Let me start with a confession.
There have been seasons in ministry where I preached rest to God’s people while quietly running myself into the ground. I quoted Jesus saying, “Come to me…and I will give you rest,” then went home to another late night of emails, planning, problem solving, and low-grade angst and anxiety. I told others to honor the Sabbath, while my own “day off” became a catching up day that never really caught up.
If that sounds familiar, you are not alone.
We live in a time where pastors feel pressure to be always present, always available, always producing, always “on.” Sermons to prepare. Members to visit. Communities to serve. Content to create. Crises to navigate. Family to love. Staff to lead. Bills to pay. On top of that, many pastors are bi-vocational, carrying another job while trying to carry the weight of a congregation.
The result is a quiet crisis. Tired shepherds trying to lead tired sheep.
In that context, Sabbath rest can sound like a nice idea, and sabbatical reset can sound like a fantasy. Yet both are part of God’s design for the care of those who care for others.
This is not a luxury conversation. This is a survival conversation. This is also a faith conversation.
So let’s talk about it.
Sabbath: God’s First Gift, Not Our Last Option
Before there was a pulpit, a praise team, or a church calendar, there was a rhythm.
Six days of work. One day of rest. Not as a suggestion from an exhausted God, but as a pattern set by a God who never gets tired.
“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing. So on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy…” (Genesis 2:2–3)
God did not need a nap. God was teaching us something about being human.
Sabbath is not God’s way of slowing you down so you get less done. Sabbath is God’s way of forming you so you remember who you are and who you are not.
You are not the Savior.
You are not the source.
You are not the one holding the universe together.
You are a steward. A servant. A beloved child.
And children rest in the care of their Father.
Pastors often treat Sabbath like content rather than covenant. We preach it as a principle for our people, but treat it as optional for ourselves. We tell members, “You need a day to stop,” while we live as if the kingdom will collapse if we ever truly shut it down.
That is not faith. That is quiet arrogance dressed up as responsibility.
Look, if God could rest and the universe kept spinning, your church will survive your day off.
Sabbath for a pastor is not just about sleep, though sleep is holy. It is about stopping your ministry activity long enough to be reminded that God’s love for you is not based on what you produce.
It is about worship that is not work.
Prayer that is not planning.
Being with God without trying to impress God.
Sabbath is that weekly reset where you step out of the role of “Pastor” and stand simply as “beloved.” Not Reverend. Not Doctor. Not overseer. Just son. Just daughter.
When that rhythm is missing, ministry becomes heavy, and identity gets tangled up in activity. You start to measure your worth by attendance, finances, programs, and praise reports, rather than by the unchanging love of God.
Sabbath is God’s gentle interruption to that lie.
Sabbatical: When The Shepherd Steps Away To Stay
If Sabbath is the weekly rhythm of rest, sabbatical is the extended reset.
In Scripture, you see patterns of rest woven into the life of God’s people. The land was given a sabbatical year. Debts were released. Slaves were set free. God built cycles of restoration into the very fabric of community.
You also see Jesus regularly withdrawing from the crowd. After miracles. Before big decisions. When the crowds pressed in. He stepped away to pray, to be with the Father, to breathe.
Sabbatical for a pastor is not just a long vacation. It is a focused season of renewal. It is a structured time, usually several weeks or months, where the pastor steps back from weekly responsibilities to rest, reflect, heal, and listen.
It is about the shepherd stepping away so that he or she can stay.
Without sabbatical space, many pastors live in permanent output mode. Sermons, strategies, counseling, funerals, weddings, meetings, crises. There is little room to process grief, evaluate calling, examine patterns, or seek God for the next chapter of ministry.
You cannot pour from an empty vessel. You also cannot keep ignoring the cracks in the vessel and expect it to hold.
Sabbatical gives space for:
Time with God that is not sermon driven.
Time with family that is not constantly interrupted.
Time for counseling, spiritual direction, or therapy.
Time to read, study, and reflect without the pressure of “What am I preaching Sunday.”
It is not selfish. It is stewardship.
A burned out pastor is not a gift to a church. A pastor who has lost joy, compassion, or spiritual vitality is not a better servant because they refused to rest. They are in danger, and so is the congregation they serve.
Why We Resist Rest
If Sabbath and sabbatical are so important, why do we fight them?
Part of it is fear.
“What will people think if I say I need rest?”
“Will they see me as weak?”
“Will I lose my place?”
“Will someone replace me?”
Part of it is identity.
Pastors are used to being the needed one. The one people call. The one who shows up. The one who has answers. Rest threatens that part of us that likes to be needed.
Part of it is control.
We say we trust God, but when it comes to stepping away, we quietly worry, “What if everything falls apart without me?”
Deep down, rest exposes what we really believe about God.
Do I trust that God can care for these people without my constant presence?
Do I trust that God sees me as more than my ministry?
Do I believe that stepping back is obedience, not abandonment?
Sometimes our refusal to rest is less about faithfulness and more about fear of being forgotten.
That is why this conversation is not just practical. It is spiritual warfare. The enemy would love nothing more than exhausted pastors preaching to exhausted churches, too tired to dream, too numb to discern, too drained to resist.
Sabbath and sabbatical are acts of resistance. They are declarations that we will not be driven by the expectations of people or the pace of culture, but by the rhythm of grace.
The Role Of The Church: Making Space For Healthy Shepherds
This is not only a message for pastors. It is also a challenge for congregations, boards, and leaders who say they love their pastor.
If you want a healthy church, you need a healthy pastor. There is no way around that.
That means churches must move from “we appreciate you, Pastor” Sundays to structures that actually care for the pastor’s soul.
That may look like:
• A clear policy that names a weekly Sabbath day for the pastor and respects it.
• A sabbatical plan built into the life of the church, not as an emergency response to burnout, but as a normal rhythm of longevity.
• Financial and logistical support so sabbatical is not a burden on the pastor’s family.
• Shared leadership that does not dump everything on one person, but equips others to carry ministry while the pastor rests.
When a church honors Sabbath and sabbatical for their pastor, they are not indulging the pastor. They are honoring the God who calls and sustains that pastor.
They are also sending a message to the entire congregation that rest matters. That people are more important than production. That “be still and know” is just as holy as “go into all the world.”
A Pastoral Plea: Rest Is Part Of Your Calling
Pastor, let me talk directly to you.
You are not lazy because you need rest.
You are not less anointed because you are tired.
You are not weak because you cannot carry everything you used to carry.
You are human. And God knew you were human when God called you.
Taking Sabbath seriously does not make you a less faithful shepherd. It makes you a more honest one. Planning and taking sabbatical does not mean you are stepping away from ministry. It means you are stepping more fully into the kind of long term ministry God desires for you.
Your body is sending signals.
Your mind is sending signals.
Your family may be sending signals.
The Spirit is whispering, “Come to me…and I will give you rest.”
Do not ignore all of that in the name of “being strong.” Sometimes the strongest thing you can do is stop.
There will always be another need. Another crisis. Another email. Another Sunday. There will not always be another chance to heal what is quietly breaking inside you.
So ask God honestly:
“Where is my Sabbath?”
“When was the last time I truly rested?”
“Do I need to start talking with my leaders about a sabbatical, not as an emergency, but as an act of faith?”
Then ask your leaders courageously:
“Can we create a plan that allows me to sustain this calling, not just survive it?”
And if you are a lay leader reading this, consider initiating that conversation yourself. Do not wait until your pastor is falling apart before you say, “We should have done something.”
Healthy shepherds help grow healthy sheep. Healthy rhythms of rest and reset are not extra. They are essential.
Paul D. Flowers, Sr. 