Pastors, I appreciate you
Photograph by Greenforce Staffing via Unsplash
Rev. Margaret Marcuson
October is Pastor Appreciation Month. Now more than ever, pastors need appreciation. It’s a hard job. It’s gotten harder in the last decade for many reasons. Political polarization. Pandemic. Denominational decline. Financial struggles.
So — show your pastor some love. If you’re a pastor, show yourself some love.
If you’re a pastor or have a pastor, you know pastors get a lot of heat. Some of it is the natural reactivity people and organizations have when change happens. The pastor can move too far, too fast, for the context. Or it’s just people wanting what they want. Then complaining when they don’t get it.
Not only that, pastors are hard on themselves. “I should visit more.” “I should be more active in the community.” “I should get back to people sooner.” And even, “I should pray more.” I’ve heard all of these and more from the pastors I coach.
Human beings naturally focus on the negative. It takes discipline to focus on the positive. On what’s working.
I’ve coached, spoken to, written for, and heard from hundreds of clergy over the last few years. Pastors, here’s what I see and hear:
You show up week after week to lead worship and to preach. Sure, it’s part of the job. You can’t play hooky on Sunday. But you do it.
You do your best to supervise staff, whether it’s one or a dozen. Even though nobody taught you this in seminary.
You offer pastoral care to your people, in person, by phone, text and email.
You recognize you still need to learn and grow, emotionally and spiritually.
You love God. You love the church (with all its faults). You love your people.
If you are a pastor:
Try this: Look back over the last year. Get something to write with, ideally by hand. Handwriting helps your brain make connections. Write down at least 20 things you have done right in your ministry this year.
Then do something to celebrate yourself.
October is Pastor Appreciation Month. Now more than ever, pastors need appreciation. It’s a hard job. It’s gotten harder in the last decade for many reasons.
And remember: it’s not all up to you. The survival of the church — or your congregation — is not on your shoulders. It’s a shared effort, with your people and with God.
If you have a pastor:
Express your appreciation. Put a card in the real mail. I have a folder with cards I’ve received. Some I’ve kept for over 25 years. I still find encouragement from them.
And better to send an email message rather than no message. Thank your pastor for something specific. Or for their ministry as a whole. Put “thank you” in the subject line. Then your pastor will know the email won’t have something else for them to do.
Pastors, you never know the result of your work. Remember the words of “The Romero Prayer”:
“This is what we are about: We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water the seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something and to do it well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for God’s grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are the workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.”
Go plant and water seeds. Then rejoice in a job well done.
Rev. Margaret Marcuson is an American Baptist minister and author of several books, including the recent “Sustainable Ministry: How to Lead (and When to Nap).”
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
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