Shepherd’s Rest – A Vision for Pastoring the Pastors

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Why This Matters

Church leaders are part of the church too. They are members of the body of Christ who also need encouragement, support, friendship, and spiritual refreshment. Yet many in ministry experience isolation and exhaustion, often without a safe place to rest, share, or recover. As an experienced ministry family with over 20 years of church-based ministry, we’re only too aware of the pressures placed on ministers and their marriages and the damage done to churches and ministries if these leaders are not given opportunities to re-fuel and attend to their own spiritual health.

The Vision

Shepherd’s Rest¹ aims to provide a place of sanctuary and soul‑care for pastors and ministry workers and their spouses—a space to breathe, reflect, rest, and reconnect with God. Our desire is to offer a peaceful and comfortable place of retreat. We believe that spiritually healthy churches are led by joyful, faithful, fruitful leaders. And so we want to be a blessing to the church by refreshing its leaders.

What Shepherd’s Rest Could Provide

A Place to Stay and Recharge – A welcoming home in a peaceful setting, offering space for reflection, prayer, rest, and time away from daily pressures. We especially want to serve those in acute need, but also those simply needing a break.

Pastoral Presence – Some people may just want solitude. But for those who would value prayer and processing time we can offer a listening ear, empathy, encouragement, and gospel-shaped hospitality.

Referrals and Partnerships

We expect referrals to arise through networks, churches, and word of mouth. Phil’s role as CEO of Living Leadership provides many ways in which to hear about ministers and spouses in need.

Our Journey and Calling

Over the years we’ve often found ourselves drawn to ministry leaders in difficulty—praying for them, staying in touch, and offering encouragement whenever we could. And in recent years we have both been energized by pouring into younger leaders through various training courses and mentoring opportunities.

A second long‑standing pattern which has been a feature of our 20 years of marriage is our love for offering hospitality. In addition to the more regular low-key hospitality of food and entertaining, on several occasions we have been able to open up our home to those in particular need and offer a place of refuge for a season. Many have described our home as a place of rest.

These threads came together as we reflected on our own experience of ministry fatigue: moments when stepping away to rest, pray, and reconnect with God was essential, yet opportunities and finances to do so were scarce. And we regularly encounter others in ministry who long for a similar place of escape and refreshment. That gap is exactly what Shepherd’s Rest seeks to meet.

Since identifying the vision some years ago, we have invited trusted friends to pray with us as we tried to discern the right time and place to try to realise it. Katie and I have tried to equip ourselves through some training in Biblical Counselling and Gospel Coaching.  As we continued to pray we increasingly found opportunities for ‘hands‑on care’ for pastors—informally through existing relationships and more formally through our growing work with Living Leadership. 

We had been volunteers on the pastoral team on the Living Leadership Pastoral Refreshment Conference for several years, later becoming Living Leadership ‘Associates’.  Then in 2023 Phil took on a part-time role with Living Leadership, alongside his role pastoring Monyhull Church. Finally in 2025 he stepped into the role of Chief Executive. This is a wonderful opportunity to bring together his heart-calling, experience and gifting.  Katie’s own professional background in careers’ guidance brings her rich experience in listening and guidance. Together we share a deep desire to support those in ministry and their spouses with compassion and grace.

The Practical Challenge – A Suitable Property

A variety of different family pressures have brought us to the point where we are planning to relocate from the Midlands to Sussex – to be nearer to increasingly ailing parents.  We would like to purchase a property with family space, space to work from home and if at all possible separate guest accommodation in a setting which is conducive to rest and refreshment. Given the significant costs of moving, we believe that it is a better use of kingdom resources to try to find a property at this point which works for the vision and the family needs, rather than potentially having to make another move further down the line.

We are able to contribute around £550K through equity, savings, and an increased mortgage, though the final amount will depend on the sale price of our Birmingham home. Our research suggests, however, that we may need a further £50-100K to secure a property that can serve both our family needs and the vision for Shepherd’s Rest. By God’s grace, we have already received gifts and pledges totalling £11K. We are therefore prayerfully seeking further gifts or loans of up to £39-89K from gospel partners who share this vision and would be willing to help make this place of rest and refreshment possible.

In Conclusion

We long to see those in ministry and their spouses refreshed and encouraged so that churches are strengthened, and God’s people cared for well. Shepherd’s Rest is our prayerful response to this need. We would love you to be part of the journey.

Phil & Katie Sweeting

(You can email phil at living leadership dot org if you would like to talk more about partnering with us in prayer or finance.)

1. This is a working title for our vision giving us a convenient label by which to refer to it. However, since there is a US based ministry with the same name, we will most likely need to find a different name when we are up and running. But we would like to wait to ‘re-name’ it until we have a particular property in mind. ↩︎