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Financial Considerations
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During our last sabbatical each church agreed to continue to pay the full salary of their own pastor. This was acceptable to them, partly because most of the preaching was covered by the visiting pastor, and partly because they saw the value for both the pastors and the churches in the whole undertaking. This also meant that there was no need to officially hire or pay the visiting pastor. This makes it much easier when swapping between different countries. In Germany we would have needed a work visa if I had been working for the church there, but I was only a guest speaker with a tourist visa.
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2.
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It worked good for us to have each pastor continue to pay their regular ongoing expenses at their permanent residence (utilities, phone, etc.). Any additional expenses, like repairs to home or vehicles, was also the responsibility of the "owner", although it was more practical for the visitor to pay those expenses (we each had a few vehicle repairs during our last sabbatical) and then settle the difference at the end (we came out about even). |
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Check with you local tax and charity laws about sabbaticals, but in our case we found out that a church could support a pastor in taking a sabbatical as a part of their ministry, which means that people can donate money to help with expenses (mainly travel) and get a tax receipt for the contribution. In our case a number of people donated money to help pay for our flights to Germany - and back :) |
4.
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Start saving for extra expenses well ahead of time. Our children collected bottles for months before we went to Germany and had a few hundred dollars saved for special trips to castles and museums. |
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