the gift pass you by. That’s a lot of years of waiting till the kids kids grow up and move out. If it is helpful, think of it as “practice” for when you can take a sabbatical sans enfants (without kids). 

3) There are only so many summers that we get with our kids. (We’ve always taken our sabbatical in the summer months.) We started when Lexie was 17 months old… now she’s going to start her freshman year in high school. This could be our last sabbatical with her… which makes me teary-eyed. How did the years go so fast? I’m deeply grateful for the connection, growth, intentionality and memories that have been made during our family sabbaticals. 

4) Growing up as a missionary kid or having parents in full-time ministry can have a lot of perks but it also comes with some costs. A sabbatical is an opportunity to give our kids a less distracted version of ourselves and build into our family. 

5) Sabbatical is a practice to remind ourselves that ministry keeps going without us– God’s got it. It also models to those we are leading that sabbatical is a practice we encourage and support.

6) Pulling back from “doing” and choosing to slow down, allows us to better hear God’s tender love for us and to allow Him to recalibrate our hearts and rhythms. It might even help us to learn how to sabbath. : ) 

There are probably 100 other reasons you could think of to take sabbatical and twice as many as to why not to take a sabbatical. But, what if…

What’s a part of your soul that needs tending to? 

What’s something restorative that you’d love to do more of?

What would happen if you slowed down or stepped away from ministry? 

Are you fearful of spending that much time with your family? 

What could be a benefit from taking a sabbatical?