Thoughts Now That We Are Home

Giving an employee three months off doesn't make much sense to a business model. Giving an employee three months off while continuing to pay them makes even less sense to a business model. Finally, giving such an employee a bonus before leaving and then showering his family with extravagant gifts when they return makes absolutely no sense to a business model.

If the organization is considered most important, you do everything to serve the organization. Anything that might negatively influence the function of the organization would not be wise. So, to allow a key player to be gone would be bad business practice.

The only way this kind of behavior makes sense is in a servanthood model. A servanthood model says that people are more important than the organization, and the organization only exists to serve people. I have been reminded of that during this sabbatical both through my reading (The Jesus Way) and by being on the receiving end of servanthood. Our church gets it. Thank you for being servants. One of the major ways sabbatical has impacted me is a call to follow Jesus' way of servanthood. His response to the problem of sin in the world was not to build monuments where people could come and be counted. He didn't form special interest groups to petition Herod. He didn't even put on a Temple Health conference for Caiaphas. Plenty of others had adopted similar ways in Jesus' day, but his way was different and didn't make much sense. He simply invested himself in people, and layed down his life as a sacrifice for sin.

I think many don't "get" the sabbatical idea because it doesn't fit the business model. Even though the General Church of the Nazarene encourages it, and districts promote it many churches are just flat opposed. I can almost hear the words of church members around the country. "Explain again how giving our pastor three months' vacation will get us ahead as a church?" The American way is about getting ahead, and getting results. Honestly, I think some of the blame may lie with us as pastors. Have we subtly taught our people that the organization is most important? Have we been more interested in growing an organization than serving people? If so, why should our people act any other way? Serve the organization at all costs! I know it is not all pastors. Some pastors have been faithful servants for years, and yet their congregations seem to want to suck every available ounce of productivity and life right out of them. After all that's what their job does to them, why should the church environment be any different? The business model makes sense, and many are immersed in it daily. The business model gets things done - gets results - even if it costs the well-being of the people and families who serve it. The servant model on the other hand seems backwards. Give up your life to find it? He who wants to be great must be the servant of all? What's that all about?

All I know is that if it is true that you reap what you sow, then this Sandpoint congregation is in for a huge harvest of generosity and servanthood. From just a quick look around many other congregations could afford to get that kind of cycle started.