How should a congregation receive and treat its pastor? Ministers sometimes hesitate to speak of these things, lest they be thought weak or self-serving. God gives pastors for the blessing and welfare of his church. As with all God's gifts, we are accountable for how we treat them.

For the minister, both a professional vocation and an intensely personal life are inseparably bound up together. The congregation's care for him encompasses both aspects, although in Presbyterian churches the professional aspect also comes under the presbytery's oversight. Here are eight ways in which Christians can support their pastor.

• First, keep the minister and his family within the congregation's spiritual and social fellowship.
  
  Be their friend, and let them be yours. Fellowship is crucial to their spiritual health and the pastor's effectiveness.
  
  Many things in the ministry tend to isolate the pastor and his family, and much of that isolation can be overcome if church people keep their hearts open to them. The pastor and his family are frequently newcomers in the community, and in some places they remain outsiders, but that should never be so in the congregation. They do not need special privileges, but they need the body life of the church.

• Second, support the minister's work of preaching, teaching, and counseling.
  
  Give him time to prepare adequately without criticizing the hours he must spend doing so. Recognize that his priorities will not give him the time or the energy to do everything people may wish him to do. Interact with his messages in discussion; ask questions when you are unclear what he meant or how to apply what he said. When you have been blessed, tell him. If you disagree with something, explain why, and listen sympathetically to his response. If he has a distracting pulpit habit, share it with him, but privately. When he is attacked for applying gospel truth, defend his ministry – but also discuss the incident with him. These measures help strengthen his work and aid him in evaluating himself.

• Third, pray regularly for the pastor.
  
  The ministry of the Word, by its very nature, takes him beyond his own capabilities and thrusts him into spiritual warfare. John Piper explains (in The Supremacy of God in Preaching, p. 23); 
  
  "The great design and intention … of a Christian preacher [is] to restore the throne and dominion of God in the souls of men … The Lord sends preachers out into the world to cry out that God reigns, that he will not suffer his glory to be scorned indefinitely, that he will vindicate his name in great and terrible wrath. But they are also sent to cry out that for now a full and free amnesty is offered to all the rebel subjects who will turn from their rebellion, call on him for mercy, bow before his throne, and swear allegiance to him forever. The amnesty is signed in the blood of his Son."
  
  “And who is equal to such a task?” (2 Corinthians 2:16). The preacher needs to know that the brethren are interceding for him in this. Pray that God will enable him to make known the mystery of the gospel fearlessly (Ephesians 6:19-20). While pastors seldom suffer physical persecution today, at least in the Western world, their spiritual and emotional struggles and sometimes wounds are nonetheless real. Ask God to give your pastor close fellowship with colleagues with whom he can share his deep personal struggles, labors, and joys. Pray also for his family and his personal life, as these are affected by his work.

• Fourth, accept the fact that the pastor will always be a fallible and finite Christian.
  
  The church rightly expects pastors, like all elders, to be spiritual examples. However, the pastor is not a perfect Christian, nor is he without personal idiosyncrasies that occasionally disturb some folks. Eventually his failings will show, especially to those with whom he works closely. Do not be shocked if he occasionally fails or sins.
  
  Resolve conflicts with the pastor promptly and biblically. When you must criticize him, do so to build him up for Christ's sake, not to reject him. To tear down the minister inevitably tears down the ministry of the Word and the church of Christ. Never criticize him to others behind his back. Do not uncritically adopt another's offense as your own. Do not accept someone else's complaint and pass it on to the minister anonymously – that prevents him from responding to it in a godly and healing manner.
  
  His spiritual maturity and example may show more in repentance and growth than in never showing need for change. Sincere growth will be encouraged in a fellowship where he is not expected to keep up a pious front. A minister, as well as other believers, grows best through humility and ready repentance in the midst of loving, Spirit-filled fellowship (Ephesians 4:15-16).

• Fifth, encourage the pastor's strengths and bear with his limitations, seeking to supply what he lacks.
  
  Church leaders, in particular, should commit themselves to working with him as members of a team. The session is not a board of directors for the pastor. Rather, the elders are mutual servant-leaders in ministries of worship, teaching, pastoral care and oversight, etc. Each has gifts and strengths that complement those of the others – as well as limitations requiring one another's support and forbearance. They must develop bonds of trust and loyalty in which they are all mutually accountable. While the pastor's essential spiritual and ministerial competence should be evident, he is still growing. Like any other Christian, he grows best in sincere fellowship with those who stand loyally with him.

• Sixth, protect and encourage the minister's wife and family.
  
  His wife has not been called as the assistant pastor. Her primary calling is to be her husband's companion and personal help, and, if they have children, to care for them as their mother. She may also have a career outside of their home. Respect her for herself as a member of the church. Encourage her to fulfill her God-given calling without imposing someone else's agenda on her. Do not expect her time, energy, and gifts to be at everyone else's disposal at will. Accept their children with all the struggles and faults common to covenant children. Remember also that the pastor's family has one special handicap: it is the one family in the congregation without a pastor! The other elders should be alert to provide pastoral oversight and care to the pastor's family.

• Seventh, encourage the minister to take care of his own spiritual, emotional, and physical health.
  
  Ministers are generally outgoing, giving men, who serve many people, both Christian and non-Christian, for long hours. For that reason, they need times when they can withdraw from the crowd, alone – and with their families – for rest and recreation. The elders should see to it that their pastor takes his full vacation each year. Provide your pastor with a week or two every year for study leave or Christian conferences. Encourage him to do a short term of missionary service. This will greatly enlarge his and the congregation's vision for missions. If a pastor continues in one congregation over many years, that church would reap rich new benefits from his ministry if it provided him a paid sabbatical for extended study or mission work.

• Eighth, provide the pastor with financial support that adequately recognizes the worth of his ministry.
  
  This includes not only salary and benefits, but also expenses necessary to his work. Money has great symbolic as well as material value. The church's financial support of the minister reveals both the value that the people place on his work and their love for him and his family. This is not a plea for exorbitant salaries or for a lifestyle beyond what the congregation can realistically support. It is a call for faithful stewardship of one of the most important assets that God has given the church. More important to a minister's well-being than the specific amount of his stipend are the spiritual faithfulness and caring that motivate it (1 Timothy 5:17-18).

More could be said on the subject, but perhaps this will stimulate discussion and provoke us all “to love and good deeds” in this regard. Though the focus has been on caring for the pastor, none of this should be understood to imply that he has less responsibility for healthy relationships than others. The principle assumption here has been this: when the congregation's respect and care make the pastor's ministry a joy, it usually receives greater blessings from his work and God's kingdom is advanced in the world (Hebrews 13:17).

There are no guarantees, of course. Ministers and members of congregations are sinful people, and despite the best principles, occasionally some fail badly. For both pastors and people, the ministry of the Word is a work of faith.

We live and serve in an imperfect world, trusting God's grace to fulfill his will in and through us as he sustains us with hope. Only in the new creation will he wipe away our sin and tears forever and usher us into his glorious kingdom, where serving him eternally will be our exquisite delight.