October is Clergy Appreciation Month!
Central is blessed with great leaders with BIG hearts. Please pray for them and reach out this month to remind them how valuable they are to YOU! The following article related to Clergy Appreciation is shared in its entirety for you.
Celebrating Pastor Appreciation Day and Clergy Appreciation Month
October is National Clergy Appreciation Month, a time set aside to recognize the contributions and service of pastors, priests, reverends, ministers, and all other clergy members. Within Clergy Appreciation Month is Pastor Appreciation Day.
DOLORES SMYTH
CROSSWALK.COM CONTRIBUTING WRITER, OCT 03, 2023
October has long been recognized worldwide as Pastor Appreciation Month, or Clergy Appreciation Month. The call to honor our church leaders’ contributions can be traced back to St. Paul. In establishing the first Christian churches, St. Paul advised the congregation to give “double honor” to the elders of the church who managed the affairs of the church well, “especially those whose work is preaching and teaching” (1 Timothy 5:17).
St. Paul further urged Christian communities to acknowledge those “who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you,” holding these spiritual leaders “in the highest regard in love because of their work” (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13).
In 1994, the American Christian organization Focus on the Family began promoting Clergy Appreciation Month as a national month of observance. In highlighting Clergy Appreciation Month, Focus on the Family sought to encourage the faithful to outwardly show their appreciation for religious leaders on a national level.
When Is Pastor Appreciation Day?
From Pastor Appreciation Month grew the idea of emphasizing one specific day to nationally pay tribute to our clergy. This day became known as Pastor Appreciation Day. Also referred to as Clergy Appreciation Day, this day of showing national gratitude for clergy members is celebrated on the second Sunday in October. In 2023, Pastor Appreciation Day will be Sunday, October 8th.
Why It’s Important to Celebrate Pastors and Clergy Members
As of mid-2018, there are approximately 51,000 people in the United States who are officially employed as clergy. When we consider all that religious leaders do, it becomes clear how important it is to celebrate and uplift our hardworking clergy.
Reason 1: Pastors and clergy serve the church daily. On a daily basis, clergy members prepare weekly messages, manage the maintenance and financial obligations of their church, and, most importantly, nurture the spiritual well-being of their congregants.
Reason 2. Pastors and clergy serve the church and community during major life moments. Aside from these daily duties, clergy members participate in the highs and lows of the lives of their church-goers and other members of the community.
Clergy members lead mourners during funerals, pray over the sick, and minister to the imprisoned and abandoned. Moreover, clergy members bear the emotional pressure heaped upon them by disgruntled congregants and also absorb the hostile criticism of an increasingly anti-religious society.
Our clergy members also oversee our most joyous occasions. The clergy play a vital role in marriages, baptisms, Holy First Communions, and requests for special blessings. Religious workers also uphold the institution of marriage by counseling struggling couples to hold fast to their marital vows and guide the Lord’s flock by giving clarity to those with a fractured sense of faith.
Reason 3. Missionaries sacrifice their comfort and safety for the gospel. Last, it’s important to note that clergy members often risk their physical well-being for the sake of doing God’s Work. Clergy serve as missionaries in hostile areas worldwide, cares for people with contagious diseases, and literally stands at the front lines of social justice movements.
7 Ways to Celebrate and Show Pastor Appreciation
Given everything that the people who serve pastorally do, we should take time to appreciate and encourage them and their staff members. Whether you choose to honor your spiritual leaders and their staff during Pastor Appreciation Month or another time of year, here are 7 ways to show your gratitude for their service and sacrifice:
- Send your religious leader a clergy appreciation greeting cardor a hand-written note with a message of gratitude for him or her.
2. Ask your children to draw a picture or create other artwork for a clergy member or Sunday school leader.
3. Lend your pastor a hand by volunteering at the organization where he or she ministers, such as a hospital or nursing home.
4. Take a group photo with fellow church-goers in front of the church or other organization where the clergy member works. Present the photo as an already-framed gift.
5. Give your religious leader a “thank you basket” filled with his or her favorite brand of coffee, favorite snack, or hard-to-find allergy-friendly food items.
6. Create a photo calendar with a picture of saints or inspiring Bible passages for each month of the year.
7. Request contributions from your congregation to update your clergy member’s office with ergonomic chairs and keyboards, new software, new artwork, or other furnishings.
