November 2023
Has your congregation considered allowing your pastor to take a sabbatical? A sabbatical is a time to get away and rest. Since a pastor is often expected to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it’s easy for pastors to experience burnout.
Someone else in a pastor’s family also experiences stress and weariness. In some ways, the stresses of being a pastor weigh as heavily on the pastor’s wife as they do on the pastor.
In support of our district’s pastors’ wives and widows, an annual mini sabbatical is held. The Katie occurs every year on the first Saturday of October. The women are invited to gather for fellowship with ladies who understand living and serving with someone in ministry. Of course there’s food. And a speaker facilitates discussion on a topic of interest.
This year, 31 ladies met at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Schaumburg on October 7, 2023. The speaker this year was Deaconess Heidi Goehmann, an author and licensed clinical social worker. She discussed how God made us with many different emotions – and those emotions are found in the Bible. Heidi encouraged the ladies to take time to wrestle with difficult feelings because God walks beside them during their time of wrestling.
The LCMS Northern Illinois District actively encourages our pastors’ wives to participate in this annual event. The gathering aligns with the District’s commitment to wellness, providing spiritual enrichment and a sense of community.
Promoting and encouraging health and vitality in congregations, schools, ministries, professional workers and lay-leaders.