Sabbatical Interview with New Denver’s Stephen Redden
Bob Hyatt
Nov 09, 2015

Stephen Redden, one of the pastors at Ecclesia church New Denver, recently returned from a sabbatical. We had some questions for him!
1. Stephen, you recently got back from a sabbatical. How long was your sabbatical, how did you spend your time and what are your brief thoughts/reflections from it as you return?

Our elders created a policy that every employee of NDC will take a sabbatical week each year (beyond ‘vacation’ time), and every seven years they will take 12 consecutive weeks of sabbatical. I just returned from my first “seventh year” sabbatical. I was on sabbatical for 12 weeks – from early May to early August.

My brief reflections are that this time was first and foremost a gift – certainly from God, but also from our elders and my fellow staff who made it possible. Looking back I don’t know if there’s anything I would change or do differently. My primary goal was to disconnect from my regular routine and engage in activities that would help me to rest and replenish my soul. By that measure the time was incredibly fruitful and successful. I wrote up some extensive reflections on my blog for anyone who would like to read more.

2. We know that New Denver Church has a strong culture of taking care of its pastors, including having regularly planned and expected sabbaticals for its pastors. How did the concept of sabbatical become a regular part of your culture? Where did that come from?

It began as a part of developing our discipleship culture a number of years ago. At an Ecclesia Gathering in 2010 we were challenged by a session Doug Paul and Ben Sternke did on building a discipling culture within your church. One of the concepts they introduced us to that was core to the approach to discipleship they were teaching (which we later learned was from 3DM) was the idea of creating a rhythm of life that oscillated between work and rest. As pastors we began to see how we had neglected the practice of Sabbath in our own lives and began to pursue healthy rhythms daily, weekly and seasonally that would help us experience the freedom and life of honoring Sabbath. As we did that and began to share this idea, both through discipleship groups, leadership gatherings, retreats and Sunday messages, we began to see other people trying to bend their life around sabbath as well. Around that time (sometime in 2013) within the context of a discussion about ensuring the health and well-being of pastors and staff, our elders suggested coming up with a sabbatical policy. It started out as something for pastors only but they eventually decided to extend the benefit to all full and part-time employees of the church.

3. What expectations did you have going into the sabbatical?

Honestly I think most of my expectations were negative! This was the first time I’d ever taken more than a week away from work, so I expected to go through some frustration and withdrawal from being productive. I expected to struggle with my sense of identity and value apart from work. Certainly I experienced some of that but not nearly to the degree that I expected. For the most part I was able to give myself fully to each day and let go of anxiety about being away from work when it did pop up.

I don’t know if I’d call it an expectation, but I did wonder – “Is God going to drop some big revelation on me?” It’s funny how much that’s an expectation that’s built into an intentional spiritual practice like sabbatical. Fortunately I talked with some people I respect who’d done sabbaticals and wrestled with not having a “burning bush” moment so that helped temper my expectations a little that I wasn’t “doing it wrong” if that didn’t happen. But I was certainly open to it.

4. What surprised you the most your time?

I think I continue to be surprised at how “noisy” my everyday life is and how “quiet” it was during sabbatical. I was fortunate to get to travel, either on my own or with my family, for most of the time of my sabbatical. Getting away from my everyday context and disconnecting from meetings, emails, and even our regular social schedule with friends helped me to see how full my life is. It’s full of great things that I’ve intentionally chosen, but nonetheless it’s full. And that fullness creates noise and often distraction. It was striking how life-giving it was to step out of that noise for a little while. What was surprising about that is I’m an extrovert and have always lived for experience and interaction with others. I’ve thrived within the fullness of life that I’ve pursued. But pulling away afforded me an ongoing sense of connection and dialogue with God by his Spirit that I’d never experienced before and have longed for since being back to my regular routine these last six weeks. I guess I discovered my introverted/contemplative side during sabbatical!

5. How did the Lord meet you in this unique time where you were given permission to pause, stop, rest and reflect?

The primary way I perceived the Lord was through an ongoing sense of his presence and communion with me throughout the day. In a typical day my mind jumps from thought to thought, consumed with whatever is before me that day. “I’ve got a meeting in 30 minutes. I’m teaching this Sunday so I need to organize my thoughts on this topic or passage of Scripture. I need to return so-and-so’s email/phone call/text message.” And on and on. Once those things are taken away or significantly reduced, there’s silence and space to allow your attention to turn Godward. What was remarkable about these experiences was how unremarkable the “content” often was. I liken it to that point in marriage when you realize you can just be with another person without the need to say or do anything. That’s how many of my days felt during sabbatical. There was this tangible unmistakeable sense that God was with me in the moments of my day, but most of the time we didn’t have the need to tell the other anything or ask anything of the other. We just enjoyed each other’s company. This was a new experience for me.

