It’s a question I’ve answered before, but one that continues to need to be answered. First, because your pastor needs to be encouraged and second, because you need to be more grateful for your pastor. In just a few days October begins which is, among other things, Pastor Appreciation Month. It’s a made up thing I know, but like National Doughnut Day, just because it’s made up doesn’t mean we shouldn’t celebrate it.
Pastors in the best of times suffer often from burnout, depression and discouragement. In these days of wars over masks, vaccines, meeting, wokeness, ad nauseam it is even more difficult to serve with a sense of joy. One hardship pastors suffer under is the sense of a need to present himself as better than he is. That is wearying. It is also a trap from the devil. When we pretend to be better than we are in order to hold on to the approval of men we know, of course, that we are not approved of. Our facade is. You can help by making room for your pastor to be real, by showing him the very grace that he preaches every week.
Which brings us to one of the most important things you can do- avail yourself of the ministry work he is doing. Listen to his preaching, not as a critic but as a lamb eager to be fed. Be a Berean, of course. He wants that from you as well. But don’t be a critic. Attend the optional teaching opportunities he is putting on. No pastor wants to get in the way of your family time or your rest. No one one wants to put a burden on you. What he wants, however, is to serve you, to believe he is serving you and to believe that you believe he is serving you. That may mean reading, and giving feedback on his blog pieces, or tuning in to his podcast.
I contend, however, that the most important thing you can do is to be actually grateful. Yes, show that gratitude. But if you cultivate the actual feeling of gratitude you won’t be able to not communicate it and thus encourage your pastor. He is, of course, a flawed man, just like you. He is, however, a flawed man who has been given by God the calling to shepherd you and your family. That’s not a burden many are willing to take on. But he has. He’s done so knowing it almost certainly won’t make him wealthy. He’s done so knowing that it will make him a special target of the slings and arrows of the devil. He’s done so knowing his own weaknesses and frailties. He may look self-assured up in the pulpit, but he is weak and weary just like you are.
Gift cards? Of course. A weekend at a Bed and Breakfast? By all means. A fancy pen or a spiffy bowtie? Yes, or even a dozen doughnuts. Most of all pray not only for him but pray in gratitude for him. And then let him know.