Pastor Appreciation Month

October is Pastor Appreciation Month! Show your pastor some love! It’s appropriate that Pastor Appreciation Month and Thanksgiving fall in the same month (for Canadians anyway). Thanksgiving is a time when we give thanks and express gratitude for God’s gifts. Showing gratitude and appreciation to God is a spiritual discipline – it takes practice. One way to practice this spiritual discipline is to show appreciation to your pastor(s).

Need some tips? Here are a few that Cheryl Ann Beals suggested:

1. Ask your pastor – Did you get your Sabbath/days off this week?
2. Encourage your pastor to take care of physical health by exercising and going for walks.
3. Expect and encourage the pastor to take his/her full allotment of vacation time each year and to not return from vacation to perform funerals, etc. whenever possible. Help the pastor arrange for pastoral care coverage while he/she is on vacation.
4. Encourage your pastor In their self-care and soul-care. The next CBAC pastors retreat is Nov. 13-16.
5. Avoid scheduling church meetings or activities requiring the pastor’s presence more than two nights a week.
6. Your pastor is a spiritual leader and needs time to be with God.
7. Remember important milestones and dates in the life of your pastor and family.
8. Remembering that the way we treat our spiritual leaders reflects on our love and obedience to God.
9. Celebrate Pastor Appreciation Month – Pick a Sunday in October and thank them publicly!