Merry Christmas to your Pastor, NOT ALWAYS SO!!

(Recently updated with minor editing)

I loved serving in the pastorate and have served some wonderful people. I always felt sorry for the less fortunate (sometimes me) when pastors shared with excitement the many ways their congregation honored and exressed appreciation for them. It only took one pastor in a group of 12 which was usually the case to set us up for satan's attack. What did we do wrong? Why didn't our church...?

Our very first Church of 80 people honored us throughout the year and especially at Christmas. Michelle and I were spoiled because we would never experience such verbal or tangible support in any other place that followed. Someone butchered chickens we got chickens. Someone raised cows we had beef in our freezer. Hogs the same and we had all of the above. Someone raised a garden we had all we needed. Someone with the gift of encouragement -we were encouraged. Someone with the gift of helps they watched our children. Every Sunday we had a dinner in someone's home. More than that -we felt encouraged all the time. I needed it because it was my first church and it went very well.

From then on as the churches we served grew larger - the love expressions and personal encouragement seemed to grow less and less. There were times I was tempted to wonder why I poured and poured and sacrificed my time and and family be taken for granted. I missed out on so much spending so much time in ministry at the expense of my family time. Even though my family understood - I will always live with regrets. Why did I put the church first and then to feel taken advantaged of or worse be treated like an employee or a slave. Sometimes I did have some self-pity. I need encouragement -so expressed often verbal appreciation spurs me on!

Pastors across America feel this way. Would you help me in showing them support with appreciation and love and kindness and encouragements and with tangible gifts? Ministry is hard, pastors are unfulfilled, many feel unqualified, frustrated and ill-equipped. Many are leaving and some are wounded beyond repair. You can help!

The larger and more successful our ministry and the greater the sacrifice often leads to one feeling less and less support I suspect because everyone thinks every is doing something or fuilling that role of encouragent. And, I am now finding it works the same way in smaller churches although I think the smaller church do a better job at this. You may experience the opposite. These times of the year are special times of the year are great times to remember the sacrifice of so many pastors serving in an America church that demands more of them they can possibly give. No pastor can be all that some churches require. While the members expect more and more the world gets less and less of us. I'm sad!

What does your pastor get for Christmas? A word of kindness, an act of service, a card of appreciation, a gift certificate for the family, or maybe if you are really generous - how about a large gift to help them catch up on the bills? In my last church, (speaking from experience) I never worked harder and I never gave more - and the longer I served the more they demanded and the less care verbal appreciation I received. Never have I given more or sacrificed more or personally received more pain, but, that was then and I am not now thinking of myself ( human fault), I am thinking about you. That was then, now I am glad to be leading in another area outside the America Church - finally free from such a burden and personal toll!

Will some fellow bloggers make a difference for those in the trenches who are carrying a load they cannot meet? Maybe some pastors should leave the impossible job so they can serve the purposes of the Great Commission without all the demands and structures of limitations. Charlie Brown said, "I love the ministry - it's the people I cannot stand." Pastors are leaving the American Church in droves and they are drained - they have given it all and the church keeps wanting more. Where are those encouragers who care about the pastor? Maybe we really don't care, after all.

How does your church show love to your pastor during the special times of the year? Pastors, if your church does not know how to show the support every pastor needs throughout the year, have a friend point them to this blogpost.. Maybe I can be used of God to stir em up! Maybe not! But I do understand and I pray for you and for God to fill the gap with His loving arms and love.