A customer on another shop's page left a 19-word review for a shirt called Chicken Raising & Jesus Praising. It starts like this: "My sister in law is a reverend in an Episcopal Church and has hens."
Whoever picked that shirt knew one small, true thing about her. The hens.
That's most of the trick with pastor appreciation gifts. All of October is Pastor Appreciation Month, and a thank you lands well in any other month too. The gifts that get used fit the real person and the week they're really having. A few cost nothing. Only one idea on this list comes from our own shop.
Write a note that names one real thing
For his list of 30 pastor appreciation month ideas at Logos, Kirk E. Miller asked more than 1,500 pastors what their churches had done, or could do, to show appreciation. Personal notes made the list. Miller writes that he has saved notes like that over the years.
So make yours specific. "Thanks for all you do" is kind. "Thanks for learning my son's name the first Sunday we visited" is the one that gets saved. If you're stuck, write about a sermon line you still think about, a time they showed up for your family, something your kids say about them, or one thing you're praying for them this month.
For a whole church, Lifeway has a smart twist. Hand out stamped envelopes already addressed to the pastor, with a short note asking each person to write one and mail it. That takes care of the two usual excuses. No stamp, no address.
Match the hobby, and ask before buying books
Back to the hens. Many of the pastors Miller spoke with mentioned gifts that fit a specific hobby, like a musical instrument. Good pastor gifts start with what they do on a day off, whether that's fly fishing, tomatoes, old trucks, or a golf game they swear is getting better.
Books are on both lists too. Lifeway suggests Bible commentaries, and Logos mentions theology books and Christian biographies. Ask first, though. Their spouse or the church office can usually tell you what they'd actually read, and guessing is how a pastor ends up with two copies of the same commentary.
If a shirt fits them
A shirt won't beat a handwritten note. But if your pastor would happily wear their faith to the hardware store on a Saturday, here are four from our ministry collection:
- Walking With The Shepherd: a lamb keeping pace beside the Shepherd. Pastor comes from the Latin word for shepherd.
- Sustained Psalm 55:22: "cast your burden on the Lord," for the one who carries everybody else's.
- If Paul Were Here: "we'd be getting a letter." Give it with your own letter.
- Abide in The Vine: John 15:4, for the tired one. The next verse is in John 15:5 meaning: what abiding looks like on a Tuesday.
All four are unisex Comfort Colors 1717 tees. One honest thing: each shirt is printed after you order, so it takes a while to arrive. Want it for a certain Sunday? Order early. The rest are in our For Teachers and Ministry collection.
Take one thing off their week
A note says thank you. It won't cook dinner on a Wednesday, though. Logos suggests bringing a homemade meal, or having their favorite restaurant deliver if cooking isn't your thing. It also suggests a meal train that runs across October, so the casseroles don't all show up on the same Sunday.
Miller tells about a couple who gave him and his wife a gift card to a fancy restaurant in town and offered to babysit their kids. We love that second part. A gift card alone can sit in a drawer for months when there's no sitter. With the babysitting offer, it gets used.
The biggest one is a week off from sermon prep
A dinner out covers one evening. Time is harder to wrap. Logos suggests asking the elder board to bring in a guest preacher, so your pastor gets a week off from writing a sermon.
You don't have to be an elder to ask. Anyone can. And Lifeway has a free one: volunteer to serve on a regular basis, if you don't already. Pick the job your pastor keeps doing because nobody signed up for it, like running slides or locking up after youth group.
Gifts for the pastor's wife
A week off is a gift to the whole family, and Lifeway has a line we'd underline twice: include the pastor's wife in your note, or better yet, write one just to her. Logos suggests treating her to coffee, or babysitting one afternoon so she can go to a spa. (Same goes for a pastor's husband.) Our own idea is simpler. Take her to lunch and make church talk off-limits until dessert.
