By Rev. Dr. A. E. Joseph

A church of encouragers is a church that is alive! The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated. Pastors are under increasing stress. Some ways you can encourage your shepherd:

A. ACCOUNTABILITY
A congregation ought to be aware of a pastor’s gifts and limits which determine their ministry priorities. The best encouragement comes from those who understand the pressures – emotional and spiritual – under which the pastor and his family live.

B. BIBLICAL PRIORITIES
A lot of discouraging things happen in churches because we don’t understand what the church is all about. The ministry of the church includes:-
a) Worship – everything we do for the glory of God, corporately and individually.
b) Fellowship – caring for one another.
c) Spiritual Formation or Discipleship – growing into Christ.
d) Mission – everything we do for Christ in the world.

C. COMMUNICATION
The habit of encouragement is to be encouraged. If you appreciate your pastor, tell him! The only feed back they often receive are a few words of greeting at the church door after service.

By the way, never raise a critical (or trivial) issue before – or immediately after worship and preaching: leave it till later.

D. DISCIPLING
Every pastor should be encouraged to find his ‘three,’ ‘twelve,’ and ‘seventy.’ Half a pastor’s time ought to be spent with God and half with the people, without neglecting quality time with his or her family.

E. EXAMPLE
Your faith, hope and love have a greater influence on your pastor than you may realize. What you are is more important than what you say.

F. FELLOWSHIP
For the church to be a fellowshipping community, people must be networkers, incorporating new comers into fellowship groups. When this is not done, people are lost through the ‘back door.’

G. GIFT-GIVING
The church supports the pastor materially while he helps others spiritually (socially, emotionally and mentally, too). If there is no office ‘clearing’ clerk, the pastor will need all kinds of help (but only if you can keep confidences). Every church should plan to have a staffed office.

H. (W)HOLISM
Some pastors feel guilty taking time off; they tend to work harder than their Creator! Jesus sometimes left needy crowds to retreat to the desert. Few pastors are lazy: more are workaholics. So encourage your pastor to have fun. Friendship is something offered, invited and reciprocated. He may need close friends even outside the church.

I. JUSTICE
Encourage your pastor by practicing Christianity in the world.

J. KINGDOM
Encourage your church pastor to be open to learning from other Christians. The love of God is broader than the measure of our church’s mind!

K. LEADERSHIP
The pastor is servant of the church – but the church is not his master. He is a leader of fellow ministers and a shepherd, training fellow shepherds to care for others. Dynamic churches let their leaders lead. Pastors watch over your souls without resting, since they must give to God an account of their service. If you obey them, they will do their work gladly; if not they will do it with sadness and that would be of no help to you (Hebrews 13:17).

Pastors are servant-leaders. Don’t idolize them because he is a fellow struggler with you. Do not cut him off because we need each other. Do not criticize him because he is also human and sensitive. Speak highly of your church and its leadership to your fellow members and outsiders. Be a self-starter, but keep your pastor informed.

L. OPTIMISM
Be positive in church meetings/committees. Look for possibilities. There is always a better way. A fault-finding spirit is deadly!

M. PRAYER
Never criticize a person for whom you do not pray, and pray very hard before you exhort him.

N. QUIET
The ideal arrangement for a pastor is to have a special place and time each day for uninterrupted prayer and spiritual reading.

O. SMALL GROUPS (BIBLE STUDY GROUPS)
Everywhere in the world, where a church is alive, believers meet together in house churches or informal groups for worship, fellowship, spiritual formation (Bible Study and prayer for one another) and mission. Your participation matters!

P. TEACHABLENESS
The preached Word is Christ’s Word, more than human words. Be a doer as well as a hearer of the Word. There is nothing more discouraging for a pastor than a church member who is not teachable.

Q. UNDERSTANDING
Pastors carry awesome emotional and spiritual problems and burdens. Don’t add to them unnecessarily. There is the constant challenge to stay fresh and relevant in preaching. Being everything to everybody is not easy. They, too, struggle with their sins and selfworth. They are wounded healers, ‘broken potters’ and sometimes even lost shepherds. So don’t compare them with other (previous) pastors. Let your pastor be himself (Romans 15:7).

R. VISITATION
Is the pastor employed only to visit the sick, sorrowful and sinful? Yes and no. His main task (Ephesians 4:11-12) is to equip all the people of God to serve one another. In the New Testament (James 1:27) visitation is to be done by all who have ‘pure and genuine religion’ and in this context, the elders of the church can encourage the pastor by visiting those in need.

May your partnership in the ministry of encouragement with your pastor, be an enriching, enhancing, and encouraging experience! In so doing, may God’s Kingdom be built and His Name glorified!