Pastor Appreciation Day Misunderstandings

by "Serenity"
(Georgia)

Conflict Resolution Needed

What could possibly go wrong in expressing Pastor Appreciation?

Conflict is a part of life, even church life, as this story of pastor appreciation reveals.

But resolution of conflict is what forgiveness is all about.

The real question is whether churches major in conflict or forgiveness.

Avoiding Pastor Appreciation Misunderstanding

It was the family's first few months in a new church -- we had moved to a different state and community, had visited a few churches.

Finally, we decided which church to join by criteria of the quality of text and subject matter in pastors' sermons and the "spiritual temperature" of the congregants.

Misunderstands In Planning Pastor Appreciation Celebration Events

We didn't know the church we selected celebrated their appreciation of Pastor on the date of Pastor's "anniversary" with the church, which came a month or two prior to October.

Unbeknown to us, they had always celebrated it by playing Pastor's special songs, taking a collection for a special monetary gift, having someone else come to preach the service and then having a potluck.

We queried who organized Pastor's Appreciation Day, not knowing about the "pastor anniversary" celebration.

We didn't want to step on somebody's toes or cause any problems in the church. But no one told us anything about the "annual pastor anniversary" celebration, they simply told us that no one did anything for Pastor's Appreciation Day.

In fact, some didn't even know what Pastor Appreciation Day was, and one person said (anonymously) that someone usually got a card and passed it around.

Church Misunderstandings And The Words Unbeknownst To Us

We were utterly shocked when Pastor's anniversary date arrived and there was a celebration that looked an awwwwful lot like Pastor's Appreciation Day.

It seems that, unbeknownst to us, some in the congregation were upset with us because we were planning a pastor appreciation celebration later in October (but never once talked to US about it).

It also appears that church misunderstandings often begin with the words unbeknownst to us.

So I guess we inadvertently did step on someone's toes, which we were trying to avoid and could have, had people talked to us about it instead of gossiping about it to each other.

How To Avoid Pastor Appreciation Planning Problems

People, please communicate openly and honestly with one another in the church -- it's supposed to be a different place than the world.

By the time we found out about their "anniversary" celebration, we had already invested too much time, money, preparation, and promotion to all of a sudden not have Pastor's Appreciation Day as we had announced.

(You will see in Serenity's other article submissions that her church did have a Successful Pastor Appreciation Day.)