Clergy Appreciation Month

October has been designated Clergy Appreciation Month. Listed below are a number of suggestions to help plan your special celebration for your pastor(s).

• A Card Shower—at which members and friends present either purchased or homemade greeting cards. Encourage those participating to be as specific as possible in their praise, revisiting favorite sermons or moments when the pastor’s ministry made a difference.
• Submit an Open Letter to Your Local Newspaper to announce to the community your genuine appreciation for your pastoral staff and their families.
• Plan a Special Banquet in honor of your pastor(s).
• Send a Letter to Members of the congregation explaining Clergy Appreciation Month and include offering envelopes for a special love offering, or have a board member explain the celebration and receive a love offering in a regular service.
• Urge Children’s Groups to make creative appreciation messages in their Sunday School classes, Girls Ministries or Royal Rangers.
• Plan a Church Picnic, circus, or other festive event to celebrate the day.
• Create a Scroll of Appreciation on butcher paper. Have as many members of the congregation as possible write greetings and notes of gratitude with colorful markers.
• Consider Simple Gifts (a gift certificate to a local bookstore or restaurant, a magazine subscription), Personal Gifts (a new suit or dress, a new set of tires), Extravagant Gifts (an all-expenses-paid trip to a resort or hotel) or even Practical Gifts (a conference or seminar for pastors).

Some churches prefer to honor their pastors in the spring, because October comes in the same quarter as Christmas, when once again churches show love to their pastor and his family in a tangible way. Some churches honor their senior pastor at a different time than when they honor the remaining staff pastors. The distinction is made because of the differences in responsibilities.

Support your pastors with regular prayer, love, and encouragement. These are the most important things a church can do for pastors. Prayer empowers a pastor to be the person that God called him/her to be. Love your pastors as Jesus loves them, and show it through regular, tangible acts of encouragement, such as simple cards or notes all year long.

An additional “50 Ways to Honor Your Pastor and Staff” can be found in the Resource Guide for Successfully Ministering to Women (Gospel Publishing House, Item #022-007) under the “Local Ministries” tab.

ARLENE ALLEN is national director of the national Women's Department and editor in chief of WTOnline.