How to Encourage Your Minister
Ministers receive a ton of praise. Ministers receive a ton of criticism. Both of these states are true. The problem is that the criticism sticks better than praise. Probably everyone has heard that one comment of concern equals ten comments of compliments. So trust me, your minister is struggling with his role in the congregation. He is wondering if he is loved and cared for in the church. I remember talking to one of my favorite preachers about addressing this issue of encouragement with the elders. An important anniversary was coming up on the calendar, and the time passed without any recognition. So the preacher approached the elders and said, “I have worked in congregations that encourage me and congregations that do not, you need to know I do a lot better job in a church that encourages me. We are all like this. We will give the extra energy, we will go the extra mile for a church that does for us. But a church that seems to treat the minister like a hired hand will act like one. Punch in and punch out. So how can you encourage him?
1. Give him a present. There is a nice family at Castle Rock that always gives my family a huge basket of goodies. It is awesome, especially this peppered jelly stuff she makes. Every year it makes me feel loved by this family. Your minister gives and gives, and this time of year is a perfect occasion to give back.
2. Send him a note. There is a lady in the church here that will send me a text message every now and then with some awesome praise. It is easy to do, and always lifts my spirit. Remember, there is going to be a time in which you will say something negative to your preacher, something will annoy you, but if you have established a relationship of praise, he will hear it. But if you have not, it will be cast aside.
3. Honor him from the pulpit. You can tell a lot about the relationship with the minister and elders by how they talk about him in private, and how they talk in private will make its way to the pulpit. You will see it. I remember being at one church doing a meeting, and this one elder when he talked about the preacher, and about me, you could tell he had a deep respect for the work of the preacher. Preachers hear the whole you never have to do anything way too much, it is nice for a little change and say something nice about the preacher instead of another preacher joke.
4. Surprise time off. When I was in Waynesboro, it was Christmas Eve on Sunday night, and Charity and I were going to spend the Holidays with one of her sister’s families. I had to preach, but the elders approached me Sunday morning and said, go up early and spend this time with your family. This meant the world to me. And yes, we went to church with them that night. It was an awesome token of love.
Remember all preachers work better with encouragement.
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