Sabbatical Update
Dear church family and friends,
The elders have asked me to share a brief update on our family’s sabbatical plans. Although we are busy planning all the details of our summer, many of you have no idea where we are going or what we are doing! Also, some of you are new to our church since the sabbatical was first proposed in the fall of 2023, so let me just review a few things.
Our denomination’s Committee on Ministerial Care (CMC) explains a sabbatical’s purpose:
“Pastors have a unique calling that often comes with unusual hours and non-traditional work weeks. In addition to working weekends, they are often pulled away from their families on many evenings. In essence, it is a 24/7 role, that is often misunderstood. As such, a sabbatical leave is periodically granted to ministerial staff with the primary purpose:
To give time off to ministerial staff for personal and professional enrichment in accordance with the Biblical principal of rest and refreshment embodied in the Sabbath, along with the secondary purpose:
To encourage longevity, spiritual and intellectual growth, and excellence in the work of ministry.”
The CMC encourages churches to grant pastors a sabbatical every 5–7 years. As hard as it is for me to believe, June 18, 2017 was my first Sunday in the pulpit as pastor of our dear congregation. A lot has happened in these last seven years: new ministries, new people, new building! And of course a lot of the blessed “same old”: preaching the gospel, hosting music camps, leading Bible studies, supporting one another in prayer, and doing life together. They have been a great seven years. I am looking forward to this sabbatical to refresh me for another seven!
So, what’s our plan? June 16th is my last Sunday in the pulpit for the summer. On June 19th I will leave for Seattle to serve as a commissioner at our denomination’s General Assembly. That concludes on June 25th, and my sabbatical officially begins on June 26th. My first stop is to Columbia, South Carolina, where I am preaching and speaking at a conference at the historic First Presbyterian Church, previously pastored by Sinclair Ferguson. The church has a fascinating history during the time of the Civil War—look it up!
From there, I will meet up with the family in Philadelphia, where we will fly out to Scotland, spending about 4 weeks in the UK and Europe. A good portion of that time will be studying at Edinburgh Theological Seminary to make (Lord-willing) major headway on completing my doctoral project. For those interested, I am researching and writing on the Westminster Directory for the Public Worship of God, to continue to deepen my study in the area of worship and liturgics. This time is invaluable to getting my project done, something that only about 30% of students actually get around to doing (the demands of ministry make it very hard to complete a doctorate while continuing as a full-time pastor—hence a sabbatical is a wonderful blessing).
We will be doing some other trips when we are stateside, but much of our August will be relaxing with family in Pennsylvania. The kids are looking forward to extended cousin time. I am also happy for the opportunity to preach at Kerri Ann’s home church (Tenth Presbyterian in Philadelphia) and my home church (Westminster OPC in Hollidaysburg) over the summer and reconnect with those dear saints from our past.
We will return to Kalamazoo the second-to-last week of August, and I will resume preaching September 1. While the primary purpose of a sabbatical is to refresh the minister, and through that refreshment bless the congregation upon his return, I am hopeful that even my absence will be a blessing.
Robert Murray M’Cheyne, one of the greatest preachers in all of Scottish church history, went on a months-long mission trip to the Middle East and wrote this before he left: “I sometimes think that a great blessing may come to my people in my absence. Often God does not bless us in the midst of our labors, lest we shall say, ‘My hand and eloquence have done it.’ He removes us into silence, and then pours down a blessing so there is no room to receive it; so that all that see it cry out, ‘It is the Lord!’” His words proved prophetic. The 23-year-old interim minister William Chalmers Burns was used by God to ignite a revival. When M’Cheyne returned, he found hundreds had been converted and his first service was met with a standing-room-only crowd. Lord, may it be so in our city and church as well. Bring revival!
Thank you for your interest in our plans. Thank you for your love to us and gifting us the time away, which we know is a sacrifice to you. Thank you for praying for us while we are gone!
–Pastor Cruse