By Rev. Geoff Helton | Originally published in the Streams & Steeples newsletter
Every October, Pastor Appreciation Month rolls around on the church calendar. A thoughtful card, a gift basket, or a lunch out is a wonderful gesture, and pastors genuinely appreciate them. In fact, they matter more than you know. But given the pressures that pastors are facing right now, I think we have an opportunity to go a little deeper than an annual pat on the back.
Local ministry is joyful, sacred work—but let’s be honest: it can also be exhausting, complex, and surprisingly lonely. Pastors carry hospital visits, late-night phone calls, budget headaches, and community anxieties, all while trying to show up every Sunday with a word of hope for people who are likewise carrying burdens of their own.
Honoring our pastors well starts with seeing the real person behind the call. Pastors have bad days, hard weeks, families to care for, and limits just like everyone else. One of the best ways a congregation can love its pastor is simply giving them permission to be human. That means actively protecting their days off, insisting they take their vacation time, giving them space to care for their families, and remembering that rest isn’t a luxury—it’s how anyone stays healthy for the long haul.
It also means sharing the load. We, pastors, can feel like it’s up to us to make our churches healthy and successful. We all too often treat pastoring like an endurance sport meant to be run alone. Churches also often look to the pastor to “fix” things so that a church will thrive. But healthy, vital churches don’t happen because one heroic leader carries the whole load; they happen when pastors and congregations genuinely look out for each other and support each other in becoming whom God is calling each to be.
Pastors can also feel the temptation to tie their worth to attendance numbers, full calendars, or keeping everyone happy. We need to remind our pastors—and pastors need to remind themselves—that their value in Christ has nothing to do with how busy they are or how many people are coming to church.
So, beyond an opportunity to appreciate and thank your pastor, I hope you’ll use Pastor Appreciation Month as a chance to check in on the relationship between your church and your pastor to make sure it’s healthy and life-giving.
Name the places of tension and friction and begin talking about what shifts and changes need to be made for the relationship to work better. What is life-giving about how we work together? Where are we frustrated? What would help our pastor sustain this work for the long haul? Have the conversation with your pastor, not about them.
And if it feels hard to start, or you sense the need for a neutral voice in the room, please reach out. Supporting that work is what we, as superintendents, are here for.
Rev. Geoff Helton serves as a superintendent on the Inland and Seven Rivers Districts Superintendency Team. He is also pastor at Audubon Park United Methodist Church in Spokane, Washington.
