October marks Pastor Appreciation Month, which means it’s the perfect time for churchgoers to treat their pastor and his family with a gift card to their favorite restaurant, notes of encouragement, or perhaps free child care. But as anyone in the pulpit knows, year-round support is vital for spiritual leaders to flourish.
While this month is a valuable time to intentionally display gratitude for pastors, their ministries, and their families, it also serves as an opportunity to evaluate the heart of the church and the support systems in place for its leaders.
As written in Hebrews 13:17, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.”
Combating compassion fatigue
Pastors are provided the unique opportunity to walk with their congregants through every aspect of life – ordaining joyous marriages, cherishing new babies, celebrating the eternal gift of salvation, mourning the loss of life, navigating unexpected grief, and counseling broken relationships. Often, the heightened emotions pastors are dealt each day create what is termed compassion fatigue.
“We can’t fix everything, and some people think the pastor is going to fix it [all]. But really, it’s a pastor allowing God to work through him to fix it, and it may not always be the way that we expect it to be repaired,” Moe Mays told The Stand. Mays is the executive director and founder of Pastoral and Chaplain Services, also known as PCS Ministries (pcsministries.org). He continued, “Pastors can become very fatigued through compassion for people. … When you’re feeling the weight of that fatigue and overwhelmed, you’re not doing anybody any good.”
After more than 30 years of working as a firefighter and EMT, Mays felt called to ministry and served as minister of pastoral care in a local church. He said that while most congregants were supportive of his personal limits, there was often the unrealistic expectation that the pastoral staff could drop everything to answer any call.
“Pastors need time away, just like Jesus went into the garden – there was purpose behind that. Jesus was carrying the weight of the world, and He had to unload and be alone with His Father. That’s the image I take when I feel like I need some [personal] time,” Mays added.
Extending daily grace
Grace is a priceless gift a congregation can give their pastors. Full-time ministry not only affects pastors but their families as well, and grace and understanding are essential to long-term service and well-being.
“Sometimes it’s a struggle to balance ministry and personal life,” Mays expressed.
That is why he, as well as other pastors, must remind themselves to let God defend them, especially when facing injustice, feeling overlooked, or serving stubborn congregations.
“God will equip us,” Mays said. “He has equipped me to meet people in different places and help them through different crises … that they’re walking through in their lives,” and He will do the same for His shepherds.
