Pastor Appreciation Month

October is Pastor Appreciation Month in churches across America, an opportunity to let your pastor or pastors know how grateful you are to God for their ministry.

The point isn’t to make celebrities of pastors, but to acknowledge their ministries as servant-leaders for God. And it’s a wonderful moment for congregations to celebrate their shared life in Christ. How so? Just as family members feel love for each other when they honor their mom on Mother’s Day or their dad on Father’s Day, so a church that honors its pastor will feel the bond they share in Christ.

This year, expressing appreciation to pastors is uniquely important for local churches. Why? Two reasons: one internal and one external.

Internal. The line of demarcation between “Shepherds After God’s Own Heart” and “Hirelings” has never been clearer in America (Jer. 3.15 and John 10). More and more local churches are led by people who work to build a following rather than make disciples; whatever the method required. Even a cursory study of social media makes it clear that, in their eyes, they must increase and Jesus must decrease to fit their brand-building scheme. The local church and a lost world pay the price.

External. It is evident that we are living in increasingly dangerous and dark days. The world is not only turning away from God, but turning against Him, openly invoking the forces of darkness. True pastors have eyes to see this Ephesians 6 spiritual warfare taking place. Consequently, they want no part of Sunday concerts, entertainment-driven sermonettes, or carefully choreographed services and programs. They are laser-focused on shepherding their people through these times, with the heartbeat and mindset of New Testament pastors.

So this month, we give honor where honor is due: we celebrate shepherds after God’s own heart, every warrior-pastor who daily fights for the souls of their people and those separated from the Savior by sin.  

Who are these pastors? What do they look like? Like a member of the military in uniform, how can we recognize them? Here’s how.

They are servants.

No lords here; only servants. Unworthy servants at that (Luke 17.7-10). They are first in line to shed the outer garments of glory to take up the basin and the towel of Jesus. They are more comfortable bathing feet than being patted on the back. Most of the good they do is unseen by crowds.

They bear the mark.

“Called by the Caller.” No mere careerist, true shepherds serve at the command of God and for His pleasure. Like Paul, they count it a privilege to serve in the ministry of the Gospel (I Tim. 1.12). Because of this, they joyfully pay the soldier’s price of ready obedience every day. Like Moses coming down from the mountain, their holy lives demonstrate they have heard and answered the call of the Caller. (Luke 17.7-10)

They understand the signs of the times.

They see the power of Antichrist increasing and expanding. Consequently, their leadership is not defined by entertainment but by the spiritual warfare at hand. Their personal and public prayer times include intercession for the souls of the people they pastor. Their preaching and teaching fortify the people of God to live missionally and victoriously whatever the circumstances.

They are fearless.

In the face of rising persecution and calls for compromise, they stand like Daniel before Darius, David before Goliath, Esther before Ahasuerus, and Jesus before His accusers, hellish and earthly. They stand firm in the ranks with the Great Cloud of Witnesses, from the 1st-century martyrs to those of today, their eyes and hearts fixed on Jesus like He fixed His body to the Cross for them (Hebrews 12.1-12).

They pastor like the Apostles.

They are devoted to prayer and the Word (Acts 6.4). They don’t have a church office – they have a prayer closet and study that they also use as an office. They refuse the advice of “successful” hirelings to shrink their time with God to get on to “more important things.” Their first ministry is alongside Moses, David, Peter, Paul, and Jesus: being with the Father. And so, their people sense it when their pastor stands in the pulpit on Sunday or they meet in public on Monday: They can smell the incense of God’s throne on their pastors’ lives and ministries.

They are priests.

In private and in public. Unlike the Book of Acts Church, few churches today have prayer meetings. They prominently advertise exciting events and experiences, but rarely a meeting devoted to prayer. Even prayer in worship services is perfunctory. But not so in the churches of true pastors: Like the New Testament Church, prayer is front and center in their church life and meetings.

They are holy.

Like Old Testament priests, they are not just separated from the sinful, but from the common. They are set apart to a holy God and His holy service. Their heartbeat is not to be relevant to the world but holy unto the Lord. Being accepted by the world is a foreign thought to them. Making God acceptable to the world is an affront to them. Their ministries are soaked in sanctification. (Am I allowed to use words like “holy” and “sanctification” today?)

They are cancelers.

They have canceled “church as usual.” No more packaged services of concerts and pulpit entertainment. Every worship service is approached and led as a meeting with our God and Maker, our Creator, and our Redeemer. They lead every worship service to please and glorify Him, and to bring people into the presence of the Almighty and His transforming power.

They are disciplers.

Their energy isn’t poured out forming castles in the sand: building a brand, gaining followers, or adding church attenders. Instead, they invest their blood, sweat, and tears in doing what Jesus commanded His church to do: “Make disciples of all nations,” beginning in their own home and church. They challenge their people to not just believe in Jesus, but to be disciplined followers of Jesus, and to make more disciplined followers of Him.

