Few people need a rejuvenating vacation more than pastors. Whether you’re the senior pastor, small group pastor, children’s pastor, youth pastor, etc… you need to leave the physical responsibilities as well as the emotional responsibilities so that you can come back refreshed and ready to be a Kingdom difference maker. Many of you vacate the office but never vacate the emotions of the office.
If you’re going to experience a real vacation, you’re going to have to get away from it all… really. Below you’ll find seven suggestions for pastors who want to experience a rejuvenating vacation.
1. Before leaving for vacation, have someone in place to cover emergencies. Many pastors tell congregants or their assistant as they leave for vacation, “If there’s an emergency feel free to call me.” There are two problems with this, 1) Church members perceive almost any unsettling issue as an emergency. 2) In the average church, there’s an unsettling issue almost every week. If you have elders, let them be elders. If your church has deacons, they should be able to handle most ministry issues while you’re away. If you oversee a small group or children’s ministry, allowing a volunteer you’re mentoring to take the reigns for a few weeks gives them the opportunity to grow and you the opportunity to rest. If the volunteer breaks something, fix it when you get back from vacation.
2. Set aside social networking. Social networking often feels like an obligation. Your “followers” want to hear from you so you oblige them. The problem… many of your followers are in ministry. Their responses to your tweets will throw you back into ministry mode. You need to escape work completely. If the number of followers or readers you have is a big deal to you, I can almost assure you, they’ll still be following you and reading your blog when you return from vacation. You’re reading mine today, aren’t you?
3. Don’t check email. Email is the demon that keeps many of us from finding rest. Exorcising this demon isn’t possible. It’s the way we communicate with those we work with and for. If you do email on vacation, I can almost assure you, you’ll get one from someone that forces you into work mode. Pastors have every right to escape email while vacationing. Every email system I’ve ever seen allows you to automatically send a message to anyone you receive an email from telling them you’re on vacation and the date you’ll be checking email upon your return. Will you have an extravagant number of emails to check when you return to the office? For sure. You’ll also have the energy to answer each email graciously, wisely, and with a little more confidence.
4. Change the greeting on your office and cell phone. People get frustrated if they call you and you don’t return their call immediately. That is, unless they’ve been made aware when their phone call will be returned. While on vacation, change your phone greeting. Let those who call you know that you’re on vacation and the day you’ll be back to return their calls. Will this frustrate some? Sure. Is this necessary so that you don’t end up doing long distance counseling or dealing with issues that create major cringe factor? For sure.
5. Read fiction or something that has nothing to do with ministry. If you are a reader, while vacationing, read books that have nothing to do with ministry. Why? When you read about ministry you are driven to think about ministry in terms of your situation. You’ll find yourself jotting down things to do or strategies you want to use when you return to your church. You might even find that you’re beating yourself up over the way you’ve done things in the past. This is not relaxing and will only inhibit your emotional rest.
6. Vacation with people who allow you to escape the responsibilities of leadership. Many pastors vacation with friends who are also members of their church. Inevitably there will be someone in the group who wants to bring up church matters. Nothing throws a pastor back into church cringe more than this. Be careful who you vacation with. If there’s someone on the list of people you’re considering vacationing with you believe is unable to or is unwilling to vacation with you without discussing church, take them off the list.
7. Vacation long enough to vacate. Too many pastors vacation for one week. The problem… The first two days of vacation you’re still thinking about what’s going on with the church. The last two days of vacation, you’re thinking about what you’ll encounter when you return to the church. This means you’ll only have about two days to emotionally vacate. If you want to have a rejuvenating vacation, take two weeks vacation at a time.
