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Odds and Ends
1.
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Consider keeping a blog during your sabbatical. I kept one during the six months of my last sabbatical, and it got an average of about 50 hits per day, so people were reading it. I updated it about once a week and got many positve comments in response. People in my home church felt connected even though we were mostly disconnected.
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2.
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If you have children that are going with you for the swap, get them involved in the planning of it. Get them researching the area you'll be going to and planning some of your itinerary. |
3.
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Introduce yourself and your family to the church you'll be visiting well ahead of time, and vice versa with the folks coming to your church. We did written interviews ahead of time that were published in both church newsletters, and we each did a live Skype visit up on the big screen during a church service. Those who were a bit skeptical about the whole endeavor before were mostly in favor after the interviews, and those who were in favor before were downright excited after.
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4.
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Make sure that pastors and churches are theologically compatible in the important areas. In areas of acceptable diagreement, like for example mode of baptism, agree to disagree for the lenth of the swap and don't make it your mission to change the others. |
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The idea of living in someone else's home, and someone else living in yours, is a little strange. Our experience has been that after a few days both families felt "at home" in the new locations, and it didn't actually bother us to share our homes, vehicles and contents with the others. |
| 6. |
Consider overlapping a couple of days on either end of the swap at one of the locations, especially if you have never met the familiy you're swapping with before. We spent about three days together at the beginning, and it was great! |
| 7. |
Have one person/family in each church that is the primary contact for the visiting pastor and his family. |
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