October is ‘Pastor Appreciation Month’. Whilst this is a bigger thing in the USA, it’s certainly something we couldn’t let pass here at CBN Europe. Pastoring a church, whether big or small, poses so many unique challenges.

Often people assume pastors just swan from coffee shop to coffee shop, sitting and chatting.  They read a bit. They basically only really work one day a week, for a few hours in the morning. Sometimes they get a free house that comes with the job.

Yet being a pastor can be unbelievably hard. This Forbes article ranks “Pastor/Spiritual Leader” as number 5 of the hardest ranking leadership roles. This quote sums it up nicely: “You’re scrutinized and criticized from top to bottom, stem to stern. You work for an invisible, perfect Boss, and you’re supposed to lead a ragtag gaggle of volunteers towards God’s coming future. It’s like herding cats, but harder.”

Of course everything thinks that their job is the hardest to do – that’s just the way that we think. We’re self-pitying like that. However, there is something uniquely tricky about pastoring: going from the hospital bedtime to comfort a dying saint to a planning meeting about Christmas, all whilst being expected to be on top form spiritually, at all times.

There are a whole host of ways that you can make your pastors load lighter. That’s the subject for another post. One of the simplest and most easily actionable is to pray. Here’s 3 ways to pray for your pastor today.

Pray for their marriage. If your pastor is married then take a moment to consider their spouse. Their husband or wife has a unique and complicated role to play. It can often be lonely, intimidating and complex to be the wife of the pastor. Not only that, the Devil always seeks to destroy marriages and your pastor’s marriage isn’t an exception.

Pray for their kids. Being a Pastor’s kid (or PK as they are commonly known) can mean a lot of pressure. They can bear the burden of being an extension of the pastor – and that’s a big weight to bear whether they are young or old.

Pray for their spiritual health. In fact, pray for their health, full stop. Pastoring takes a physical, mental, spiritual and emotional toll. Praying that your pastor would be healthy and experiencing the same love, joy and peace that they are seeking to give to the congregation is a powerful and much needed prayer.