Pastors Should Be Thankful For Their Churches

Last week, I wrote a post about appreciating our pastors. I hoped to encourage Christians to not turn to celebrity pastors and instead be thankful for the everyday ministry work their local pastors do. However, congregants aren’t the only people at church who can be ungrateful or who look elsewhere for “greener pastures.” Pastors should be thankful for the ministries God has given them, but they don’t always appreciate their churches.

Aren’t Pastors Thankful?

Before we dig in, let’s clarify where I’m coming from with this conversation. To be perfectly clear, I’m not suggesting that pastoral ministry is not challenging and sometimes outright discouraging. It is. I’m also not saying pastors need to only feel positive emotions about their churches. That wouldn’t be based in reality or even be possible.

On the other hand, I have heard pastors complain endlessly about their congregants and the ministry work they do. I’ve witnessed men looking to move to a church with more of a platform and opportunities to have a more comfortable life. Comfort isn’t bad, but the heart behind that desire matters.

Just as some believers focus too heavily on celebrity pastors, some pastors spend too much mental energy thinking about what they don’t like about their current ministries. No church is perfect, but how might a pastor’s satisfaction with his church improve if he looked for the blessings? Imagine how his ministry and relationships with church members could change for the better!

Pastors Should Be Thankful For Even This…

1. Pastors Should Be Thankful For “Core” Members

A common complaint in church leadership is the limited amount of volunteers and helpers among the congregants. A lot of people show up for church (yay!), but they don’t see themselves as a necessary member of the church body (boo!). They generally come to get church from those who make it all happen, and then they leave. “See ya next Sunday!”

This sort of attendance can be discouraging to a pastor who wants to see active and cheerful membership. And membership should really include giving our time and talents to the church. However, when we focus on this aspect of church involvement, we ignore the members who regularly serve.

Every church has their “core” members who can always be counted on to serve and lend a helping hand. Without a doubt, it’s unfair that they end up doing the majority of the work in church, but they remain undeterred…and unthanked.

Church involvement may be lacking, but don’t overlook those who work so hard. Be thankful for these few but mighty core members who lighten the load, if even by just a little bit.

2. Pastors Should Be Thankful For Giving (Even When It’s Low)

Money is always a problem. Marriage, work, church… We don’t want to be overly focused on money, but we need it for pretty much everything in the modern world. The church doors can’t stay open if we don’t have money.

Despite what society says, pastors aren’t typically making a whole lot of money. So, when giving is low, that raise, bonus, or refrigerator repair at the parsonage are a no-go. Not to mention, low giving means the church has less resources to use for sharing the gospel and discipling believers. The offering matters to pastors.

What about the money that does come in? Are we not going to give thanks for that? God provided those funds, and pastors should be thankful for whatever the total may be. It might not be what you prayed for, but it’s what God saw fit to give. In all things, give thanks (1 Thessalonians 5:18).

3. Pastors Should Be Thankful For The Building

Some churches are just gorgeous on the inside and out. They have beautiful stained-glass windows, gorgeous woodwork, and artwork all around. The rest of us, however, are in storefronts, old school buildings, former office buildings, and someone else’s church we rent on Sunday afternoons. Jealousy can creep in, making a pastor look at his own building with disappointment or disdain.

Well, I’m sorry to all the pastors who don’t appreciate their own church buildings, but aren’t you excited to have a building at all? Don’t you recognize how blessed you are to live in a country that allows you to meet with other believers and openly worship Jesus? No? You ought to.

It’s all right to want to make improvements or eventually move into a new building, but in the meantime, don’t overlook the imperfect gift you have now.

4. Pastors Should Be Thankful For Crying Babies

As a mother of five, nothing makes me more anxious about visiting a new church than the conversation with church staff I’m bound to have about babies and kids. So many churches want to direct your children and babies directly into a room far, far away from the rest of the church. Thankfully, I’ve never encountered anyone too pushy, but I’ve known people who were told in no uncertain terms while visiting a church that babies and children are not welcome in service.

