By My sabbatical was properly branded ‘Study Leave’, so I knew I wasn’t allowed to spend my time sipping Negronis on the shores of Lake Maggiore. Not all of it, anyway.
I identified an area of research that I wanted to pursue. Importantly, so that I could switch off, this wasn’t be something where I was planning a sermon series, or considering a book proposal. This was to be a quite separate area where I could get stuck in, and develop some clear thoughts, without any required outcome.
If you know me, I’m a reader. Like, a seriously voracious reader. I give myself themes for the year, like immersing myself in one theologian, so getting myself reading wasn’t going to be difficult. What I had to do was identify that single theme.
Getting myself reading wasn’t going to be difficult. What I had to do was identify that single theme.
My sabbatical needed to focus on a theological area which would have a ministry consequence. While other people might be happy with a subject-in-itself, I know my mind well enough that I’d be feeling guilty if being unplugged didn’t get me plugged back in again.
Now, as it happened, I’d been itching to tackle something for a long time: an evangelical theology of the visual arts, like painting or sculpture. There were a number of reasons for that, including being in a church and area which takes the arts as a serious issue.
I might come back to the other reasons at some point, but what was critical for me was the planning.
In the year before the sabbatical, I began to note down and gather some of the key Christian books I would need to get my head round. There were four or five which were relatively obvious, but I started to ask round, consult Dr Google, and generally get a feel for the subject.
I was deliberately self-controlled in this. The sabbatical wouldn’t be worth doing if I didn’t really find the theme engrossing, but I had to make sure that it didn’t start before it started. Those tantalising bookshop to be identified, but cracking them open would have to wait. I wanted to make the best use of every moment, which meant it had to start well, with good resources to hand and lots of fuel in the tank.
So I bought the journal planner I was going to use about a year ahead of time, and used it to collect ideas and plans.
And I kept it with the small but growing pile of books I had ready for that season.
I bought the journal planner I was going to use about a year ahead of time
Allowing myself to do that meant that the trajectory out of and back into ministry were clear to me from the outset; I had a place to park my sabbatical thoughts while I was doing ministry, and a place to park my ministry thoughts while I was on sabbatical.
Which journal planner? Realistically, any Moleskine or similar would do, but no surprises for those who know me, it was Full Focus Planner from Michael Hyatt’s team. It had done so much of the heavy lifting for me in terms of goals, calendar, projects, lists. I simply bought extra one with a different colour cover from my usual. But
Process question:
If you’re planning a sabbatical, mini-sabbatical, quiet week or quiet day, what are the vocational reference points you need to take with you, for a healthy time?
This was my first ever real sabbatical, and many of you will have had one too – what have I missed?
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