Ministerial Sabbaticals
This survey comes out of the personal sabbatical experiences of two individuals, each serving for over 40 years in their respective fields. We are two colleagues at the First Evangelical Free Church in Fullerton, California. One is a churchman, the other is an academic researcher. This survey is not being done to complete the requirements for an academic degree, rather the passion to do this comes from our very different sabbaticals that produced similar life experiences. Our conversations have led us to believe:
There is little research identifying "best practices" for a sabbatical experience
That though commonly accepted, there is little documentation supporting the wide ranging benefits a sabbatical supposedly provides
The variety found in sabbatical policies only highlights that we are "shooting in the dark" hoping for better outcomes than probably should be expected
That both the institution funding a sabbatical and the individual participating in it, need to know how to create the best "bang for their sabbatical buck"
That individuals do change after a sabbatical experience and their sponsoring organization should anticipate and plan for that outcome
For these and other reasons, this survey focuses on the individual and not on the institution's practices and policies for sabbaticals. This survey will only take you 14 minutes (we promise) and the data will be available at www.evfreefullerton.com after December 1st, 2009.
Your responses will be kept confidential and we are grateful for your participation in this endeavor.
Dave Carder, MA,MA
dave.carder@evfreefullerton.com
Paul Poelstra, PhD