6. We know you benefitted from the sabbatical, but how did your family benefit from it as well?

The most valuable thing I think we can offer others is ourselves – our time and attention. In the course of our lives, we have to choose where we give our time and attention. I regularly struggle with how to decide how to do that in my everyday life. One of the gifts of sabbatical was the permission – more than permission, the direction – I was given to set aside giving time and attention to pastoral duties. The primary beneficiaries of that surplus of time and attention were my wife and kids. I spent time with my mom and some friends as well, but most of my time and attention during my sabbatical went to my immediate family. I don’t know if I can yet say what the benefit was for them in this. My hope is that the result will be deeper, richer relationships and a greater sense of perspective and intentionality in those relationships going forward. One of the primary realizations I had during my sabbatical was that due to the age of my kids (11 and 8) that I have ten very important years to invest in my kids before they launch out of the nest and ten very important years to invest in my marriage to prepare for life as empty nesters.

7. How are you different now that you’ve come back from it? What rhythms have been included into your daily/weekly life? And are there any things that have been trimmed back or completely eliminated from your life?

It’s a terrible time to ask me that question! It’s been six weeks since my sabbatical ended, and I still feel like I’m in a period of disorientation, trying to get reoriented. Norton, my co-pastor at NDC, took his seventh-year sabbatical last year and warned me that there’s a sense that the learning from your sabbatical continues long after the actual sabbatical ends. I think that’s true. All real learning seems to follow this pattern of disorientation and reorientation. I feel like I have a greater sense of clarity around what I’m supposed to be about going forward, but I’m still figuring out how to move in that direction. That takes time. For now I’m trying to figure out how to hold onto the conscious awareness of God’s presence and give myself fully to the moment each day. That’s much harder now that I’m back in the “noise” of everyday life. Still struggling with that one.

8. What would you say to other pastors who are about to enter into a sabbatical or pastors who might want to think seriously about taking a sabbatical?

First I would say listen to Nike and “Just do it!” I would say that not only to pastors but to anyone open to receiving the gift of an extended period of Sabbath. There are all these barriers and reasons why you think you can’t do it. Some of those are real, but a lot of them are self-imposed. I honestly don’t know if I’d have had the courage to do a sabbatical if our elders hadn’t forced it on us. But now that I’ve done it and experienced the benefit, I would say it’s totally worth it. If you’re about to enter into a sabbatical, seek out the people you know and trust who’ve done it and ask them about their experience (feel free to contact me if you want btw). There’s no “right” way to do a sabbatical, only a “right for you” way, but taking some time to discern goals and how to structure your time is important so that you make the most of the opportunity.
Stephen reflected further on his sabbatical time here

How It Is Now Is Not How It Will Always Be

By Bob Hyatt • 20 Mar, 2024
One of the main tricks in life, I believe, is not to extrapolate current conditions and circumstances off into the future. However, that’s exactly the tendency we have as humans, and especially, I’ve discovered, as ministry leaders. We look at things now and think they will always be that way. We long to see landmarks in the road, mileposts that tell us either we have now reached the pinnacle, the place we always dreamed of being (even if that place is only “stability”), or conversely, the bottom has fallen out and now is the time to bail out. But the mileposts are merely markers on the journey, telling us where we are now, promising nothing of the journey ahead. And so, when things are good, we see nothing but success and good times stretching out in front of us. In the depths of despair, during the most challenging times of life and ministry we feel as though the darkness has become the new normal. The reality is much more complex: there are always better times ahead, and worse ones as well. During those dark times, when ministry becomes more of a weight than a joy, I tell myself, “whatever is happening now will not keep happening forever.” Those words have kept me through relational breaks in our staff that seemed unfixable, through budget woes when we didn’t think we were going to meet payroll, even a time when our community lost a third of its members because we had let a beloved pastor go. In this way I have found hope. In the same way, during the successful times when we were growing, budget was bigger than ever, and when new people were engaging with the church seemingly every week I continued to tell myself, “what is happening now will not keep happening forever.” In this way I have found a measure of humility. There’s another way to read this mantra as well, one that encourages us not to miss what is happening right now as we overly focus on where we’d like to be or what we’d like to see happen. The challenge of ministry, like the challenge of life in general, is to be present to what’s happening now . Too many single people miss the joys of singleness longing to be married. Too many young married couples miss the joys of the early years without children because they long to be parents. Too many parents of young children miss the joys of the infant years, longing for the days when their children are more independent, less dependent on them for everything. And on it goes. In the same way we in ministry can miss the joys of a small, close community by looking at larger communities and wishing we had their resources and influence. We can miss the inherent learning and even joy of being shoulder to shoulder in community with others through challenging times because the difficulties and pain we are experiencing mask the ways in which we are being brought together, the ways in which we are being formed and the invaluable things we are learning. In life, and in ministry, remember: How it is now is not how it will always be. Learn to appreciate how things are now, but also take comfort in the fact that if things are difficult, there are better days ahead. Stay humble because no success is forever. Stay hopeful because, in Christ, no failure is permanent.

