Pastor appreciation verses, and what to write in the card

October is widely kept as Pastor Appreciation Month in American churches, and many mark the second Sunday as the day itself — 11 October this year. Below are the verses that turn up on nearly every list, quoted in full, with a note on which ones work in a card, one to leave out, and one that means a little more than a card usually lets it.

The ones that work in a card

I thank my God whenever I remember you, always in every request of mine on behalf of you all, making my requests with joy, for your partnership in furtherance of the Good News from the first day until now;Philippians 1:3-5 · World English Bible

The one we would reach for first. It isn't written to a pastor — it is Paul thanking a whole congregation — but it is a thank-you in the first person, which is what a card is. The King James has your fellowship in the gospel where the modern rendering has your partnership: the second is closer to what most pastors would like to be thanked for.

But we beg you, brothers, to know those who labour amongst you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to respect and honour them in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace amongst yourselves.1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 · World English Bible

This is the passage the occasion sits closest to. Notice the reason it gives: honor them for their work’s sake. The work, not the title.

Remember your leaders, men who spoke to you the word of God, and considering the results of their conduct, imitate their faith.Hebrews 13:7 · World English Bible

Good in a card from someone who has known a pastor a long time, because it asks you to look back at how they have lived and not only at what they have said.

‘The LORD bless you, and keep you. The LORD make his face to shine on you, and be gracious to you. The LORD lift up his face towards you, and give you peace.’Numbers 6:24-26 · World English Bible

And one to give back. The blessing was handed to Aaron and his sons to speak over the people (Numbers 6:23). Written inside a card, it goes the other way.

“Double honour” is partly about pay

Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially those who labour in the word and in teaching. For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle the ox when it treads out the grain.” And, “The labourer is worthy of his wages.”1 Timothy 5:17-18 · World English Bible

Verse 17 is on almost every list. Verse 18 almost never is, and it is the verse that explains it: the ox that is not muzzled while it works, and the labourer is worthy of his wages. The Greek word for honor, timē (5092), also means a price or a sum paid. The commentaries say so plainly: Vincent, that the phrase “at least includes pecuniary remuneration”, and the Cambridge Bible, that it includes, though it is not confined to, money — “clear from the next verse”. Not everyone takes double literally: Jamieson-Fausset-Brown reject the idea of a double salary and read the word as simply “large”.

So the verse most often written in a pastor’s card has a practical edge it rarely gets credit for. That is no reason not to write the card. It is a reason to know what you are quoting.

One to leave out of the card

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be unprofitable for you.Hebrews 13:17 · World English Bible

It turns up on appreciation lists, and it is a real instruction about leaders. But it is addressed to a congregation, telling it to obey, which makes it an odd thing for one member of that congregation to write to the pastor by way of thanks. If you want Hebrews, verse 7 above says the warm part.

“Pastor” is in the King James nine times

I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.Jeremiah 3:15 · World English Bible

And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.Jeremiah 3:15 · King James Version

Here is something you can check on the page. The modern rendering says shepherds; the King James says pastors. Pastor is simply the Latin for shepherd, and the Hebrew underneath is the ordinary word for someone who tends a flock (7462). We counted the King James text ourselves: pastor appears eight times in Jeremiah, and once in the New Testament, at Ephesians 4:11, where the modern rendering again has shepherds and teachers.

Jeremiah 3:15, above, is the promise. Most of the other seven are not. Six are complaints about shepherds who have failed their flock — 2:8, 10:21, 12:10, 22:22, 23:1 and 23:2 — and the seventh is Jeremiah speaking of himself: I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee (17:16). The book that gives English its “pastors” mostly uses the word to hold them to account.

Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.Jeremiah 23:1 · King James Version

What to actually write

The verse is the easy part. What a pastor tends to keep from a card is the sentence underneath it: the particular Sunday, the hospital visit, the funeral they took, the thing they said that you still think about. One line like that and a verse beside it is the whole card.

“Pastor” is the Protestant word, and Pastor Appreciation Month is mostly a Protestant custom. Catholic and Orthodox parishes thank their priests too, and every passage above works the same way.

For more passages about thankfulness, see our Bible verses about gratitude, and for encouraging someone who carries other people’s weeks, our verses for encouragement. Everything quoted here is public domain: print it in a card, a bulletin or an order of service with no permission and no fee.