During the month of October members of all churches should honor their spiritual leaders for their commitment God and to the local church they serve. Many churches have a pastor's anniversary or a pastor's appreciation service where the church assembled for a annual church service dedicated entirely for the pastor. This event can be scheduled for one of the Sundays in the month of October or some churches elect to celebrate their leaders the entire month dedicating each week to their pastor. Whether you have a one day celebration or you celebrate the entire month I'm sure your pastor will be encouraged to continue the mission God has called him to do.
In writing about the pastor anniversary and the pastor appreciation I often see the argument that pastor should not be celebrated. On many occasions I've read statements that it is not biblical to honor, celebrate or appreciate a pastor. In the bible I read it is clearly noted in Thessalonians 5:12 which reads: And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; 13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. [And] be at peace among yourselves. Another scripture reference in the bible is Hebrews 13:17 which states: Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. Now, in the day, time and society we live in we have introduced many traditions in our culture, faith and religion. We celebrate our pastors just as we celebrate our birthdays, weddings, retirements or any good thing to celebrate over. I believe this is where the idea of the celebration comes from. As human beings we have adopted the celebration aspect from parties, events, graduations, achievements and anything that is good. Well, I believe salvation is a good thing and by following the pastors teaching and spiritual advice only makes me a better person.
Pastor appreciation month in my opinion is a good thing! Every year I use to watch the Academy awards (the Oscars) of which famous actors are celebrate for how they portrayed a fictitious person. Fictitious means as stated on dictionary.com: created, taken, or assumed for the sake of concealment; not genuine; false: imaginatively produced or set forth; created by the imagination. So my argument here is that as a society we can celebrate actors that portray fake imagined people but not real people who do real things all year long. As I recall reading an article there are many actors that receive millions of dollars for what they do. I am not trying to discredit the movie industry in any way as I enjoy movies just like everyone else. I am in fact making a strong point that we should celebrate and appreciate those who spiritually guide us, teach us and pray for us all the time. The job of a pastor is pray for, watch over and teach the congregation, members and or followers as he/she communes with God the Father. In my opinion this is one of the greatest task that anyone could ever accept.
Pastor appreciation month was primarily designed to encourage the pastor for all the laborious work he/she does on a daily basis. If you ever have free time ask your pastor to tag along with him as he goes and do ministry work. You will see that he/she visit the hospital visiting the sick and shut in, counsels individuals, counsels the married, perform funerals and weddings, prepares weekly sermons for the congregation, teaches bible study, prays to God on a daily basis and watches over an entire church of people. being a pastor is not as easy as one may think, it is a very time consuming job to say the least. I encourage everyone to look at appreciating your pastor in a different light not the glitz and glamour that most people associate with being a pastor. It takes hard work and perseverance to be a n effective pastor. It takes great integrity to walk with God on a daily basis! Therefore, I salute all pastors of the faith and I encourage them to continue doing the work of the Lord. Happy Pastor's Appreciation Month to all Pastors!
Pastor Anniversary Site
The Kingdomprograms.com is great resource for Pastor Anniversary Programs where you can create your very own personalized program bulletin. They feature many different program templates that can be customized using Microsoft Publisher 2003 or higher.
