I am officially on Sabbatical! It is a short one. It will be about 8 weeks altogether and it will have several components. Sabbaticals are a privilege, a benefit that Intervarsity Christian Fellowship gives to employees, after 7 years of service.
It is a personal choice. In fact most staff never take one. Probably because most staff do not stay on staff for 7 years, let alone 25 years. So what is it? It has Biblical a well as academic applications and campus ministry encompasses both of those fields. It relates to God taking a Sabbath after 6 days of creating. Then there are the Levitical ordinances of taking a year after 6 years of work and then a Year of Jubilee after 49 years. It is literally a period of time away from work, to get a different look (at life, at ministry, at people). It is designed to encourage you to develop in a way that if you did not take one you would? Be less prepared to further the ministry.
I have had one other Sabbatical. It was in 1996. We went to Europe and visited missionaries and Christian leaders in 7 countries and I was looking at the global church. It was a huge investment for me. I really learned so much about the change in the church for the 21st century and also about Grace.
This year is different. I have been responding to the call of God for 37 years. A lot has happened in those years. And to be honest all of those stories and all of those discipling principles have stayed in my head. And my head is full! I want to spend this sabbatical getting those things out of my head and onto paper or text or screen or something!
So for my sabbatical I am writing! HA! Kindof a joke - because for many years I have made fun of staff who write because if you write you can't meet with as many students.
Zo I am beginning to write. Not everything will be in a blog, but some things will.
You can help me...
Do you have a thought or a principle that you remember that might be beneficial... Let me know either by comment or email...
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4 comments:
geez, G+O--> RSWG
the weaker/stronger brother schema
4 parts to a relationship
if you mean things you've passed onto me, well there's a beginning....
(here at ST #1 in madison, yipee!)obviously paying good attention,
I can't wait to read the upcoming blogs!
As Kate has mentioned - so much!! I think one of my favorites though is when you explained to our Exec what discipleship was :)
Also, the core elements you try to cover in a discipleship relationship.
Forgiveness
Dealing with conflict
I'm sure I'll think of more as your project continues!
Kate & Emily,
you guys are the best! that is exactly the responses I was thinking about... Keep it up as you think abt more. Alas, it does not have to be "stuff from me" but other lessons you have heard or experienced or gleaned.
The project is like this: I want to combine narrative story in conjunction with principles of discipleship. So rather than a book on the Principles of Discipleship (there are 1 million of those) or a book on the Life of Paul (or the life of Emily), that as I tell a story: "One time in a conversation in The Daily Grind, this sophomore woman discovered that Acceptance of GRACE was all that God required..."
3 problems I am discovering:
1) I want to take "I" out of the content - harder than I thought.
2) Figuring out how to ascribe ownership to my illustrations: "Who told me abt the 'Chest O'Drawers first.
3) Figuring out how to get permission to tell stories from the people I write abt...
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