Below you will find all the information which has been shared about Duncan & Lorna’s Sabbatical, which will be from 2nd June - 1st Sept 2025. Please be praying for them, and for Epsom Vineyard to both flourish over this season.

Sabbatical Info (email from EV Trustees Jan 2025)

In June this year, Epsom Vineyard celebrates 7 years of amazing blessings, faithfully led by Duncan and Lorna Owen.

Leading our church has been an incredible journey for our Senior Pastors, but filled with immense challenges and personal sacrifices. From managing the convergence of their previous business, the role, friendships, and calling, to enduring stress, and the toll on their family, lifestyle, ongoing parental health issues, and finances has not been insignificant. While Duncan and Lorna have embraced these responsibilities wholeheartedly, it's essential for us, as EV Trustees, to recognise and be cognisant of these burdens.

Therefore, we believe it is both wise and compassionate to support and periodically offer sabbaticals, particularly for our Senior Pastors, to provide them with much-needed rest and rejuvenation. After much prayer, thorough discussion, and consideration of the Vineyard guidance on sabbaticals, the Trustees wholeheartedly support Duncan and Lorna in taking a three-month sabbatical starting in June 2025. They will return to us on 1 September 2025, with renewed energy and vision.

We look forward to welcoming them back and witnessing the positive impact of their sabbatical on our church community.

Additional Information

What is a sabbatical?

A sabbatical is an extended period of leave or break from one's regular responsibilities, typically taken by someone in a professional or academic role. It allows the individual/'s to rest, reflect, and recharge away from their usual duties.

The Vineyard guidelines suggest that a sabbatical is offered every seven years.

Why take a sabbatical?

A theological and pastoral view of a sabbatical is that work comes from rest. Considering the Bible, God rested on the 7th day of creation reminding us that it is just as important to rest when doing His work.

A sabbatical allows the pursuit of personal interests, further education, spiritual growth, or simply take the time to relax and rejuvenate. Sabbaticals aim to prevent burnout and help the person return to their role with fresh energy, new perspectives, and renewed passion.

Financial Support

The Trustees have agreed to bless Duncan and Lorna with a financial allowance. The allowance is to allow them the freedom to consider a retreat, travel, conference attendance, books and further training.

The Trustees will have visibility of Duncan and Lorna's sabbatical plans and how the allowance will be used before 1 June 2025.

How do I find out how it will all work?

As Trustees, we've been planning for this for nearly a year now. The key areas that we've identified and found solutions for are - 

Cluster Leaders
Dave & Michelle, and Emma & Lee have all been appointed as Life Group Cluster Leaders, to continue supporting EV's Life Group Leaders, who in turn provide the majority of the Pastoral Support to us as a church. N.B. If you're reading this, aren't regularly in a Life Group & would like some more pastoral support here at EV, here's a little quote from one of our Life Group Leaders - "Epsom Vineyard is not just about Sundays; we are committed to your whole life. Therefore, we'd love to encourage you to join one of our lovely Life Groups"

House Managers
Since the summer, we've had House Managers overseeing all the Sunday Teams @ Blenheim and at our Evening Services. They are a key point of contact on Sundays if there's any unexpected issues, and cover a whole host of 'housekeeping' to make sure that church is a pleasant experience for everyone serving & attending :-).

New Staff
We've employed Penny as our two days per week Administrator, and Merril as our one day per week Bookkeeper. Over the Sabbatical, Penny will increase her hours to 3 days per week, plus Sunday Mornings. This will make sure that the Administrative functions of the church still run smoothly from May to August. If you need anything ordering, or collecting from the Church Centre on a Sunday, please ask Penny nicely :-). Penny will also order an 'EV Office Mobile' soon, which we'll get onto the many WhatsApp Groups that D&L are currently on. This is to make sure ChurchSuite is upto date & hopefully maintain good comms :-).

