10/06/2026
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October is Pastor Appreciation Month, and it happens to land right in the middle of our series on the marks of a healthy church. That is a fitting place for it, because the relationship between a church and its pastor is a vital sign. It belongs on the same list as clarity about who you are and a pathway for making disciples. A congregation that honors, supports, and befriends the pastor God has given it is showing you something about the health of the whole body, and a congregation that does not is showing you something too.
Ministry is heavy on its own. That is not a complaint. It is a description of the work. We stand with families at gravesides. We sit in hospital rooms at two in the morning. We preach to people we love knowing that heaven and hell are real and that eternity is in the room. We carry what people tell us in confidence and cannot set it down anywhere else. The writer of Hebrews knew this when he described pastors as those who "are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account" (Hebrews 13:17). That is not a job description you leave at the office. The weight is built in. God gave it to us, and he gives the grace to carry it.
Read more: https://www.crossroadsdistrict.org/team-updates/healthy-churches-take-care-of-their-pastors