Sabbaticals are an important part of the life and career of a healthy pastor or ministry worker.   Having a suitable sabbatical plan can help contribute to pastors field staff being refreshed and refocused.   It can also help GCM missionaries stay on field staff remain in the field long-term, giving them time for refreshment and reflection regarding their ministry path.

Eligible?

• All career employees employed by Reliant

• at least 7 years

• Have not already taken a sabbatical within the past

• 7 years
• Employed

• 20+ hours/week for the majority of their

• Reliant employment

• • If employed part-time, the employee will be able to take a sabbatical at their current hours per week
• MTD Health Status must be in good standing with

• your Program Team
• If there is a substantial MTD deficit or shortfall, the

• Program Team Lead could withhold sabbatical approval until the MTD shortfall has been addressed
• Exception: In the circumstance that an employee would desire a sabbatical prior to serving the full 7 years, an exception request can be submitted in writing to their local church leadership and Reliant for approval

Policy Parameters

Determining Sabbatical Length

• After an employee has served 7 years in the field, they are eligible to receive a sabbatical.
  • The length of time for the sabbatical must be decided locally in consensus with the employee's supervisor and leadership team and may not exceed 6 months.
• Sabbatical length and eligibility should meet both Reliant’s and the local churches standards and policies.
• Once an employee's first sabbatical is completed, they may request another after 7 years.

Common Sabbatical Parameters

• For full-time employees, full

• salary and benefits will be paid during the sabbatical

• For part-time employees, you will be paid for the same part-time hours you were normally logging at your ministry location

• Supervisor/

• Pastoral approval (

• board or church coach if you're a

• Staff Level 4 and higher)

• Reliant approval

• Agreed upon goals of the sabbatical time

• • Can include rest, reading, prayer, time in the Word, continuing education, etc.

• Planning for the sabbatical should generally begin at least

• 3-6 months prior to its start

• Ideally, 3 months prior to the start of a sabbatical, a written Sabbatical Proposal must be submitted beforehand to both local church leadership and

• Reliant for approval

• • See Sabbatical Request

• • Form

• A summary report after the sabbatical is completed will be submitted to both the local church leadership and

• Reliant no later than 30 days after returning from the sabbatical

• A sabbatical should not be seen as a right or mandatory benefit that is automatically earned once every 7 years

• • If a sabbatical is not taken, it cannot build up or accrue like Paid Time Off (PTO)

Sabbatical Request Form

• Share the Sabbatical Request Form with your program team once completed
  • College Program: college@reliant.org
  • US Program: us@reliant.org
  • International: international@reliant.org 

Sabbatical Proposal

should include

• Reason for requesting the sabbatical
• Proposed dates of the sabbatical
• Potential benefits to the individual
• Potential benefits to the church or ministry
• Plan for covering job responsibilities during the sabbatical
• Specific goals and objectives for the sabbatical (books to read, travel involved, journaling, etc.)
• People you are supervising/coaching
• A summary of any anticipated

• reimbursements related to the sabbatical
  • For more detail on what expenses qualify, please review the Reimbursements and Expense Recovery page.
• Proposal should ideally be submitted at least 3 months prior to beginning of the requested sabbatical

• • Reliant's approval process for proposals generally takes up to

• • 2 weeks

Post-Sabbatical

reports should include

• Spiritual benefits gained from the sabbatical
• Personal benefits gained from the sabbatical
• Benefits to the local church or ministry (if applicable)
• Summary of how well you met your goals and objectives for the sabbatical
• Summary of how your sabbatical went from your spouse's perspective (if applicable)

Reporting Abuse

• Any abuse or misuse of an approved sabbatical granted by

• Reliant should be reported directly to the

• Program Team lead. This could include

• an employee returning to work during the time or simply treating the sabbatical like

• an extended paid vacation

Sabbatical Handholds

• If you're looking for more guidance and inspiration, please refer to our Sabbatical Handholds page.