A Prayer for Pastor Appreciation Day
Dear God, We pray for our pastors to be encouraged. We ask that you would minister to them and give them a deeper sense of hope. Send laborers into their lives to extend needed help, support, and friendship. We pray that they and their families would be protected and covered by the precious blood of Jesus. May our pastors be restored and refreshed during this time.
We pray, Lord, that our pastors would not be discouraged, or afraid, or grow weary. But instead that you would uplift their spirits, encourage them in their trials, and recharge them when they are feeling overwhelmed. We ask that you would help them to put their hope in you and that you would in return renew their strength (Isaiah 40:31). We thank you for our pastors, Lord, and all the work they do for your kingdom.
We pray for our pastors to have motivation and vision, that ministries would continue to launch and thrive, and that pastors would not lose one opportunity to serve and minister. We ask that you would help our pastors have a greater reach and that our churches would be a beacon of light and hope throughout the world. We pray that pastors would have perseverance and come through this season with new insights and more inspiration.
We pray that their faith would increase and that they would be drawn closer to you, Lord. We pray for our pastors to be on guard, to stand firm in the faith, to be courageous, and to be strong (1 Corinthians 16:13). May you, oh God, satisfy their thirst for you and fill them up so that they are ready at all times to do the good work you have called them to.
We thank you for calling our pastors to their ministries. We thank you for equipping them with the spiritual gifts, talents, and skills for such a time as this. We pray over our pastors, Lord, that you would help them to lead with courage and strength. Send the right deacons, elders, and volunteers to lead alongside them, that they would not carry the weight alone. Help them to be leaders marked by humility, compassion, and wisdom.
Let their congregations support them, submit to their leadership, and grow in respect and love toward their pastors. You did not give our pastors a spirit of timidity, so we pray that you would inspire our pastors to walk in power, love, and self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7) as they demonstrate courageous leadership. We thank you for them and pray for your blessings and protection on them. Amen. (excerpts from Pamela Palmer, Prayers for Pastors)
SOMETHING DON’D ON ME…
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” II Corinthians 4:17
I read this verse at a funeral recently. I used the verse on purpose, and I believe EVERY WORD of it! But I have to wonder if the family was sitting there thinking, “This doesn’t FEEL light!”
I argue with God. Don’t get me wrong…I’m not proud of that! And usually (translated EVERY TIME) I lose. But still I argue. And I read that verse again…and I find myself arguing with Him again. “But You don’t understand God…this doesn’t feel LIGHT and it sure doesn’t feel MOMENTARY! If feels like this goes on and on and it gets heavier each time.”
Have you ever been there? The bills keep piling up. The conflict at home never lets up. The kids…oh the kids…can I just get a break from them? The stress…the exhaustion…the pressure…makes you just want to shout “Calgon*, take me away!” (*=NOTE TO READERS UNDER 30-Calgon was this product that people used to use where they would put these drops in their bathtub, and all their problems would be whisked away while they soaked in a bubble bath…at least that’s what the ad said…but I digress.)
Our problem, I think, is we often see these “problems” in OUR time. But OUR time…well, we have a limited frame of measure there. I only know 57 years on this planet! That’s it. That’s my ENTIRE frame of reference! Some of you know a few more years…some not quite that many. But it’s still ALL we know! But our God knows a LOT more years than that! And in HIS time frame, my 57 years is just a fraction of a blink of an eye!
Maybe what we need to do is to focus on the LATER part of that verse: “working for us a far more exceeding weight of glory!” What these struggles are doing right now…are helping us to see His eternity. And how great is going to be to share that eternity with HIM! Paul goes on in the next verse to say, “So we don’t look at the troubles we see NOW; rather we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now (meaning the troubles we are dealing with today!) will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” II Corinthians 4:18 (NLT)
The struggles are making us stronger. It’s true. It may FEEL like a hurt right now…but it’s getting us to see a better version of us!
Maybe you and I need to learn that lesson too. Fix our gaze…on the things that last, on the eternal glory…and get our eyes and minds OFF of the momentary pain. He promises us, that the end is way better than the now!
Shalom Alacheim,
Don
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