The OPC continues to produce The Ordained Servant, an e-magazine, found on their website. This month’s issue is entitled, “Rest in a Frentic World”.

From the Editor. Few ministers in the OPC have been given a sabbatical. Those who have, enjoy the spiritual and intellectual refreshment. In the OPC and most NAPARC churches slim resources simply do not allow such a means of ministerial renewal. David VanDrunen has written an excellent article this month on “Sabbaticals for Pastors.” In fact, David is on a sabbatical as I write. Hopefully his argument in favor of pastoral sabbaticals will at least convince fellow officers that sabbaticals are not a luxury we can ill afford. I would argue that they are a necessity that we can ill afford to do without. My own session was very open to the idea until the economic downturn made it impossible to consider for the time being. I suspect this, as well as perennially limited resources, is the case for most who read OS.

However, we need to take the long view and plan to do better in the future if we want to cultivate a healthy ministry in the OPC. Four ways of solving the problem come to mind. In addition to David VanDrunen’s excellent practical suggestions, consider the following. 1) Make the sabbatical doable by limiting it to between one and three months every seven to ten years. 2) Some congregations could budget a small amount each year. 3) Presbyteries could have a fund for sabbaticals with an eye to assisting smaller congregations. 4) Since the greatest expense is pastoral/pulpit supply, some of us who are nearing so-called “retirement age” may choose to shift gears in our mid-sixties and serve the larger church in different ways. One of those ways could be to offer our services to other churches for minimal compensation in order to make pastoral sabbaticals feasible.

The depth and quality of preaching is especially jeopardized by the fast pace of our distracting world. The church, then, is in need of cultivating the biblical idea and practice of rest, also known as Sabbath keeping.

Blessings in the Lamb,
Gregory Edward Reynolds

Contents

• Changing Pace: The Need for Rest in a Frenetic World
  by Gregory E. Reynolds
• Sabbaticals for Pastors
  by David VanDrunen
• Review: The Undercover Revolution: How Fiction Changed Britain
  by T. David Gordon
• Review: Last Things First
  by David Holmlund
• The Pulley
  by George Herbert

See the entire offering here as well as access to their archives.