When Rest Doesn’t Come Easily: How Ministers in Smaller Churches can Make Time for Sabbath Rest

By Justin Horey

It’s natural to assume that finding time for Sabbath rest is easier for people who serve in large churches or large ministries. While it may be true that larger ministry teams are more accustomed to and more prepared for covering the job responsibilities of another staff member, even those who serve smaller congregations (or who serve alone as the only paid employee) can still obey the Lord’s command for Sabbath rest. It may not be easy, but obedience seldom is.

The Weekly Rhythm of Rest

Every church leader interviewed for this article spoke about the importance of regular days of rest—ideally weekly, but sometimes monthly or quarterly. Many of them noted that perhaps the simplest and most immediate way to implement this practice is by resisting the temptation to work on whatever day of the week is designated as a scheduled day off. Russel Rader, church planter at Reunion Church in New York City, is passionate on this point. He said plainly, “I do not work on Saturdays. Saturdays are really precious.”

Notably, Saturday only became Rader’s weekly day off when he moved to New York City. Previously, while ministering near Kansas City, he worked on Saturdays and was off on a weekday. After moving to the Big Apple, he discovered that New Yorkers tended to contact him with ministry-related needs in significant numbers on Mondays, so he determined to work that day and take Saturdays off. Because, in his words, “Each community has its own rhythm,” he adjusted his days of rest to be in sync with the culture around him.

Tom Claiborne, the preaching minister at Bethlehem Church of Christ near Winchester, Ohio, agrees that any routine of working and resting should consider the locale. “We need to understand our ministry setting. Our work and rest patterns should reflect our particular communities.” He has made it a priority to rest one day each week, because he is inclined to

“tend to overwork.” In a rural setting like Southern Ohio, this kind of work ethic is often celebrated, but Claiborne deliberately commits to his days of rest because of his commitment to “follow Jesus’ personal example in ministry”—even though doing so is counter to the local culture. It hasn’t always been easy. Still, after more than 45 years of service to that one congregation, the members of Claiborne’s church have learned that “When I’m off, I’m off.”

Jerran Jackson, minister at Clarksburg Christian Church in Indiana, learned to prioritize days of rest during more than four decades of ministry there. About 10 years ago, Jackson developed what he calls “mini retreats.” These creatively structured sessions allow him to get 24 hours of rest without missing an entire workday. To do so, Jackson typically works until around noon, then retreats to a peaceful location like a camp, retreat center, or hotel, and returns to work around noon on the following day. Jackson typically doesn’t have the opportunity to take a mini retreat every week, but he aims to do at least one every month.

During these 24-hour mini retreats, Jackson generally avoids texts and emails from church members, though he does sometimes respond to phone calls. He strongly recommends this approach for small-church ministers looking to establish a rhythm of rest because the “lunch-to-lunch” schedule disrupts the work of the ministry less than leaving the office for an entire workday. He developed the practice in partnership with his elders as a way to refresh and renew his spirit, while being sensitive to the needs of his congregation. He recommends that other ministers in small churches include their elders in finding a pattern of rest that considers the culture of the community and the church.

Longer Sabbaticals

While regular, weekly Sabbath days are clearly biblical and provide genuine benefits to leaders in small churches, two of the pastors interviewed for this article advocated strongly for extended periods of rest—weeks or even months at a time.

After experiencing the blessings of Sabbath days early in his ministry, Brian Wright asked the elders of his church to write a policy granting regular, extended sabbaticals to staff members—both full-time and part-time employees. Though Foundry Church was just a few years old at the time, the leadership team instituted a policy granting an 80-day sabbatical to the lead pastor every four years. (Other full-time staff receive 40 days every four years, and part-time staff receive 20 days every four years.)

