Clergy Renewal/ Sabbatical Support

Sabbatical Planning and Communication Resources

Contribute to successful sabbatical experiences for ministers and congregations: colleagues who recently experienced sabbaticals offer these sample materials as models for your consideration.

The following documents are in PDF format.

From Drew Kennedy, Milwaukee, WI

• Guest Ministers-First Letter
• Guest Ministers-Second Letter
• Kennedy Leadership Guide to Sabb
• Newsletter 4-01-02
• Publicity Plan
• Sabb Com Charge
• Sabb Eval Process 3
• Sabbatical Brochure 1
• Sabbatical Brochure 2
• Sabbatical Brochure 3
• Sabbatical Guide
• Sabbatical Resolution
• Staff Bonus Proposal
• Staff Impact

Our evaluation process is the piece I often see / suspect is missing from many minister's plans.  A congregation invests a lot of time and money and effort to send ministers on sabb.  It behooves us to do an evaluation.  I also found it an excellent way, esp in a large church, to process the sabb with a lot of different people and constituencies and, thus, help enormously in my re-entry. 

From Bill Sasso, Carbondale, IL

• Sabbatical Referrals
• CUFL0505RTF
• CUFL0501RTF
• CUFLMin0508RTF
• WCS Sabbatical Budget 05-03-01
• WCS Sabbatical Plan 04-11

You can also visit the "work in progress" website that details much of what I have found to date in the historical research on the Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship website—this might conceivably be of interest to someone who had a similar type of project as part of his or her sabbatical.

From Kathleen Rolenz and Wayne Arnason, Cleveland, OH

• Sabbatical Brochure
• Sabbatical Call Sheet

Clergy Renewal

Lilly Endowment funds Clergy Renewal Programs
The Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment has offered grants of up to $45,000 to congregations to allow their ministers to spend some time away. Check the site for up-to-date information on current year funding levels and request forms.