Exciting Announcement- Ecclesia is Joining Ascent!

By Chris Backert • 19 Feb, 2024
I’m writing to share some exciting and important news with you that we believe will be significant for Ecclesia in the days ahead! For the last few years, I have been engaged with other church and network leaders across the US and Canada about forming a new “connection” for the church in North America. The heart of the effort is around unifying, amplifying, and multiplying the kind of Christian witness that Ecclesia represents, for the sake of the gospel, over the next few decades. This new effort is called The Ascent Movement, and within the last 12 months, its momentum has picked up increasing speed. A few months ago, I was asked by the council of Ascent if I would help spearhead the development of the network in its next phase. I agreed to accept that task. One of the core goals of Ascent is to connect, coordinate, and collaborate with groups like Ecclesia so that we can do more together than we could in isolation. In many ways, it will function as a “network of networks” like Ecclesia functions as a “network of churches”. In addition to ministries like Ecclesia, there are also seminaries, mission agencies, and other ministry support organizations that are joining Ascent in these early days. For the last several months the Ecclesia board has been discerning whether or not Ecclesia would officially enter into a partnership affiliation with Ascent. We unanimously affirmed that decision at our recent board meeting. Since Ascent is in its early phases of formation, more information on the benefits and opportunities of this new partnership will be ongoing. However, we are happy to share some of the aspects of this new affiliation that we find compelling and will not only bless Ecclesia, but also all of the churches within Ecclesia. First, given the size of Ecclesia, there have always been areas of ministry that we believe are important, but toward which we have not had the scale to accomplish or contribute. Among these are concrete efforts around - increasing the witness of the Hispanic church in North America - supporting mission expansion to less-resourced parts of North America - increasing opportunities for disaster relief and response - and mobilizing prayer networks. Further, there are also specific and tangible benefits that are made possible through this partnership for any Ecclesia Churches. Some of these include things like - discounted tuition costs to Truett Seminary for any Ecclesia leader or member serving an Ecclesia Church. - discounted rate in utilizing the services of Chemistry Staffing for future hiring - access to a church-based missionary sending ministry for those Ecclesia Churches engaged globally, and more! Lastly, there is a specific aspect to this partnership affiliation that is particularly helpful to Ecclesia. Ascent has agreed to partner with Ecclesia over the next year to expand our church planting and multiplication reach in a way that benefits both Ecclesia and Ascent. Practically, this looks like Ascent investing a little over $1,000/month into Ecclesia over this next year and together working toward a set of mutually beneficial goals. As I think about this opportunity within the current moment of our network, it seems right for multiple reasons beyond the purely practical. At our Ecclesia board meeting in late 2022, we established a path for individual affiliation within Ecclesia to make concrete space for leaders who are outside ministry contexts that allow for our core congregational affiliation. The heart of this decision was a desire to increase the kinds of relationships that Ecclesia has within our scope of ministry. The decision to affiliate with Ascent is similar. Also, as I shared at our Ecclesia Gathering in January, this decision fits within the Core DNA of Ecclesia. When I look back at the founding of our network, three aspects were central then and have carried forward. First, our desire to extend the gospel to increasingly post-Christian, or more challenging, settings and groups of people. Second, a desire to exemplify a Christian witness aligned with the theological and missiological direction of affirmations like the Capetown Commitment. Third, our desire to provide a relationally rich journey of friendship for the churches and leaders who are part of our family. When I consider the affiliation with Ascent, we share in common those first two Core DNA. As for the 3rd foundational aspect of our network, I believe the time has come where Ecclesia itself needs “friends for the journey” in the same way that Ecclesia has provided a context of friendship for those within our community. On the other side of COVID, it’s clear that ministry in the days ahead is more exciting, while also more challenging and complex. We believe we need a greater community to be the most faithful to the gospel that we can. You can go to www.ascentmovement.org to get a quick glimpse of its vision. The current website is a placeholder for a more thorough site coming later this Spring. Ecclesia, of course, will have a seat at the table in its formation. We have also provided a one-page overview of Ascent on the attached document. We will keep you updated on this exciting development. Please feel free to reach out with any questions. - Chris
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