Wednesday, August 14, 2002
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Wednesday, August 14, 2002 |
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Love thy pastor By JOHN HATCHER Realize it's just the middle of August and you are stirring to get your kids back in the school saddle. But, let me drop a little suggestion in your ear this day: help your church to start preparing to honor your Pastor during Clergy Appreciation Month in October. Too often, we hear the news of such a practice too late and it's difficult to organize any kind of worthy recognition. Your pastor needs your affirmation. Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, led the way to make October Clergy Appreciation Month because he had met with enough of us types to realize we needed some love. Contrary to most perceptions, the Pastorate is one of the loneliest jobs on the planet. Genuine friendships are hard to come by. Why? There's the sister or brother who wants to be the pastor's friend and so go out of their way to encourage him. However, one day he acts like a human being and fails in some way perhaps fails to make a strategic visit and his friends are no longer there. Perhaps the pastor and wife have some friends in the church friends who will bend over backwards for their pastor until the day he adopts a new approach to church policy. That's it. So long, friends. Never to be heard from again. Those considered life-long friends at one time have left the church and never even call to check up on how things go. Friendships in the pastorate are precarious at best. That's why the pastor, but especially the wife of the pastor, is more than leery of such overtures of friendship. At times, church members only want to be friends with the pastor and his wife to get what little glory there is by associating with them in their days of fleeting popularity. They also want to get the inside scoop by befriending the pastor. One way to resolve the crisis of loneliness in the pastor's family is for the whole church to attempt to behave in friendly ways with the pastor's family. One way to do that would be to put some real muscle behind Clergy Appreciation Month. When the church wolves in sheeps' clothing begin to see the widespread affirmation from the whole congregation for the pastor and family, they might think twice before trying to tie a noose around the pastor's neck and drag him out of town. Some churches hesitate to do such a grand thing as honor their pastor fearing he might get the big head. Believe me, he has sufficient "thorns in the flesh" to keep him humble the rest of the year. But, I encourage a church to go all out. What about a banquet in the family's honor? What about an all expenses paid tryst for the pastor and wife (or pastor and husband)? What about generous gifts for the children? Make a whole month of it. Have individual members make their contributions in creative ways. When your pastor sees to what lengths you have gone, he might be a better pastor, a more effective preacher, and a possible friend. But you have to take action. O yes, don't depend upon the official heads of the church to lead the way. Often times, they are already plotting. Get them involved after you and others have a good idea of what to do. If you leave it to official heads, they will more than likely give the pastor a gift certificate to the local fast food restaurant. The Rev.
Dr. John Hatcher is pastor of |
