Word is starting to get around that this summer I’ll be taking some time away from normal rhythms of church work and life for another sabbatical, so I wanted to share a bit about what I’ll be working on and why it feels important. At the heart of this sabbatical are a couple of big questions: 

• How do we pass along the core teachings of our faith and tradition? 
• How can we organize our Christian Education resources in a way that makes them more usable and more sustainable for the long haul?

Over my years at CMC (I can’t believe it’s already been 12…), I’ve written and adapted a lot of Sunday School material, especially for the High School class. Much of it has been created week by week, shaped in real time by the energy and questions of the group. That flexibility has been a gift, but it also means many of those resources live in half-finished documents, scattered folders, and formats that are hard to reuse or hand off to someone else.

During sabbatical, I hope to gather, review, and organize some of those materials into clearer, more consistent formats. I’m especially hoping to focus on our catechism classes, building a stronger and more intentional structure for how we approach those foundational topics, drawing ideas and inspiration from many different places. 

I imagine this time unfolding in two rhythms. One will be reading, reflecting, and thinking about the bigger picture of Christian formation. The other will be the slow, focused work of editing, organizing, and creating curriculum that can serve us well in the years ahead.

My hope is that this work will create resources that are easier to use, easier to share, and easier to adapt. I also hope it will free up future time and energy so that I can continue to support our Christian Education Commission and programs in new ways and perhaps even teach across different age groups.

I am so grateful to the congregation for the space to step back, think deeply, and invest in something that I hope will bear fruit for years to come. In addition to sabbaticals being a blessing for pastors, I believe they can also be a blessing for the congregations through the way a pastor’s absence can provide space for others’ gifts and leadership to emerge. Specifically we are looking for a few more people to step into some roles related to Vacation Bible School, so if that sounds interesting to you, let me know.