I’ve been thinking about the psalms and how they frequently they expressed their love for God by remembering how God had acted on their behalf. Then recently I talked to a pastor who had just completed ten years at a church and though the congregation was informed about that anniversary, he only received one card and one email. As he related the story to me, he said, “I thought I was bigger than that, but I have to admit that the lack of response hurt.” We live in a society that feels so pressured that we often don’t take time to say thanks.
One very direct way that a COM could assist in the care of our pastors would be to create a file on both the ordination date and the installation date of the pastors and remind the churches of those dates about a month ahead of time. Once the data was collected, the computer can be set to organize the sending out of the notice.
Especially every five years, the congregations should be encouraged to show some extra appreciation for the work of the pastor. One way would be for the session either to reconvene the original search committee or to ask for a couple of volunteers from the session to prepare a public letter of appreciation. The letter should recall several specific ways in which the pastor has contributed to the church during his or her pastorate and maybe a note of appreciation to the pastor’s family for their support.
The letter should be sent to the pastor with signatures from the session but also published in the church newsletter. If the church is in a community that has a local newspaper that would receive it as a letter to the editor, the appreciation might jog other churches in the community to also consider expressing their appreciation to their pastor.
