After a year of great disruption in our lives and in our world, Florence Christian Church is being called into our 2021 Sabbath Year to Replenish. Replenish is a word that finds its roots in renewal and refilling. As we have all given so much of ourselves to hold our community of faith together, to adjust to the needs for being safe and healthy at church, at work, at home, and as we look to this year with hope and the possibility that COVID-19 will move from a daily threat to history, we believe it is time for us to replenish!

Upon the completion of the first six years of employment, Florence Christian Church grants our full-time ministerial staff a three-month sabbatical leave to provide prime opportunities for renewal of spirit, extended study, reflections, planning and creative growth that normal routines do not allow. Since both Pastor Diana and I began our ministry on January 1, 2015, we are both due for sabbaticals this year. For the past two years, we have been envisioning what this time will look like, not only for ourselves, but for the congregation.

I pray you will experience replenishment in your life and in our church! I know that God will be at work in all of our lives as we open ourselves to that renewal and refilling.

Pastor Susan Diamond

• Pastor Diana’s Sabbatical: Feb. 16 – May 31, 2021
• Pastor Susan’s Sabbatical: June 28 – Oct. 11, 2021