Pastor, Minister, Vicar, Leader – whatever we call them, they can have a tough time. We expect them to be everything in the church. The teacher, the pastor, the evangelist…there’s a lot for them to do. God has called them into this position and has given them the gifts and strength they need to do the job. But they’re human. They’ll get tired. They’ll make mistakes. They won’t always be on top form. Their role may be to support and encourage us in our journeys, but we need to support and encourage them too. Instead of complaining when we don’t get anything from the talk, let’s pray for the talk the following week and pray that we would have open hearts to hear from God. It’s not always that the talk wasn’t right, but sometimes that our attitude wasn’t right. When their talk makes us feel a little uncomfortable it may be hitting too close to home. We need to take note of that and pray about whether God is trying to tell us something. At the end of the day, the pastor is there to enlighten us, not to entertain us. So it may be time to re-evaluate our attitude towards church. If you have a real issue with your church leader, talk to them rather than about them. As we’ve seen in the last two readings, gossiping and complaining amongst ourselves only creates division and leads to an ineffective church. Although if you have a real issue that you can’t approach your leader about, make sure you find someone trustworthy to confide in rather than talking to lots of people about it. Let’s support, encourage, respect and value our church leaders.

What Now?
Spend some time praying for your church leader. Ask God to speak through them and to give them peace, strength and courage to lead the church the way God wants them to.