Contrary to popular conception, real pastoral ministry is tough, draining, and emotionally taxing. It’s not for the faint of heart. It requires a unique combination of battle toughness and fatherly tenderness. A pastor is closely connected to the lives of the people he serves, and vicariously experiences both the joy and heartbreak that his people experience. When a young man gets married, the pastor rejoices. When the same young man gets cancer, the pastor is heartbroken. When a couple has a child, the pastor is elated. When the same couple gets divorced five years later, the pastor is heartbroken.

Encouragement is fuel for the pastoral engine. Here is one simple way to encourage your pastor:

Pay close attention to his sermons.

Preaching is a funny thing. Sermon prep involves prayerfully wrestling through difficult passages (have you ever tried explaining Revelation?), figuring out how best to apply the passage to everyday life (what does an Ethiopian eunuch have in common with a stay-at-home mom?), and organising the sermon in a coherent manner.

On Sunday he stands up in front of his congregation and pours himself out for thirty minutes, and then it’s over. That’s up to thirty hours of prep for a thirty-minute message. And he has to do the same thing again next week, and the week after that. It’s a joyful, exhausting, delightful, brutal grind.

If you want to bless your pastor, don’t simply say, “Lovely sermon, pastor”. Instead, thank him for specific phrases, specific application points, and specific ways God used his teaching to change and challenge you.  (By former pastor Stephen Altrogge)