During the past 18 months, the pandemic has put unprecedented pressure on church professionals, amplified the demands of ministry and stretched already strained resources.
Coupled with that reality is the fact many clergy have been forced to implement and run technologies they are neither trained in nor paid to facilitate.
“Folks are just so stressed,” said the Rev. Sara McKinley, director of the Florida Conference Office of Clergy Excellence.
And it’s one reason applications for renewal leave grants multiplied this year, just as the Passing the Torch Fund is winding down.
The fund is an initiative between the Florida Conference and Florida United Methodist Foundation to provide educational debt relief and renewal leave grants to clergy and seminary students. The foundation’s commitment to the five-year initiative, which began in 2015 and was extended beyond its 2019 end date, was $1 million, with $40,000 designated annually for grants that would help clergy afford the cost of renewal leave.
“We fielded 11 requests (this year), and all were of great merit and great need,” McKinley said. “The Preachers Relief Board added another $38,000 to the foundation’s $40,000, and we were able to fund them all.”
Time to regroup and reset
The Rev. Bridget Thornton felt particularly stressed in 2020.
Not only was she dealing with the added workload from COVID-19, but she was also struggling to cope with the death of an uncle who committed suicide, while raising 7-year-old twins.
“I am younger compared to my congregation, which made me the (default) tech person for the church, so in addition to my work I had to help everybody,” said the 40-year-old pastor, who serves at Christ United Methodist Church in Neptune Beach. “Plus, it seemed like there was a new webinar to watch every five minutes. I was burnt out.”
Thornton decided she needed a break, and the Passing the Torch renewal leave grant she received made it possible. Her two-month leave from August to September 2020 gave her time to regroup, reset, reconnect with family and regenerate her sense of call.
“My experience with other clergy is we’re not very good at taking time off, even when we take time off,” Thornton said. “Renewal leave gave me permission to turn the phone off and not read emails for two months.”
And she’s still putting into practice what she learned during her time away.
“It helps when you come back to know and to say, ‘It’s my day off, this can wait 12 hours, and the world will still turn,’” Thornton said.
Taking a deep breath
“We don’t proscribe what people do with the grant money,” McKinley said. “We trust the agency of the folks who apply. This is an investment in renewal.”
Thornton, who is moving in July from her current appointment to serve as lead pastor at Key West United Methodist Church, used the leave to focus on her family, but also concentrate on her doctoral studies at Portland Seminary and invest time in spiritual direction.
In addition to studying with United Methodist theologian Leonard Sweet, Thornton said she has been “focusing on looking at adaptive leadership and evangelism through a semiotic lens (the study of signs and symbols).”
“It was literally a time to take a breath,” she said. “It was also a great gift to not think about day-to-day ministry. The leave helped me remember my call, the things God has graced me with and called me to do, why I am in this.”
And one very personal benefit of her leave, she said, was the opportunity to pay attention to family.
“I know it sounds crazy, but I’m thankful I could concentrate on being mom during this time,” she said. “Both my kids struggle with mental health issues (mood disorder and anxiety). Leave gave us the breathing space we needed as a family to get our footing.”
Practical theology
As a pastor, Thornton says she is committed to helping people connect culture and church to the Biblical narrative.
“It’s about connecting to the bigger story,” she said. “This is the theology of risk, and it goes all the way back to The Garden (Eden). God still risks through trusting us with the church.”
“The leave helped me remember my call, the things God has graced me with and called me to do, why I am in this.” — Rev. Bridget Thornton
Thornton is convinced that failing to embrace that theology of risk means holding the church back from what she calls “shifting out of Christendom.” She believes people are too often afraid to let go of what is not working well.
“The risk we need to embrace is living in our journey,” she said, “and cultivating seeds for tomorrow, rather than harvesting what we have. We need to work toward embracing a more missional focus.”
Thornton’s leave also made her realize some things she and her congregation had been missing. While focusing on school, she had not been teaching Bible study.
“Leave helped me remember how much I missed that,” she said. “I immediately started and was personally renewed in that.”
Much done, more needed
Hearing stories like Thornton’s, McKinley said, provides a source of encouragement and joy.
“We don’t just send a check in the mail,” she said. “We have the application process, we hear exactly what clergy are using the grant for, plus we ask for reports and receipts.
And that process has been reaching a diverse group of clergy.
“In the past, many applicants served in large churches,” McKinley said. “But this year, we have served more women, minorities and small church pastors.”
And while she appreciates the foundation’s generosity, she says the end of the grant is “sad news.”
“I don’t know what’s next,” she said. “And there is such great need.”
The Preachers Relief Board is an agency of the Florida Conference that was first established in the 19th century to assist “tired and worn-out preachers” with retirement housing at the conclusion of their careers. Throughout the years, the needs have changed and so has the direction of the board.