CP – Rev. Howard-John Wesley, the senior pastor of the historic Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, surprised his congregation earlier this month with an announcement that he is stepping away from his ministry for a season because he feels far from God, tired in his soul and needed to recuperate mentally and physically. “From January 1 (2020) to April 1. I am walking away from every responsibility I have as a pastor,” Wesley announced in his sermon on Dec. 1. “You can’t pour out of an empty cup. It is very dangerous for your pastor to be on empty,” he told congregants. “I need to take care of me.” He further noted that: “I’m tired.
And I’m tired in a way that one night of sleep ain’t gon’ fix. I’m tired in my soul.” Prior to making the formal announcement to his 10,000 member congregation, Wesley, who has led the 216-year old church since 2008, preached on the value of rest in his sermon called “Selah.” In the sermon, he noted how common pastoral sabbaticals are in white churches while pointing out how rare it was in black churches. He argued that many black pastors don’t take sabbaticals because they are afraid attendance might dip and affect the bottom line or the church may just function just fine without them. READ MORE