Naturally, Wright’s primary goal is to rest when he takes an 80-day sabbatical, though he shared that preparing for the time away forces him to be more purposeful about training other leaders in the church. For Wright and Foundry Church, this is a tremendous side benefit. Roughly six months before his sabbatical begins, Wright submits a plan to his elders. This document

includes a summary of his travel itinerary (if any) and books he plans to read, but the most important component of all is the “coverage plan,” describing who will cover his pastoral responsibilities at the church while he is gone. With the coverage plan in place, the elders, staff, and attendees at Foundry Church know what to expect in Wright’s absence. This very practical step has been essential to making staff sabbaticals successful—not only for Wright as the lead pastor, but for other church employees as well.

Russel Rader, who once served with Wright at Foundry Church, takes a similar approach when preparing to leave for an extended sabbatical from his work in New York City. Ironically, although he learned about sabbaticals from ministering with Wright as a pastor in his 20s, he did not initiate his own time of rest as a new church planter. In 2023, less than five years into his ministry there, the management team at Reunion Church encouraged Rader to “take a break.” Like so many others who dedicate their lives to full-time ministry, Rader says he learned how to work hard from a young age but has struggled with learning how to rest. In his words, “I’m still figuring out the balance of work and rest.” Nevertheless, he respected the advice of his management team and took eight weeks off the following summer.

Surprisingly, Rader said that finding people to preach in his absence was “insanely easy.” Like his mentor Brian Wright, Rader sought to prepare the rest of the church’s staff for his time away. When he returned, he discovered that newcomers to Reunion Church were the ones who struggled to connect with guest preachers. He said, “When you’re a small church, it’s hard for new people to get a grasp for who you are when there’s a new preacher every week.” Still, whatever the cost, Rader acknowledges the benefits. In his words, “Doing nothing is good for your soul.”

Other Ways and Times of Finding Rest

If the idea of beginning a routine of rest still seems daunting, every minister who contributed to this article recommended starting small. Tom Claiborne reported that, as trivial as it may seem, he always makes it a priority to take an hour-long lunch break during his workday. Even 60 minutes away from the demands of ministry can be refreshing.

Jerran Jackson, ironically, has found rest by rising early to spend time with the Lord. That time in the morning has been a major component of sabbath for Jackson, “especially in these later years” of his long career. He typically rises before 5:00 a.m. Since he normally goes to the office at 9:00 a.m. or later, this routine gives him many hours each morning to find rest in the Lord. Jackson said, “It has been very rich for me.”

Brian Wright, an avid proponent of sabbaticals for ministers in small churches, originally began his practice of Sabbath days much more humbly—by getting away from the office just once per

quarter. Wright has maintained the practice for roughly two decades now. During these “quarterly refocus days,” he goes to a remote and quiet location like a state park, leaving all technology behind so he can relax, refocus, and reprioritize. Wright admits that it wasn’t easy to get started. “It was a little awkward at the beginning; I had to learn not to feel guilty about taking rest.” Today those quarterly refocus days are essential to the rhythm of his life in ministry.

God Is at Work All the Time

While it can be difficult to find rest in full-time ministry, especially when serving a smaller church, the leaders who have embraced this challenge never once spoke with regret. Rather, they seem to have gained a greater sense of their place in God’s work as a result of their regular Sabbath rest. Tom Claiborne said, “Discipline is incredibly important—in our work and in our time off.” Furthermore, he said, taking time to rest “guards against a sense of self-importance and pride. If God can rest without the world crashing, we can too. If Jesus can be unavailable, we can too.”

Brian Wright expressed a similar sentiment: “Sabbatical is resistance against self-sufficiency, self-dependency, and self-worship.” Russel Rader, who was urged to take his first sabbatical when serving with Wright, added, “Sabbath is not a negotiable thing. Without it, we will burn out.”

Ultimately, Wright put the issue in perspective by challenging the idea of “work” itself and giving all glory to God as the Source of all the good in the church. As he noted, we can and should rest from our work because in truth it is really God who is at work in our ministry all the time.

Justin Horey is a writer, musician, and the founder of Livingstone Marketing. He lives in Southern California.