Consistently pray for your pastor. Make it a regular discipline in your prayer time. Don’t just pray, “God bless pastor”; do spiritual warfare! Bind principalities and powers that would seek to destroy his marriage and children.
Implore the Spirit of God to move mightily in their lives. Station mighty angels of God around their home and children to push back the forces of darkness that try to attack them. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you specific guidance so that you can pray effectively. Pray also for associate ministers, missionaries and other Christian leaders that you support.
Give the pastor and his family time together. Encourage them to take family vacations and getaways. Pastors live their lives in a fishbowl. They need some private times with their spouse and children.
Give them a gift certificate to a nice restaurant, and offer to baby-sit their children. Encourage others in the congregation to do the same. If someone in the congregation has a vacation home, suggest that it would be a blessing to let the pastor’s family use it for a week. Buy them tickets to a sports event, concert or circus. Create opportunities for them to be together.
Assure the pastor and his family members that they are loved and accepted. Tell them plainly that no one expects them to be perfect. Let them know that the congregation is committed to them and that it’s OK to be vulnerable. Many times pastors don’t realize that when they share their weaknesses it encourages the congregation to also be open with their faults.
Tamara Lowe is a speaker and author who lives in Tampa, Florida. She and her husband, Peter, have two children.
