Don Ng
As I finished my last sermon for May 25, 2008 before I begin my three-month sabbatical, I noticed that when I saved it in my laptop file, it was my 413th sermon. I have been senior pastor of First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco for the past 10 years preaching most Sundays and now it was time for me to go away.
Our church with a multiple pastoral staff team has a strong commitment to support its ministers with annual continuing education resources as well as granting a sabbatical for every 7 years of service. I have already gone three years passed my seven years and was told by one of my colleagues that unless I take a sabbatical, she won’t be eligible for hers!
When the Apostle Paul concluded his first letter to the Corinthians (16:12), he mentioned that brother Apollos was unwilling to come yet but when the opportunity comes up, he will. I’m sure Apollos had good reasons to not visit the Corinthians; like I had good reasons to not take a sabbatical. Now I have an opportunity to visit Israel and it’s time for me to go.
More than a year ago, I began to explore the possibility of studying in Jerusalem. I have always felt that my seminary education was not complete until I visited Israel and for the past 33 years of full time ministry, I have wanted to go. I strongly felt that a Master of Divinity program should include a visit to the holy lands and these pilgrimages should take place before one’s retirement. I have a single-mindedness to visit Israel this year. According to my MMBB account, retirement is not that far away.
If you are intricately involved in the life of the church like I have, it’s difficult to be ready to go. With the added transitions of another pastor on maternity leave, a vacancy in another pastoral position, and our church administrator vacationing at home in China, we found ourselves short of staff when I am on sabbatical. To minimize our office tasks, we are printing monthly worship bulletins containing all the information for that month instead of weekly bulletins. We are publishing and putting online one large church newsletter for the summer instead of our usual monthly issues. Filling the pulpit when I am gone, our Minister of Christian Education along with our Pastor Emeritus will proclaim the Good News.
As we know, there is never a good time to be away for a sabbatical. As God’s servants, we are good in coming up with convincing reasons to stay involved and let opportunities for rest and re-creation to pass us by. Sometimes, we actually believe that the church can’t get along without us. But the fact is that the church has gotten along long before we arrived and it will remain a vibrant and faithful church long after we are gone.
God has provided me with an opportunity to go on sabbatical and I am ready and willing to go; not only for my sake but for the holy sake of the church. When I return, I will be blessed to see the many miracles that God has done when I am gone.
Rev. Donald Ng is the Senior Pastor of First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco, California since 1998. He served on the national staff of American Baptist Educational Ministries (Valley Forge, PA) in areas of youth ministry, conferencing, curriculum development and Asian American Christian education. He grew up at the First Baptist Church of Boston and is a 1975 graduate of Andover Newton Theological School, Newton Centre, MA.