Away

Summer is coming and people begin to talk about their vacation plans. A friend of mine is talking about “staycation” because she has so many tasks to do around home that she just can’t justify leaving for an extended time. But she still plans to spend a few days in a camper at the lake without cell phone or to-do list in order to truly be away.

There are a few pastors we know who struggle with the concept of actually going away. What happens if something happens? They think they’ll take life a little easier and that will be just as good as going somewhere. Or they may go somewhere but stay in close touch so they can hurry back or at least be consulted—just in case.

But that means they really haven’t gone away at all. They haven’t really turned over the reins to anyone. What this means to the folks who stay back is that they aren’t really in charge. They won’t make any decisions or alter any plans; they’ll most likely just preside over things while they coast. They feel as if they need to guess what the pastor would do in every situation. It’s the case of the buried talent. Nobody really learns to be in charge. Nobody really gets to go away.

One good practice of any leadership team is to give everyone a chance to truly go away, and on the flip side, to give everyone a chance to be in charge. It does take some planning, of course, but if we did more of this I suspect we’d have more people ready to take on leadership roles and we’d have lots more people who really get to rest and renew themselves. To have a genuine Sabbath experience, somebody needs to go away.

Posted by Marion