Pastoral Appreciation: Intentional Self-Care and Gratitude

October is Pastor Appreciation Month

The Region thanks each of our ordained and commissioned ministers who are serving in local congregations, in hospitals, and in higher education. Thank you for sharing their gifts, talents, energy, wisdom, kindness, creativity, and time to bless others. We appreciate all you do every day to make and shape those in your care in the Oklahoma Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

In honor of Pastor Appreciation Month, we give thanks and also encourage our clergy to take some time for intentional self-care this month. If we clergy are not taking care of ourselves and tending to our own disrupted patterns of behavior in this extraordinary and unprecedented time of ministry, then we will not be very effective at caring for others. We encourage healthy leaders to be able to care for and help bring healing and wholeness to their broken people in the community and this fragmented world. And, it would be best to choose self-care rather than our bodies insisting on it with a crisis.

We offer to you the wisdom from Ashley Allen, author of “You Are Important: Nine Ways to Put Yourself First.”

She writes,

“Putting yourself first is not selfish. It is responsible. Use the mind, body, and spirit trifecta to increase well-being and remind yourself that you are important.”

Allen offers 9 ways:

3 for the body: exercise, nutrition, and careful choosing of cleaning products;
3 for the mind: be around positive people, do something you love and enjoy, and learn something new;
3 for the soul: practice and write gratitude, meditation and prayer, and unplug.

Read the full article here.

May God’s blessing be upon you as you continue to love and serve in the way of Jesus Christ!