Each year in October churches and church members celebrate Pastor Appreciation Month. This past Sunday, Sonrise graciously honored us with an incredible meal, small program, gifts, and wonderful cards. For years our Sonrise family has worked hard to honor each of us who serve as pastors, for which we are so grateful and humbled.
On this Sunday I suggest four gifts every church member regardless of where you go to church or who your pastor is that you can give your pastor both this month and throughout the year.
Four Gifts for Your Pastor
Prayer
Please pray for your pastor regularly (1 Tim 2:1-2). One of the sweet privileges we have as Christians is to approach the throne of God with boldness and enjoy fellowship with God (Heb 4:16). In various contexts, the Bible describes one of the blessings we can provide for others is to pray for them (James 5:16; 1 Pet 4:7). As you pray for God and others, be sure to include your pastor.
For what should you pray? You can always ask your pastor to determine how best to pray; however, this can get your started. For your pastor: his personal walk with the Lord, physical health, humility, wisdom, discernment, courage, perspective, gentleness, awareness of strength in Christ, purity, spiritual growth, ability to faithfully preach the Word, protection, ability to lead, and for fruit of the Spirit. For your pastor’s family: relationship strength, protection, patience with each other and the family schedule, creativity, financial strength, wisdom, perspective, health, and love for God, God’s work, and God’s people.
- Pray regularly
- Ask your pastor how you can pray specifically for his needs
- Let your pastor know that you are praying for him
- Pray with your pastor
Understanding
Your pastor and you share the same opportunities to honor the Lord daily and the same challenges to live for Christ too. Just as you are challenged to walk in the Spirit and fight the flesh, your pastor faces the same battle as well. Temptation is common to all (1 Cor 10:13). Just as you are tempted to sin in the midst of life’s pressures, just as you must put on Christ and make no provision for the flesh, and just as you must choose godliness continually, your pastor must do these things as well. Christlikeness is a battle for your pastor as much as it is for you.
Consider Paul’s challenge to Timothy:
6 If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed. 7 But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. 8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
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12 Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. 13 Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. 14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. 15 Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. 16 Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you. (1 Tim 4:6-16)
Part of being a good minister of Jesus Christ includes self-counsel. Your pastor must fight for his spiritual growth just as you.
In addition to the spiritual fight, your pastor also imperfectly seeks to lead, plan, organize, serve, and facilitate the congregation life of your church, which includes budgets, business, government, and buildings.
In pastoral ministry, discouragement is easy. Failure always seems personal. Others’ sins become the burden of the pastor as well and may encourage sin in the pastor’s life. Add to all of this the pastor’s own struggles with godliness, his flesh, and his weaknesses.
Therefore, when your pastor fails, is weak, or if you think there may be opportunities for him to even struggle, have understanding with your pastor.
- Have understanding with your pastor
- Assume the best about your pastor related to his motives
- Be patient with him as he struggles with his own flesh in similar ways to you
- Be ready to forgive him when he asks
- Seek to provide him spiritual encouragement
Love
Share some love with your pastor. Love is the bond that holds all other virtues together. In the trenches of pastoral ministry, there may be moments, days, or seasons where your pastor struggles feeling the love of the congregation for various reasons. Usually when this happens, it is a result of increased pressures of various sorts in ministry. As stated earlier, your pastor is a person just as you are and is subject to the ups and downs of life.
Far and above most every other reason to enjoy ministry for your pastor is his relationship with you and others. I personally have always said that I hope to faithfully pastor alongside individuals as we live life and grow old together. As in all long-term relationships, life’s pressures will bring many opportunities to grow together in Christ and in relationship with each other. I also have often said a long-term pastorate says as much or more about the church family as it does the pastor who faithfully serves them over the years.
Paul encourages each of us to love and appreciate our pastors:
12 And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves. (1 Thess 4:12-13)
Notice how Paul says we are to esteem our pastors highly in love for their work’s sake. No doubt, if you have spent anytime around a church, your appreciation is not for their perfection but their overall work. As you provide them this kind of love, God uses your love as an investment in His under-shepherds of His sheep. Your pastor experiences God’s love through your love.
- Creatively and intentionally demonstrate love to your pastor and his family
- Recognize the work God does in and through your pastor
- Esteem them highly for their work’s sake
- Praise what can be praised
- Work through disagreements in a loving, patient, and persevering way
Sensitivity
The fourth gift you can give to your pastor is your sensitivity to his place in your life and the life of the church. As a member of the church, God gave you a pastor-teacher (Eph 4:11). He allows men to shepherd the flock of God of which you are apart (1 Pet 5:2-7). God calls your pastor to lead as an example and calls on the church to follow. The writer of Hebrews puts it succinctly:
17 Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. (Heb 13:17)
Notice what God calls your pastor to do. God holds him accountable for your soul. He is to lead you in a way that feeds you, protects you, and helps you grow in Christ. He does this through his faithful exposition of the Word, his faithful biblical counseling, and his faithful work alongside you. These are heavy responsibilities.
At the same time, God calls on each one of us as church members to be submissive. Further, we are to make our pastor’s role as easy as possible so that he leads us with joy. Why? Because the more sensitive we are to God’s leading, protection, and provisions for us through our pastor, the more profitable it is for us, our congregation, and our pastor.
Your pastor desires to love you and lead you humbly as God requires.
- Seek to be sensitive to your pastor as God uses him to lead you and your church family in Christ
- Pray for humility for yourself and your pastor as you live life together
- Thank God for providing you someone who helps watch out for your soul
- Strive to make that process a joy-filled process for your pastor
- Embrace the journey together of living life for God’s glory under the authority of God, His Word, and through the ministry of your pastor
On This Sunday…
What should we do then?
During this Pastor Appreciation Month and throughout the year, seek to encourage your pastor through giving him these four gifts. As you do, your pastor will be encouraged and his ministry for Christ, to you, to the congregation, and to the community will be strengthened. To top it all off, God will be honored in your gifts as well.
Your pastor loves you, loves Christ, and appreciates the fact that God graciously allows him the privilege to care for your soul. Certainly, it is only God’s grace that allows any of us to get the privilege to serve as pastors working with His children.
Image Credit Sonrise
KevinCarson.com | Wisdom for Life in Christ Together