The End and the Beginning of a Ministry
Our congregation reluctantly voted yes. Steve will no longer be the pastor of this church after the last Sunday in September. Instead he will be exploring possibilities for new churches in our presbytery as the regional home missionary. What will be my part,if any in all of this? What insights of mine as a veteran pastor's wife should I share with the wives of church planters? Are there things I can share with individuals in new congregations that might make them look a little more kindly and realistically on their new pastor and his family? What has God taught me over the years?
As the time grows short at his fourth and last church, my thoughts turn towards his first church.
The year was 1976. Steve had just graduated from Westminster Seminary. He had been given the opportunity to work with a new church in California that had been started by a founding minister in the OPC, Henry Coray. After returning with his family from China where he and his wife had been doing missionary work, he planted several churches in southern California.
We eagerly stored most of our belongings and packed up for the long trip across country. We looked forward to meeting the legendary Mr. Coray. Steve had successfully completed all of his course work and had prepared sermons. These next sermons were going to become what would seem like a neverending stream instead of requirements for a course lasting a relatively short time .
We finally arrived at the home of one of the core families. I barely had time to shake off the weariness of travel, when the wife asked a question. "Do you play the piano?" That was my first indication of the expectations people might have of the pastor's wife. Shortly after our arrival a number of people asked me why we hadn't sold all our furniture. They seemed to think the sensible thing would have been to start over when we knew this was our permanent location. I couldn't help but wonder if they would have come to the same conclusion if they had been in our situation.
We lived the first few months in a one room apartment in a woman's garage. We knew it would be a while before we would know whether this job would be permanent. We enjoyed meeting Mr. Coray. Getting to know him was a pleasure. He was thrilled to see that Steve was there ready to work. He turned everything over to Steve. Mr. Coray was tired and eager to stay closer to his wife at the assisted living home 1 hour north of Steve's new assignment.
It took Steve the good part of 2 days to complete 1 sermon. With 2 sermons every week there was little hope of finding enough time for what else had to be done. Although a seminary education is invaluable, there is so much you can only learn as you do the job.
We have learned much in these years as Steve has served 4 churches in 4 states. I wish we could say we deal better now with every situation than we did in the late 70s, but that may not be true. What we do know is God is faithful in how He deals with His people and with His church. We know that understanding His character and living like we understand it makes all the difference in the world. This is not a simplistic lesson. It is one we are continuing to learn as pastor and his wife, Mom and Dad, husband and wife and in every other relationship we have.
Since God is faithful there might be many things I have learned and things I have observed, that would be helpful to women whose husbands have many more years to serve in the pastoral ministry. With that hope in mind I am planning to use this format to share more about the unique role I have filled.
As the time grows short at his fourth and last church, my thoughts turn towards his first church.
The year was 1976. Steve had just graduated from Westminster Seminary. He had been given the opportunity to work with a new church in California that had been started by a founding minister in the OPC, Henry Coray. After returning with his family from China where he and his wife had been doing missionary work, he planted several churches in southern California.
We eagerly stored most of our belongings and packed up for the long trip across country. We looked forward to meeting the legendary Mr. Coray. Steve had successfully completed all of his course work and had prepared sermons. These next sermons were going to become what would seem like a neverending stream instead of requirements for a course lasting a relatively short time .
We finally arrived at the home of one of the core families. I barely had time to shake off the weariness of travel, when the wife asked a question. "Do you play the piano?" That was my first indication of the expectations people might have of the pastor's wife. Shortly after our arrival a number of people asked me why we hadn't sold all our furniture. They seemed to think the sensible thing would have been to start over when we knew this was our permanent location. I couldn't help but wonder if they would have come to the same conclusion if they had been in our situation.
We lived the first few months in a one room apartment in a woman's garage. We knew it would be a while before we would know whether this job would be permanent. We enjoyed meeting Mr. Coray. Getting to know him was a pleasure. He was thrilled to see that Steve was there ready to work. He turned everything over to Steve. Mr. Coray was tired and eager to stay closer to his wife at the assisted living home 1 hour north of Steve's new assignment.
It took Steve the good part of 2 days to complete 1 sermon. With 2 sermons every week there was little hope of finding enough time for what else had to be done. Although a seminary education is invaluable, there is so much you can only learn as you do the job.
We have learned much in these years as Steve has served 4 churches in 4 states. I wish we could say we deal better now with every situation than we did in the late 70s, but that may not be true. What we do know is God is faithful in how He deals with His people and with His church. We know that understanding His character and living like we understand it makes all the difference in the world. This is not a simplistic lesson. It is one we are continuing to learn as pastor and his wife, Mom and Dad, husband and wife and in every other relationship we have.
Since God is faithful there might be many things I have learned and things I have observed, that would be helpful to women whose husbands have many more years to serve in the pastoral ministry. With that hope in mind I am planning to use this format to share more about the unique role I have filled.
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