Each June and July, I’ve always offered a summer jubilee to our regular, weekend, and weekday servant volunteers in the areas I’m responsible for. Moving from a Director of Children’s Ministry to Family Ministry this is new for some of the leaders I serve alongside. As I share this with my own folks in my local church, I thought it’d be helpful to put on paper to share the purpose.

Jubilee = a season of emancipation, celebration, and restoration. The KJV often uses the word SABBATH for the NIV’s use of JUBILEE.

Why it’s important for our team? 

(1) Everyone needs a Sabbath season.

Taking a break, like a Sabbath, is important for mental and physical well-being. It’s a time to remember that God is good and we are His. God set the Sabbath in the Ten Commandments to remind His people that they were no longer slaves. In Leviticus 25, God tells His people even the land should have a Sabbath.

(2) A summer jubilee invites our regular, fully-committed leaders to connect with an adult Sunday small group, make new friends-in-the-Lord, and offer good testimony to serving in the areas of the local church they love.

Some may even push back saying, “I don’t have a small group.” This encourages them to give a small group a chance. There’s no better way to attract new volunteers for working with kids and youth in ministry than having others who are already passionate about it sitting at the table next to you. For my family it was the season permitting us to serve together as a family or be that family that lingers in June & July at the end of the service to welcome new families instead of rushing off to serve.

One of our core values is Community-Based Discipleship. We are committed to watching over one another in love. We are transformed through accountable small group discipleship (shaped by historic Methodist Class Meetings) and offer groups for all ages and stages of life; church-wide spiritual formation formed in community not isolation. As a disciple-maker and staff member, I am called to set the table for this.

(3) Invites new servant leaders to test the waters in ministry with littles and bigs. With a slower schedule I’m able to spend time in communication and community with new volunteers sharing vision, humor, processes, and systems so they serve for a short season with great intentionality in ministry with families. Many people have ideas about what it’s like to work in ministry with kids, but do they really know how WE do it? My new leaders are always surprised by our approach.

Authentic pushback:

1. “I already don’t have enough volunteers.” – Our current leaders are way better recruiters for future team volunteers than any social media post or bulletin announcement I could ever come up with. Do I trust the Lord to provide or not? Summer also lends itself to trying some alternative, creative programming requiring less manpower to pull off.
2. “I don’t have a small group to go to.” – If I’ve done my due diligence to know the culture of the various small groups offered, I can make a suggestion for a month or two to best fit where my team members can be encouraged, challenged, and delighted with new friends-in-the-Lord. A heads-up to the small group leader benefits everyone.
3. “I don’t want to take time off. You need me.” – We need our servant leaders whole, rested, and very excited to start the new season with fresh eyes. Sometimes just offering the opportunity take a jubilee should let folks know they are cared for and loved. If your leader doesn’t take a month or two off from serving regularly in the summer, make their continued service a relaxed delight by loving on them with time, acts of service, gifts, with all the love languages and work appreciation tools.

When I took a trip to the Holy Lands I better understood God’s use of the jubilee season. I saw how even the land taking a jubilee made it more productive and useful to God’s people. I saw a head of lettuce as big as the torso of the man carrying it. I want that kind of fruitfulness for our team members and the ministry.

“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15:15