A Theology of Summer Rest for Pastors
“Pay close attention to your life and your teaching; persevere in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
As a pastor, I realize how resistant I am to the Sabbath. Don’t get me wrong; I’m all about having a day off each week. It’s the longer-term sabbaths that have been hard for me. I would guess that most pastors struggle to truly rest. Like small business owners, we have our hands in most, if not all, aspects of our churches.
Enter the summer. Summer is a season naturally suited to rest and renewal. Most in our churches will prioritize some kind of summer rest/vacation time, but will we? As a counter to my own resistance to rest, here are three theological foundations for embracing and prioritizing summer rest as a pastor:
Sabbath Rest Is Based on Faith in God to Provide
The Sabbath is about faith. In Leviticus 25, God instructed the Israelites to give the land itself a sabbath. Every seventh year, Israel was to let the land lay fallow. This required remarkable faith in God, as they had to sit back and wait for God to provide. This would have been very hard in an agricultural economy with minimal food imports. As if that year wasn’t a faith challenge, every 50th year, they would observe a second sabbath year, the year of Jubilee. That meant two years back-to-back without working the land!
The obvious objection is, “How will the crop survive without our help? How will we survive?” Or, to quote Leviticus 25:20, “What will we eat in the seventh year if we don’t sow or gather our produce?” The Lord answered,
“I will appoint my blessing for you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years.” – Leviticus 25:21
In short, God reminds us that he’s the ultimate source of all produce and productiveness. He will provide and provide abundantly. It’s not a stretch to say that God designed any sabbath to force us to trust Him to provide. Specifically, as ministers, we need to rest because we believe that God is the one who causes our work to bear fruit.
Sabbath Rest Proves that I’m Expendable
One key lesson any pastor needs to learn is that we aren’t irreplaceable when it comes to advancing God’s kingdom. Yes, I can take a time of summer rest with complete confidence that God is still at work.
Moses and Aaron learned this in Numbers 20 when they went beyond God’s instruction in providing water from the rock. In Numbers 20:12, God told Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me to demonstrate my holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them.” Moses, the man whom God used to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt, was not essential to their arrival into the promised land. Once again, it’s a faith issue: they didn’t trust God.
This truth stings at first, but after reflection, it alleviates pride and placing undue pressure on myself for the “success” of ministry. Thankfully, my church doesn’t need me to get to the promised land. They have Jesus.
Sabbath Rest Reminds Me that I Need to Receive, Not Only Give
Pastors tend to give more than they receive. While this is a natural byproduct of our gifting and calling, it doesn’t mean we don’t need spiritual input. Whether they listen to a sermon during the week or head to a conference every so often, pastors need to hear the Word of God preached to them.
No surprise here, but once again, the issue is faith. It takes faith in God to put down the trowel for a week or two in the summer and listen to the Holy Spirit using the Word to teach, rebuke, guide, and instruct us. I think this is what Paul is talking about in his instruction to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:16, “Pay close attention to your life and your teaching; persevere in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
Paying attention to your life means stopping occasionally and asking, “How am I doing spiritually? Am I growing? Where am I struggling?” These questions come easily when I’m thinking of others, but the summer is an ideal time to find some quiet and ask these questions of myself. To maximize the benefit of the summer vacation, we need to use it to pursue the Lord. As John Newton said, “How dull the Sabbath-day, Without the Sabbath’s Lord!”
Ultimately, a minister’s summer vacation can be a reminder of the heart of the gospel. My identity isn’t in what I do, how I perform as a preacher, or how many churches I’ve planted. My identity is found in Jesus Christ, who died for my sins and rose from the dead. A short summer sabbath rest is a reminder that I, too, receive God’s grace through faith.
©2024 Ryan Boys. Used with permission.
About The Author

Ryan Boys
Ryan Boys serves as the lead pastor of Green Pond Bible Chapel in Rockaway, NJ. He is the author of the forthcoming How to Preach Apocalyptic with Fontes Press.