I suppose the pastor doesn’t want the distraction while he’s preaching. In my experience, though, most parents step out with their distracting children when it goes too far. (Not everyone, I know.)

A pastor once told me that he loved hearing babies and children in the congregation because it meant there were young families in the church, parents were setting a good example for their children by attending church, and the next generation was hearing the gospel and learning about Jesus. That sounds like something to be thankful for, don’t you think?

5. Pastors Should Be Thankful For A Difficult Surrounding Community

Not all communities are alike, and while some churches are surrounded by healthy communities with a strong Christian presence, others are not. Being the pastor of a church that struggles to make any impact on its community must be frustrating. Imagine how much more so when churches in surrounding communities are growing!

Should that make a pastor unappreciative of his ministry, though? I want to ask any pastor who looks down at his community, “If not you, then who should minister there?” All people need the gospel, and God puts churches and the people in them right where He wants them. That doesn’t mean pastors are never called to move on, but it also removes any notion that every pastor will be in his ideal location.

Pastors, and church members, should learn to love their communities and identify how they can best serve there. Be thankful that God has placed a gospel witness there, and you get to be it!

6. Pastors Should Be Thankful For Needy Members

Every church has at least one person who seems to always need something. There’s always an emergency, a life-changing event, a relationship drama, or some other thing that results in an I-need-you-right-now call to the pastor. These members can be draining, and pastors can find themselves avoiding them at every opportunity.

I won’t say that members who seem to be constantly in need aren’t difficult to deal with because pouring so much time and energy into only a few people is…annoying. (O.K., I said it!) However, these people are seeking out the pastor’s advice, and that’s a good thing. Shouldn’t pastors be thankful when church members trust them and respect them enough to come to them with their needs? Isn’t it a pastor’s job, in many instances, to be “inconvenienced” and needed?

I have empathy for pastors who have “frequent flyers” in their offices. At the same time, I wonder what these pastors expected. Humans are gonna human.

God placed needy people under pastors who can minister to them. So, pastors need to serve them with thanks that God has entrusted them with these high needs members.

7. Pastors Should Be Thankful For The Struggle

Unless a pastor has best-selling books, tens of thousands of church members, and branded merchandise, he’s probably living a modest lifestyle. In addition to a lack of riches, pastors are heavily criticized (often by their own church family), weighed down by unrealistic expectations by congregants, the community, and themselves, disappointed by stagnant church growth and involvement, and feel like they aren’t present enough for their wives and children. Dream job, am I right?

As the saying goes, the struggle is real. I’ve seen it as a friend to ministry families and up-close and personal as a pastors’ wife. With that said, pastors accept the struggle of ministry life when they take the job. That’s simply the reality of the role. Is that fair? Yes. All Christians are to die to themselves and live for Christ. Pastors, in their leadership role, have a responsibility to live as an example to their flock. Willingly sacrificing and serving others over oneself is fairly standard for Christians. And pastors are held to an even higher standard.

Any man given the calling to serve in pastoral ministry ought to be thankful for the opportunity to serve God through offering his whole life to the Lord. The following verses come to mind. They aren’t specific to pastors, but how much truer are they for men who have chosen to serve the Lord by tending His sheep?

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

Galatians 2:20

“And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.”

Matthew 10:38

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Final Thought

I feel as if I’ve shared dark secrets from ministry life which will get me kicked out of the club. Is it shocking that pastors can get pulled down into bitterness, exhaustion, a lack of patience, doubt, covetousness, and greed? It shouldn’t be because pastors are human, and they are just as susceptible to sin as the rest of us. Pray for pastors. They need it.

Pastors, your challenges and experiences are valid. The hurt and discouragement is real, and you don’t have to cherish every negative circumstance. On the other hand, remember who you are as a believer and the tremendous responsibility with which God has entrusted you. Whether you’re the pastor of five or five thousand, be thankful for your church. What greater gift could God have given you than the chance to feed His sheep?

How do you stay thankful when your circumstances are challenging?

Image courtesy of Debby Hudson via Unsplash.