They are preacher-teachers.

They leave big top performances to the circus, platform theatrics to the theatre; theirs is a high and holy calling. In II Timothy 3.16-4.4, Paul charges pastors, “Preach the Word.” He adds four immovable and unchanging weights to this charge: the solemnity of God’s command (and so, the mission); the pastor preaches in the presence of God; his teaching deals with eternal life and death; and he does so in light of the coming of Christ’s kingdom – this is no time for tickling or entertaining. He knows that, as a teacher of the Word, he will face a more severe judgment of his words and actions.

They are senders.

True pastors would go as missionaries if it were not for the clear call of God to stay (Matt.28.19-20). When they answered God’s call to pastor their churches and reach their communities, they also answered God’s call to send missionaries to all the world. I’ll say it: if your pastor doesn’t have a burden for the world and isn’t investing in sending out missionaries, he’s not a pastor like Jesus.

They are doctrinal.

They do not vainly teach the precepts of men (Matt.15.9). They have no interest in the latest winds and greatest waves of pop teaching (Eph.4.14). They instruct teachers under their authority to avoid strange doctrine (I Tim.1.3). They constantly nourish themselves on, and follow, sound doctrine (I Tim.4.6). Their doctrine conforms to godliness (I Tim.6.3). They refuse to tickle ears with what people want to hear but are passionate about teaching sound doctrine (II Tim.4.3; Titus 1.9; 2.1).

They are humble.

No celebrities here. In his book, Survive or Thrive, Jimmy Dodd writes, “We have a mounting epidemic in the church. We have far too many amazing, wonderful, incredible pastors….It’s this common, every day, seemingly innocent language of adulation (bordering on idolatrous worship) that pushes leaders down a dangerous road of secrets, deception, fraud and lies.” True pastors want no part of this.

They are shepherds.

Like Jesus, they walk with God’s people, leading them to rest in His green pastures beside quiet waters. They lead them to the One who restores their souls. They guide His people in the paths of righteousness for God’s name’s sake. They walk with them when they pass through the valley of the shadow of death, bringing God’s peace and comfort. They set full tables for the saints in dangerous times. They bring God’s people to Him for His anointing. They live to see lives overflow, baptized in the blessing of God’s goodness and mercy pursuing them every day of their lives on earth and in the world to come.

They live in wonder.

Most (sadly, not all) church leaders today believe in God. But too few live in wonder of Him. True shepherds are amazed daily not just at what God does, but who He is. They live in holy awe and childlike delight at God’s beauty, seeing His splendor in the glory of the heavens, as well as in the smile of a newborn baby. They see His beauty in you, the people they are privileged to pastor.

They are citizen guides of eternity.

They shepherd their people through this world in the light of eternity. They remind believer and unbeliever alike that this world is not all there is. Their lives radiate the future New Creation that is to come. Their teaching lifts believers’ eyes and hearts to their eternal home and the One who is the living Center of it all. The heartbeat of heaven and the New Creation sound clearly in their ministries on earth.

FINAL WORD

I often remind members of our ministry that there are treasures only a mother can give us. No one but her can breathe into our souls what she brings; no one can nurture our lives as she can.

And there are riches only a father can give us. No one but him can inspire us as he does; no one can form our lives as he can.

In the same way, there are spiritual strengths only a pastor can give us. Jesus said so. In Matthew 9, Jesus saw the people of God harassed and thrown down, unable to get back on their feet. He said they were like “sheep without shepherds.” Jesus had just healed a paralytic and a woman who was hemorrhaging blood. He had just cast demons out of a man possessed. He had even raised a dead little girl back to life. And yet, His solution for a people beleaguered and downtrodden was not more power; it was a shepherd, a pastor.

Often, we don’t know what we have until we have it no more. We don’t recognize the treasure hidden in ordinary shepherds until they are no longer in our lives. It is then that we say to ourselves, “If only I could go back in time, I would let my pastors know just how much they meant to me.”

Don’t let this be your story.

Write a different ending to the narrative by writing a new middle chapter right now, today. Talk to your church board and tell them you want the congregation to have the opportunity to express their gratitude. Not an impersonal check from the board, for whatever amount. That’s not personal; it’s not gratitude. Ask the board to give each person the opportunity to honor the pastor, be it cards, gifts, or, yes, a personal check. But make it personal. Let your pastor or pastors know just how much you thank God for them and their ministries. Give honor to whom honor is due. You and your church family will be richer for it

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“Of all vocations, surely the gospel ministry is the one whose paradigm is most radically formed by the dynamics of godly mentorship.” 

Stephen Baldwin