Last Night's Leader's Meeting
Last night we had an interactive time of work-shopping to look at Organisational Resilience across - all represented Ministry Areas, across the whole church, and in our personal resilience as disciples. Theologically speaking, one of the Vineyard's beliefs is that 'Everybody get's to play' (Eph 4: 1-16), so we had a great evening of working together as the Leaders of EV to try to find solutions for stress points & potential issues. We'll continue this theme in our Leadership Gathering prior to June, and hope fully you'll start to see many little improvements across our EV Ministry Areas. And if one of EV's Leaders asks you if you'd like to get involved in a Ministry Area, please do consider the blessings that it brings to the whole church, and our community beyond :-).

What's next, and when can I ask questions?
On Sunday 23rd Feb 09:30 - 10:30, we'll be having the usual worship at the Church Centre, followed by an informal 'Fireside Chat' with Duncan & Lorna, where you can ask questions and find out more about how the Sabbatical planning is going. However, if you have any immediate questions please ask Moya Hayhurst, EV's Sabbatical Trustee - moya.hayhurst@epsomvineyard.org.

It just remains for us to say a huge thanks to everyone who has 'put their hand to the plough' (Lk 9:56-62) to extend the Kingdom of God here through the many ministries of Epsom Vineyard. We're truly grateful for all you do.

With our blessings from the EV Trustees, 

Simon, Mary, Moya, Rob, Lorna & Duncan :-), January 2025

A ‘Fireside Chat’ with Duncan & Lorna, hosted by Moya (Trustee overseeing after Sabbatical Planning)

Fireside Chat with Duncan & Lorna FAQ

If you can’t easily hear the Questions on the video, here’s a transcript of the Q’s & A’s from the Q&A!

1.     What is your biggest hope & focus during your time away?

·      Learning to sabbath & rest better

·      Spending time with mentors getting input & re-envisioning

·      Putting in & practicing spiritual disciplines

·      Conferences & learning

·      Retreat/ silent retreat

·      Walking in nature & chatting

 

2.     Are you still going to attend church social events during this time?

·      No, the advice is to take a complete break, as people tend to find it difficult not to share what’s happening in church. Other Senior Pastors from around the Vineyard say this can reduce the benefits, both for us, and for the church of the gift of a Sabbatical.

 

3.     What is your measure of success?

·      Be rested & revitalised

·      be re-empowered & re-envisioned

·      Spending time with family

·      Feeling like we’ve heard clearly from God

 

4.     Will you be strategic about the rest?

·      Yes, currently listening to Ruth Hayley Barton & Peter Scazzero for wisdom around ways to rest & Sabbatical well.

 

5.     When you have finished the sabbatical, what plans are there for you to reintegrate with church?

·      Most likely we will step into a modified role – not going back to doing everything we did previously as we have intentionally developed our leaders to step up over this last season.

 

6.     What is your plan for church WhatsApp groups?

·      They will all be moved to the new church phone which will be managed by our administrator Penny. The number for this is - ‭07768 564989‬.

 

7.     Do you want any ‘good news’ updates about the church?

·      No thank you – we want the sabbatical to be a complete break from church. 

·      The advice is to have no contact at all other than for a dire emergency which will be communicated through the appointed trustee.

 

8.     Will you continue to comment on the bible app platform?

·      No, we will not have any contact during this time. Our phones will be out away. We will use analogue bibles.

 

9.     Will friends be able to contact you?

·      Most likely not. Whist this could sound hard, we genuinely think of most people in church now as friends, and people will find it genuinely difficult to not talk to us about church whilst we’re on Sabbatical, so the advice is not to interact at all for 3 months.


10.  Will you taper down your visibility or just stop contact in June?

·      We are currently handing over responsibilities across the church but will be present until we go away.

 

11.  What do you hope the Lord will do in your personal life spiritually during the sabbatical?

·      We hope to become more reliant on the Lord and therefore more resilient for long lasting ministry.

·      To be more dependent on God.

Email from Duncan & Lorna May 2025 - Sabbatical Team Info

Dear Church Family,

Our Hopes for EV During Our Sabbatical

We’re now less than four weeks away from Lorna and me beginning our sabbatical, which will run from June 2nd until the end of August. Our first Sunday back with you all will be September 7th.

