Every gift that you can give your pastor is not a gift that can be bought in a store with money. Today I want to encourage you to think a little deeper about what gifts you would be willing to give your pastor. Our goal of the Christian life is to live our life wholly and completely for Christ, not for a man, even our pastor. I do believe that if we are living correctly in line with the Bible in honoring God, we will please our pastor. So please do not misunderstand the intention of this article, your job is to please God first, while serving underneath the authority of your pastor in the local church. You will not always agree with everything he says or does, but you can honor him with personal gifts of your investment in a Christ-centered life.

The Gift of Written Word

Buy a card or some stationery and write down some encouraging thoughts or something that will bless your pastor’s heart and give it to him. It may cost you a few dollars and some time, but it will be a gift that can be looked at again and again and bring back encouragement each time he reads it. Write down a Bible verse, a poem, a song, a fond memory, a way in which God has encouraged you through him. It will bless his heart!

The Gift of a Righteous Life

3 John 1:4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. 

God wants to see His children walk in truth, and while your pastor is not your father, he does receive great joy to think of the people in his church that are walking daily in God’s truths. Burdens drop on his shoulders when church members leave the truth and begin walking in the world. To lighten your pastor’s load, simply live a God-honoring, righteous life. This will require time and effort in your own personal walk with God, but it is a gift to your pastor.

The Gift of Faithful Church Attendance

Faithful church attendance will lower your odds for having to receive any type of one on one counseling with your pastor. If he is the right kind of pastor he will be preaching God’s message to God’s people every time he preaches. God will speak to your heart through the power of the Holy Spirit, and He will be the Counselor and Prince of Peace addressing your life’s problems and heartfelt issues. If you still need help and guidance, then please approach your pastor and speak with him about those things.

When we skip services we tend to miss out on the intended gifts and Biblical counseling God had for us in his sermons. Not only that, when the pastor sees that you’re missing while he’s up on the platform looking down on the congregation, then he wonders and may even worry about you. Faithfulness to attending church  is an investment of time for God that will bless your pastor (and you and your family too!!)

The Gift of a Servant Spirit

Crowds of people will come to church but the overall rule is that most do not serve. “There’s nothing like trying to pull teeth from the members of your church and get them to get on board with a program or event that you’re trying to carry out and having only the same people volunteer time after time,” one ministry leader said.

Be a blessing and have a servant spirit. While you don’t have to be involved in every single ministry of your church, you should be involved somewhere and faithful at it (not skipping every other obligation). God equipped every member of their church to have a part in the body of Christ. Have you found yours? It may require some time and investment on your part to serve to help the church, but it will lighten the load for many who are carrying too much weight in serving.

If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour. John 12:26

The Gift of Hospitality

Open your home or even your wallet and take your pastor and his wife (and family!) out for a meal. When you open your home to them then they will be able to see your life in a new way. In conversing with them they will know how to pray for you and minister to you in a better way. You will benefit because there’s something special about ministering to someone through a meal or over dessert that will open your eyes to be able to minister to and pray for THEM!

There is also a blessing that comes along when you choose to follow these verses:

I Thessalonians 5:12, 13  And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;  And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves.

Your pastor and his family are worth getting to know. God called them to your church and they are involved in your life because God wants them to be able to minister to you in a specific way. You can turn right around and find ways to be hospitable to them and esteem them highly in love because you are also in their lives to minister to them.

The Gift of Being a Soul-Winner & Discipler

Nothing helps your pastor build the Kingdom of Heaven and your local church like you being a personal soul-winner and discipler. So many people leave the work of soul-winning to the pastor and the church staff. This is a heavy burden for your pastor, when the Bible instructs each person to go out and spread the gospel (Matthew 28:18-20). Also, when you take on the personal responsibility of investing yourself and your time into someone who is an immature Christian then you take some more weight off of his shoulders.

No matter how old you are in the faith, you can help someone learn what you have already learned from the Bible. When you allow God to use you to help someone grow and be faithful to church then you help your pastor. We see so many baby Christians get stunted in their growth for the Lord because church members see a need to help them but disregard it as “the pastor’s job.” Your pastor’s job is to be in the Scriptures studying the Word so that he can provide fresh sermons for the members to feed upon. (Acts 6:1-4) I believe that if God directs you to a specific person to win to the Lord that He will give you the ability to be able to specifically minister to the needs of that person as they grow in the Lord after their salvation. Your gift of serving your pastor through personal soul-winning and discipling is a benefit not only to him but to you because God counts those that win souls as wise (Proverbs 11:30).

These are simple ways you can invest in the life of your pastor. You could also do many other things monetarily, by honoring them with a banquet on their behalf, by giving to support a special offering or building fund. The ideas can be limitless, but if you know the heart of your pastor, you know the greatest investments he would want you to make are spiritual eternal investments because he also has no greater joy than to see God’s children walk in truth.

You might be interested in another article in this series: Free Gifts to Give Your Pastor