I have been asked so many times..."what is your role as a pastor's wife?"...I finally put it into words....Enjoy.
The man that I am married to has received a Divine Call to provide care to a congregation by preaching The Word. He is to love them as Christ loves them. Shepherding a flock can be one of the most enriching, exciting, and satisfying duties a man can be appointed this side of Heaven. It is also a life work that exposes the man of God to multiple trails, deep disappointments and searing heartaches, all of which Jason and I have suffered in our time in the ministry. These things are nothing new in the life of a Pastor…they come with the job…as do celebrating in the joys and successes. The pastor serves God’s people as leader, preacher, teacher, counselor, overseer and chief intercessor. And in all of this, the pastor bears the unrelenting burden of his accountability to the Lord for the spiritual watchcare of a flock for whom the Good Shepherd laid down His own life. No one is either worthy or capable of such an undertaking alone….God has graciously provided my husband a human helper – a wife, to walk at his side as his covenant helper in the mission to shepherd the flock. I happen to be the very blessed woman who gets to stand beside him as his wife.
So where do I fit in? I am just what I stated above…his wife. I love him, raise his children, and try to provide a safe (though nowhere near neat) home. I rejoice in his love and honor and respect him. As Jason’s wife, I often keep my husband’s long hours, shoulder his pressures, feel his disappointments, and suffer his defeats—often as profoundly and as deeply as he does. I am thrust into the role of analyst of both his sermons and his administrative innovations. I may well be called upon to catch grammatical errors and to sniff out inconsistencies in his letters to the church, to befriend that woman in the assembly others may prefer to avoid and to brainstorm solutions to problems no one else can solve. I am often times the only human that can accurately evaluate my husband and help him navigate through the multitude of options…those that think there isn’t a single thing he can do wrong and those on the other hand who can’t find a single redeeming quality in him. My small simple words of encouragement keep him motivated to continue to spread the Gospel no matter the cost. I am one flesh with the pastor, yet I am not the pastor. I am simply a member of his flock.
What is my relationship to the congregation? I'm a member. As the pastor's wife, I am not employed by the church, but I do use my God-given gifts to serve in different areas of ministry. The things that I do in the congregation I do because I am a child of God and feel that God has given me gifts in certain areas so that I can serve there. However, I feel very strongly about my vocations as wife and mother…they come first…these roles are sacred and were given to me by God. I am serving God just as much in my home by raising Christian children as I am by serving anywhere in the church.
I love God, my husband, my children, and my church. I am a servant of Jesus Christ, Jason's wife, Preslee, Spencer, and Brooklynn's mommy, a homemaker, VBS director, nursery worker, etc. I embrace my husbands call to the ministry...we share this life together.
