So, how do you treat your pastor?

How do you treat your pastor? I have pastor friends that are hurting, deeply. They are being wounded by the people that they selflessly serve. I don't understand.

So, how do you treat your pastor? How do I treat mine?

I admit that I usually take the pastors in my church for granted. Shame on me.

The fact of the matter is that, of course, most people in our churches are good people, and they treat their pastor(s) just fine. But the church has both wheat and weeds in it, just like Jesus told us. It is often hard for us, with our undiscerning eyes, to tell the difference between them. And sometimes we miss the vicious attacks right before our eyes because, frankly, we just can't believe anyone would act that way.

I think the biggest sin most of us commit is a sin of omission. When those who shepherd us come under attack by people who are motivated by hatred, desire for "power" (which often amounts, pathetically, to just being a big fish in an ever-shrinking pond), and the perverse thrills of gossip and slander, we often just sit by, waiting for it to "all blow over".

But things don't "blow over". They blow up if they aren't taken care of.

Pastors are imperfect, sinful people, just like you and me. And they need discipline and even correction and rebuke as much as anyone else does. But if you knew the pressures that many of them are under, and the pressures that their wives and kids are under . . . It is crushing. They need us to hold them up, to pray for them, to lift their weary arms.

They need us to treat them how we would like to be treated if the tables were turned.

I was reading this passage a day or two ago, and it's very appropriate:

The wicked watches for the righteous
and seeks to put him to death.
The Lord will not abandon him to his power
or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.

Wait for the Lord and keep his way,
and he will exalt you to inherit the land;
you will look on when the wicked are cut off.

I have seen a wicked, ruthless man,
spreading himself like a green laurel tree.
But he passed away, and behold, he was no more;
though I sought him, he could not be found.

Mark the blameless and behold the upright,
for there is a future for the man of peace.
But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed;
the future of the wicked shall be cut off.

The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
he is their stronghold in the time of trouble.
The Lord helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.

– Psalm 37:32-40 (ESV)

Oh yeah.

So, how do you treat your pastor? How do I? I believe in the end God will take care of things, and justice will flow like a river. But in the meantime may he empower us to become springs of blessing for those who lead us. May we be a source of blessing, not cursing, to those over us.

We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

– 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 (ESV)

2 thoughts on “So, how do you treat your pastor?

  1. As a Preacher's kid and now a Preacher's wife, I appreciate this post. It has always amazed me how people could just stand by and watch their pastor get ripped into by someone. But, like your post says, there are those church members who watch out for the pastor and his family. I thank God for them.

  2. You know I'm on board with this stuff. We share a couple of pastor friends who are basically abused by people in their congregations. It's flat-out evil.
    Shepherds who tend to their sheep well deserve the utmost respect and honor. And they deserve tender loving care themselves, because these days it takes a whole lot out a man to "do ministry."

    In our church, we treated our pastor very well, even as our elders gently tried to discipline him because of his sins. Eventually we had to fire the guy.
    Shepherds who abuse their sheep ought to get the boot.

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