If you heard Steve Barnes’ story on Sunday 4th May 2025, you’ll know that when leaders take a sabbatical, it presents an opportunity for the church to step up—and many churches have seen growth during Senior Pastor sabbaticals.

Sabbatical Previous Communications

If you missed all the previous Updates, the EV Trustees sent out an email back in January outlining the what, why, & when of our upcoming Sabbatical, alongside a huge amount of plans that had already been put in place at that point!

We also hosted a ‘Fireside Chat’ back in February where answered questions about our Sabbatical

If you missed any of these, they can be found at: https://www.epsomvineyard.org/sabbatical

Sabbatical New Comms - Introducing EV’s Sabbatical Team

When talking to Paul Lowe (Senior Pastor at Manchester Vineyard), he shared an important insight from his own sabbatical:

"We planned the logistics well, ensuring all ministries were covered, but we didn’t hand over the spiritual authority of the church. You need to make sure that you delegate your spiritual authority too!"

When Lorna & I were commissioned to plant Epsom Vineyard Church, our previous church family laid hands on us, imparting the spiritual authority that comes with being Senior Pastors. During our commissioning we were reminded to:

“Always remember with profound gratitude that the treasure entrusted to you is Christ’s own flock, bought through the shedding of His blood on the Cross.”

We still believe in the Priesthood of all believers, or as John Wimber used to say:

“Everybody gets to play”

(Eph 4:1-16, 1 Peter 2:5, 1 Cor 12:12-26)

We also recognise that being the Senior Pastors of Epsom Vineyard carries a specific responsibility,  so we needed to hand this authority over during our Sabbatical.

With that in mind, we have invited Paul & Sonya, Lee & Emma, Dave & Michelle, and Moya to form the Sabbatical Team from now until September. On 1st June, at our last Service before we commence our Sabbatical, we will lay hands on them as a team. Then when we return in September, they will lay hands back on us to restore the spiritual authority of Epsom Vineyard!

Important Note: The Sabbatical Team isn’t a committee making decisions in our absence. Each member has specific roles, and will seek support from the team for decisions in their respective leadership areas.

Responsibilities of the Sabbatical Team

Paul & Sonya as Assistant Pastors will oversee:

  • Ministry Leaders, providing guidance on unforeseen challenges.

  • Worship, AV & PA (Paul’s focus).

  • Youth, Kids, Hospitality, Communion, Welcome, Praise & Play, Setup, House Managers, and any courses (Sonya’s focus).

  • Funerals coordination (in partnership with Mike Thornton, former pastor at Epsom Baptist Church).

  • Day-to-day church management, including overseeing Penny & Merril’s workload

Dave & Michelle, and Emma & Lee, as Life Group Cluster Leaders, will oversee:

  • Pastoral issues escalated from Life Groups.

  • Supporting Alan & Lynne, who will assist with pastoral care for non-Life Group members.

Moya, as Sabbatical Trustee will oversee:

  • Escalating Trustee-level concerns.

  • Recording Sabbatical Team meetings to keep Duncan & Lorna informed upon their return.

  • Working with Trustees to determine the best course of action when needed.

The Sabbatical Team’s Commitment:

  • Visible leadership on Sundays, assisting with Notices, Ministry Times, and welcoming newcomers.

  • Regular prayer & support for one another and for Duncan & Lorna.

Who to Contact?

  • If you have questions during Duncan & Lorna’s sabbatical, you can contact the Sabbatical Team at sabbatical.team@epsomvineyard.org.

  • For specific inquiries about the Sabbatical Team, email duncan.owen@epsomvineyard.org.

  • If you have general questions about the Sabbatical or previous communications, contact Moya at moya.hayhurst@epsomvineyard.org.

We will also send another church-wide email in a couple of weeks, titled: “Who to go to during Duncan & Lorna’s Sabbatical”—we don’t want to overload you with information all at once!

With all our love & prayers,

Duncan & Lorna