Does your Church Have a Special Day for Pastor Appreciation in October?
I’m hoping that your church does remember the pastor(s) during Pastor Appreciation Month. If not, I hope that you remembered to reach out to him personally. If you haven’t, it’s not too late. The truth is, we really should love our pastor all year long. Pastors are usually far from home and family. They need you to be their family and friend.
The truth is, we really should love our pastor all year long.
Four decades of pastoral ministry is a pretty good perspective from which to share some thoughts with you on how to love your pastor all year long. You might think, “Hey, we had pastor appreciation day. Isn’t that enough?”
Isn’t Pastor Appreciation Day Enough?
Now, anytime is a good time to express appreciation for our pastors. You and I know; however, that unless we put some things on the calendar, they just never seem to happen.
So, someone did just that by designating the month of October as the time for local churches to show their pastors that they are appreciated.
Pastors and their families live under incredible pressures today.
Their lives are played out in a fishbowl, with the entire congregation and community watching their every move.
They are expected to
- have ideal families,
- be perfect people,
- always be available,
- never be down and
- of course, have all the answers we need to keep our own lives stable and moving forward.
Those are unrealistic expectations to place on anyone, yet
most of us are disappointed when a pastor
- becomes overwhelmed,
- seems depressed,
- lets us down
- even preaches a bad sermon or
- subsequently, completely burns out.
That’s why God has instructed us to recognize His servants.
“The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.”
(1 Timothy 5:17 NJKV)
It’s always a good thing when church boards plan a special day for pastors in October for the entire church.
Believe me, this means so much to pastors!
What really touches a pastor’s heart is when a family or individual cares enough to do something on their own to show their pastoral family they love them.
Here are a few meaningful ways you can Love Your Pastor All Year Long:
- Love his family. Remember their anniversaries and birthdays. Not only his birthday but his wife and children as well. This should include the anniversary of his arrival and other events such as his ordination.
- Make his family part of your family. Whenever you have something happening in your family, include the pastor’s family. Invite them to special family events. Invite them to your family reunions, graduations, etc. This is how you will build a friendship and cause them to feel loved and important.
- Get to know him and his family personally. Establish a real friendship. Invite them to join you for lunch or other activities. Your pastor is a person, too. He would love to just get out and play golf, or go to a ball game. Many pastoral wives and children are very lonely. They feel like they have no friends. When they are out among others, they feel separated because “They are the pastor’s wife/kid”. Try just being a friend. You might find you like them! 🙂
- Give words of encouragement. Send a card or make a call occasionally when you are inspired by his sermon or are impressed by something he does. It would surprise them if you just called to see how they are or just to chat.
- And discourage any negative talk about him. When you hear others cutting him down, stand up for him or at least stop the negative talk.
- Finally, and most importantly, pray for him and tell him you are praying for him. Your pastor has troubles and needs prayer just like you. Pray for him often. Pray that God will bless his studies, his preaching, but also pray for him emotionally, financially, physically, personally. He has the same issues in life that you have.
Your pastor needs to be loved throughout the year. Be sure to think of him all year long, not just in October. Put a monthly reminder on your calendar.
I would love to hear what kinds of things you do for YOUR pastor. Let us know in the comments.
Check out this Facebook page that will send you prayer reminders.
Pastor’s Wife (retired) & Chronic Pain Warrior blogs about how to make it through anything by relating her own life experiences to her writing. She is passionate about her love for the Lord and desires to spread that passion to others. She has a great desire to encourage women who are following behind her.
I love loving on our pastor and his family.
We do love our pastor and mrs pastor all year long. Congrats on finishing the series! A job well done!
Thanks. I didn’t get quite 31 days. Have a few more nuggets to share but this will probably be a continuing once a week thing for me for a while.
Pastors do alot of giving in life. They need to be poured into as well.
They certainly do! Thanks fo dropping by!
Loving, supporting, and encouraging our pastors is so important. Thank you for writing on this topic!
Hey!
Being a pastor’s wife, I know the frustration and weariness that comes along with the profession.
Now that we are retired, we felt the time was right to remind people of the need.
Thanks for dropping by!
I’ve never heard of Pastor Appreciation day, however, it’s a great idea because as you say, pastors do so much, give so much, and so much is required of them and their families. The sacrifice is great and needs to be appreciated.
The best thing about it is you can do something for your pastor on your own. Don’t wait for your church leaders to initiate this just do something on your own. I have another post entitled “How to Love Your Pastor all Year Long” with ideas for individuals. Thanks for stopping by.
I love these ideas for showing pastors appreciation all throughout the year. I wonder, though, if you recommend these things even for pastors of really large churches such as mine? I am not sure whether it would be appropriate for me to invite my legendary pastor out to lunch or family functions. Is it?
Every pastor and spouse will arise and call you blessed, Mandy. May the Spirit prompt us to love them well every month of the year!
So very good to connect with you today!
Thanks so much for sharing your post at the Exploring World Religions Linkup 12 so that we can better understand each other through our religion, faith, or beliefs. Pinned!
What a beautiful post filled with ideas of how to love on our pastors. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for a great reminder! I hope my pastor knows how much I (we) appreciate him, but I need to do something concrete as a reminder!
Thank you. After we retired, I felt that I just had to write this. I was surprised that some people had never heard of pastor appreciation month. Possibly independent churches that don’t have upper leadership reminding the church?
and than you for dropping by to read! May God bless you.
That may be true. A note once in a while praising a sermon might be more appropriate. However, no matter how legendary he may seem, he is still a person with the same frustrations you and I have.
Perhaps it is more appropriate to honor the pastors under him, Your music minister, youth pastor, children pastor, the ones that work more closely with you and your family.