This Sunday, October 10th, is Pastor Appreciation Day. According to a little bit of sketchy research, Clergy Appreciation Month became an actual thing in 1992. It’s more a greeting card holiday than anything else, but it does bring into relief the idea that the dude up in front of the church on Sunday morning preaching his guts out not only deserves a little appreciation but has a Biblical right to receive it (1 Timothy 5:17-22, Hebrews 13:17).
In honor of those unsung heroes, here are a ten ways you can do your pastor a solid:
- Encourage their preaching. Amateurs will thank them after the sermon, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but if you really want to encourage your pastor, be specific about it. What did you like about it? If you really want to make their day, send them a text or email telling them how something they said a few weeks ago really hit home in your life. Seriously. You won’t see it happen, but they’ll literally glow inside.
- Protect their reputation. Everyone knows gossip is a sin, so don’t be that guy. If you want to level up, call it out when you hear it from others. Shut down the rumor mill completely. If you suspect something has any real truth to it or might be damaging, talk to your pastor directly.
- Hold them accountable. Pastors need accountability like everybody else; just be humble about it. Don’t bring accusations; bring questions—that’s humility. Be consistent about it, too; don’t just blindside them one day. Talk with them, not at them. And always, always, bring the Bible into it. Pastors love it when their church members are interacting with the Bible.
- Honor the position. The task of the Secret Service is to protect the president no matter who the president is. They don’t have to agree with everything he or she says, and they don’t have to like everything he or she does; they just have to be willing to take a bullet for whoever is in the position. We could use a little more of that in the church. The pastor is the pastor for a reason. Hopefully that was taken into consideration before he was hired! It’s okay to disagree with them, but whether you agree or not, your pastor still deserves your respect.
- Understand their role. It is a trustworthy statement that it is not the pastor’s job to do everything in the church. The apostles literally created deacons for that exact reason. So before you climb on your soapbox and complain that they’re not doing enough, recognize that they do more than you think, and it’s okay for them to delegate.
- Respect their personal space. As inconvenient as it may be, your pastor has a life. Recognize that he is not there at your beck and call. Not only is that okay, but it’s healthy. He may be on a date with his wife. He may be watching his kids’ dance recital or ballgame. He might (gasp!) be helping another church member, or (double gasp!) taking a day off. You should be encouraging that, not whining about how he didn’t answer your midnight off-day text about Uncle Ralph’s trip to the ER. He knows Uncle Ralph is important to you… and he’ll get back to you when it’s appropriate for him to do so.
- Be their friend. Here’s a shocker: pastors don’t have a lot of friends. They’re leading from the front with a target on their back all day, every day, and scared you might find out they’re not perfect. They often feel like they can’t confide in people in their congregation because, you know, gossip, and because they know that we have a tendency to shoot our wounded. What they need is someone to hang out with who doesn’t mind if they aren’t in pastor mode. Someone they can vent to. Someone who can see their imperfections and embrace them anyway. You’d be surprised how hard that is to come by.
- Guard their family. No one has it harder than the pastor’s family. The kids are expected to be perfect. The wife has to have her act together at all times. There are hidden expectations everywhere. Here’s a thought: make it easier on them. Make it easy for them to have a date night. If you’re a woman, take the wife out for coffee sometime, or maybe send her an encouraging note.
- Pay the man. For heaven’s sake, this is basic and biblical. Pay. Your. Pastor. Don’t cheapskate them at the budget meeting; be their advocate. And don’t get all huffy when they preach about money; they’re literally just doing their job. The fact is most of them are as uncomfortable preaching about it as you are hearing about it, but it’s an important topic the Bible says an awful lot about. And, by the way, if you were tithing like you were supposed to, it probably wouldn’t make you feel half as bad as it does.
- Don’t wait for October. Clergy Appreciation Month is a made-up holiday, and if you want to take a special offering or do something nice for your pastor, that’s great. But there is nothing on this list that can’t or shouldn’t be done twelve months a year. A wise man once asked, “How can I make my pastor want to be my pastor?” Maybe just start there.
Special thanks to Rev. Rob Signs, pastor at Fellowship Baptist Church (Joplin, MO) for inspiring many of these thoughts.
