October Is Clergy Appreciation Month

I was a local parish pastor for 30 years. My pastoral ministry was very typical of many pastoral care givers — my congregations were usually either brand new church starts or dead church restarts. I suppose if I were to give my pastoral identity, it would be “a ministry troubleshooter”.

Because of the nature of my ministry, there were times Pastor Appreciation came and went without anyone saying thanks. But then there were those times when even a small, struggling congregation went all out to express gratitude for my ministerial efforts on their behalf.

Focus On The Family has great materials on Clergy Appreciation that is available for download. On their Clergy Appreciation resource site they make quite a statement.

• Pastors and their families live under incredible pressures. 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, to be perfect people, to always be available, to never be down and to 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 or 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).

Click Here For Clergy Appreciation Resources

Making Clergy Appreciation Month Happen

Now I suppose a pastor could order all the material a make a push for appreciating himself or herself, but those kinds of efforts always left me a little bit empty.

For Clergy Appreciation Month Ideas to become reality, there needs to be a self appointed Pastor Appreciation Champion.

I believe it was Lee Iacocca that said that every great product or idea needs a champion to make it happen. In the churches I pastored, the ones that made a big deal (OK, even a little deal) about expressing appreciation for my ministry efforts, had a pastor champion, and usually they were self appointed.

What If Clergy Appreciation Month Doesn’t Happen?

The truth is that often Clergy Appreciation Emphasis will come and go without anyone noticing. (That’s also

when your best clergy friend receives a new car or a trip to Hawaii, too).

There are those difficult pastoral assignments and frustrating ministry situations that always leave a pastor wondering if even God cares about one’s ministry efforts.

I think if I had to do it over again, I would not have stayed as long as I did in those kinds of situations for one reason — the damage done to my family. I know, we say “But God called me to . . . .” That is just my point, God calls to ministry, not necessarily to geographical locations.”

We often take a look at Apostle Paul’ ministry career from the perspective of our 21st century situation. But consider this:

• It seems to me he had so much more freedom in responding to God’s next assignment than we do.


• He usually knew it was time to leave because he would wake up, only to find his body hurting like crazy. He would then notice there were stones all around him. Next he would notice he was bloody all over.


• At that point, he would make this career change decision: “I think I’ll go on to the next town!” He didn’t even wait for God’s specific assignment in most of his ministry decisions! You know . . . so he could pray about it. In fact, I count only 4 times God “spoke” to Paul as to his next ministry assignment.

More to come in other blogs now that I have stirred the pot!

Onward with purpose,

Chaplain Paul Slater