How to Encourage Your Pastor and His Family

I was surprised by the response I received to a post I wrote at Counting My Blessings last week titled, 12 Things to Pray for Your Pastor and His Family.

48 hours after it posted, I became even more convinced that pastors and their families are in serious need of encouragement and support.

Many pastors deal with a feeling of isolation and discouragement.

The following are some comments I found:

• The church and people in the community are very friendly, but they also expect 24/7 availability without really opening their lives and homes to my family and me.
• Some people are negative about everything I do and say. 
• I’m afraid to be vulnerable in front of my congregation because I’m afraid it will lower their opinion of me. 
• Anonymous negativity and gossip hurts me and my family and divides the congregation. 
• Some members expect my wife to work as many hours as I do.
• It feels impossible for my family to meet member expectations. 

How can church members encourage pastors and their families?

1. Stop judging and criticizing them.
2. Get to know them personally.
3. Let them know you appreciate them.
4. Be patient with their children.
5. Speak well of them to others.
6. Pray for your pastor and your pastor’s family.

 Dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance. Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work. And live peacefully with each other. 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13

How can ministers encourage each another?

1. Stop competing with each other.
2. Communicate with other pastors and their families.
3. Set up ministry groups either in person or on-line.
4. Offer to watch each other’s children for date nights.
5. Speak well of each other in the community.
6. Pray for each other.

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Those who serve in ministry work hard. They do their best to love and bless the people around them; however, they aren’t perfect and it’s unfair to expect them or their families to be error free. Now is the time to love and encourage them.

Please pray for the pastors you know. Pray for their spouses and children.

Let’s find a way to be there for each other with phone calls, notes, visits, or on-line. Any suggestions?

I once asked our pediatrician if he knew what he’d have to deal with in parents when he decided to care for children. He laughed and said, “Parents are definitely a challenging part of the profession.”

Let’s decide not to be the “challenging part of the profession” for our pastors as they do their best to trust and serve the Lord and His children.