ECFA is grateful for this Knowledge Center resource authored by Bill Simmons, president & CEO of Hope Rises International, board chair of the Accord Network, and author of The Way of Interruption: Spiritual Practice for Organizational Life. Bill welcomes outreach from CEOs and Boards considering sabbatical practices, and he can be reached at bsimmons@hoperises.org.  

In Leviticus 25, God commands His people to “let the land lie fallow” every seventh year. The focus is not on the crops they will plant afterward, nor on maximizing the yield when the year is done. The point is simple—and difficult. Stop. Cease. Trust God enough to let go of control. That is the heart of a good sabbatical.  

But planning a sabbatical—especially for senior leaders—is not simple. Without care, the planning process can turn this biblical practice into another work project or an exclusive privilege. As someone who has taken a three-month sabbatical and who leads an organization where every staff member has a sabbatical pathway, I’ve seen what helps and what hinders. 

Here are seven pitfalls boards and leaders should avoid when planning a sabbatical: 

1) Prescribing a Path or Pattern of “Rest” 

Avoid dictating what rest “should” look like. Rest takes many forms, and what renews one leader may exhaust another—and even for the same person, the needs change over time. The biblical model in Leviticus 25 is not to micromanage the fallow field, but simply to cease. Allow the leader to discern the form their ceasing should take. 

2) Underfunding the Sabbatical 

Avoid providing too little support for the leader to cease well. There is no universal figure, but underfunding a multi-month sabbatical often adds financial anxiety that undermines the purpose. If the leader is expected to pursue specific renewal opportunities of their choosing, budget accordingly. 

3) Limiting Sabbatical Care to the CEO 

Avoid making sabbatical a C-suite perk. While funding levels may differ, the board should encourage the CEO to lead in establishing a sabbatical policy that applies across the organization. Sabbatical is God’s idea, not a benefit package upgrade. 

4) Failing to Plan for Continuity—and Breaking it Midstream 

Avoid leaving unclear who will make which decisions in the leader’s absence. The CEO should set a clear delegation plan before the sabbatical begins and decide when the board chair must call them because only the CEO can act. Just as important: once the leader is out, the organization should resist pulling him or her back in for “just a quick decision.” If you’ve handed the leader this gift of time, protect it fiercely. 

5) Treating Sabbatical as a Deliverable 

Avoid requiring a formal written report or evaluating the sabbatical by “outputs”—books read, projects completed, speeches written. At most, invite a short, verbal sharing of highs and lows when the leader returns. Sabbatical is about renewal, not production.  “How much didn’t you do?” is a better question! 

6) Overengineering the Sabbatical Agenda 

Avoid turning renewal into another work project. Leaders may be tempted to schedule every moment with strategic reading, travel, and “once-in-a-lifetime” plans. In The Way of Interruption, I describe the danger of filling sacred pauses with so much noise that we never hear the interruption God might bring. Leave room for the unplanned. 

7) Neglecting Spiritual Reorientation 

Avoid making a sabbatical only about recreation or personal projects. Without spiritual attention, a leader can return rested but unchanged. One of the most valuable sabbatical decisions is to invite a trained spiritual director to walk alongside you—someone to help you pay attention to God’s voice in the quiet. Ministries like Soul Care and Coracle have spiritual directors available who understand the rhythms of sabbatical and the unique pressures of ministry leadership. 

The Goal: A Leader Who Returns Whole 

In my own sabbatical, I discovered that God’s deepest work was not in what I planned, but in what I released. The gift boards give in a sabbatical is not merely “time off.” It is permission—and provision—to cease, to trust, and to be reshaped by the God who is not in a hurry. 

If boards and leaders avoid these common pitfalls, a sabbatical can be what God intended—a time when the “field” of a leader’s life grows wild, the soil is renewed, and the next season of ministry is nourished at the roots.