This week I want to look at what it might look like for a church to create a culture of support for their pastors and staff. I begin with recognizing two challenges to achieving this goal. First, most churches are not immediately conscious of needing to minister to the minister. Second, and often more difficult to change, many pastors resist the idea that they should be the recipient of pastoral care.
It is not often focused upon, but there are indications in the gospel that both purposes were attended to in the ministry of Jesus. It is but a brief reference but it is mentioned that there were a group of women who accompanied Jesus and the disciples and supported them. When Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law, the first thing she did was attend to their needs. Apparently Jesus went to the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus for respite. While Peter got himself in trouble when he admonished Jesus not to go to Jerusalem, it is apparent that Peter was doing so out of concern for Jesus’ well being. When Jesus and the disciples were on the lake in the storm, the disciples had made preparation for Jesus to rest while they rowed the boat. All of these are brief glimpses but they suggest that Jesus received ministry from others as well as offered it.
Most congregations understand that they are responsible for providing the pastor a salary. Luke 10:7 and particularly 1 Timothy 5:17-18 are supportive of this. But I want to suggest that there are lots of other ways that a congregation can be supportive of a pastor and staff that can result in a a stronger, more vital ministry. This may be especially true for small congregations that cannot afford to pay a significant salary to their pastor. Most pastors recognize that ministry is not a lucrative profession. They understand that sacrifice is part of their calling. But, when they are considering their responsibilities to their family, it is easy to determine that moving to a congregation that can afford to pay more still offers them the opportunity to minister to others.
The challenge for all churches is to create a culture of support for ministry that is so attractive to the clergy that it would be difficult to move to another church. Exploring how that can be done is the topic for the rest of the week.
