My Secret Life as a Pastor's Wife, Part 1

Lord Jesus, guide my heart, thoughts, and words.
Your bride, the Church, is precious to You.

I am a [former] pastor’s wife. Only the Lord knows if we will serve in this capacity in the local church again.

Did you know that ministry (the pastorate) is hard? As a pastor you see the WORST and the BEST of people. You go through seasons of death, birth, heartache, sin, new life, and more with those you serve. You grow to love them in ways you never thought was possible. They become family. Their life in Christ becomes your joy and what you think about when you awake and lie down. As a pastor, the church is always on your heart, in your thoughts, and spoken of often in your prayers.

But what happens when the people you love and serve turn against you? Who could possibly understand such depths of betrayal, pain, and sadness?

Jesus.

My heart longs to be transparent about our seasons in ministry, however I also fear scaring away our many friends & family who do not attend a local church. How do I communicate raw, honest feelings without bringing shame on the church?

I pray my feeble attempt (with these posts) will bring glory to Christ’s bride, shame on those wolves who seek to devour God’s people, and encouragement to those pastors and wives who labor rigorously for those they love & serve.

____________

First, Christ’s bride, the Church, is GLORIOUS!

The Church is not a building. It is God’s people. It is a group of baptized believers who meet regularly to worship God through Jesus Christ, to be exhorted from the Word of God, pray, and celebrate God’s grace through the Lord's Supper, baptism, and church discipline.

Charles Spurgeon (in his sermon, "The Church as She Should Be") says, 

There are various estimates of the Christian church. Some think everything of her; some think nothing of her; and probably neither opinion is worth the breath which utters it. Neither Ritualists, who idolise their church, nor sceptics, who vilify all churches, have any such knowledge of the true spiritual church of Jesus Christ as to be entitled to give an opinion. The king's daughter is all glorious within, with a beauty which they are quite unable to appreciate.

The Church is a beautiful bride. Her worth (which may never be truly appreciated this side of Heaven) was bought by her groom at the cross.

One of my favorite pastors is Jonathan Edwards. In my search to find what Edwards thought of the Church I ran across an article John Piper wrote about him in 1988 ("The Pastor as Theologian: Life and Ministry of Jonathan Edwards"). He shared,

What our people need is not nice little moral, or psychological pep talks about how to get along in the world. They need to see that everything, absolutely everything – from garage sales and garbage recycling to death and demons have to do with God in all his infinite greatness. Most of our people have no one, no one in the world to placard the majesty of God for them. Therefore most of them are starved for the infinite God.

THIS! This is the call of the local church. This is what Jonathan was so passionate about. (Have you HEARD “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”??) The church has a high calling. The pastor has a high calling.

But what happens when God calls SINFUL men 

to proclaim a PERFECT Savior 

in a SINFUL world?