A guest post
Being a ministry wife is indeed a multi-faceted calling, but being a Church Planting ministry wife is a unique specialty in and of itself. You are a wife. You may be a mother. You are a Church Planter. You are a cook, for your own family, and often for the church plant teams as well. Your living room doubles as the church boardroom. You are a counselor of women. You very quickly become an expert of the “cold call,” as you are constantly inviting everyone you see to come be a part of your new church. You are a never-ending sounding board, mostly to your husband, but also to the other ministry wives on your leadership team. Your home decorations double as information table and refreshment table décor on Sundays. Your home could have a sign on the outside that reads, “Public Storage” or “U-Haul.” You have to park your car on the street now because your garage is full of church plant equipment and supplies and your driveway is now occupied by large white box trailers vinyl wrapped with your church plant logo.
You also wear a multitude of different “badges.” One day your badge may read Set-up &
Take-down. Another day it may read
Children’s Ministry. Sometimes it may
read Worship Team or Guest Services. Oh…
and my all-time favorite… Parking Lot Team.
Being a Church Planting ministry wife myself, for the last
11 years, and having had the incredible privilege of interacting with many
other Church Planting ministry wives on a weekly basis, I have learned a few important
lessons. Here are my Top Seven:
Lesson # 1: Church Planting
is extremely hard work! Working hard
and being busy is your new “normal.”
Oftentimes, we wives do not realize the incredible sacrifice required to
embrace this type of ministry. It becomes
a harsh reality soon after you begin. But no matter the harshness of the reality, it
remains a divine calling. You and your
family, together, are “called” to this work, and God will give you the drive,
the strength and the endurance that you will need to accomplish His mission. Do
not be so hard on yourself when things do not go as you planned. Somehow,
in God’s will and under his guidance, things always work out; probably not how
you intended all the time, but always how God intended.
“Let
the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of
our hands!” Psalm 90:17
Lesson #2: Date your
husband! Take care of your
relationship with your husband. You may
be ministry partners, but you are husband and wife first. Your marriage is your first ministry. Make dating a priority. It is extremely important to spend time
together talking about life, other than Church Planting. Love each other with each other’s love language, and ensure that each of your “emotional tanks” remains full. Your husband will never be able to read your
mind. Believe me... he can’t! When you are feeling like you need “hubby
time,” he is more than likely needing “wifey time.”
Lesson #3: Involve
your children! Involve your children
in the ministry. They are Church Planters
too! They can set up chairs, help in children’s
ministry, hang door hanger invites and pass out bulletins. They will love being a part of what God is
doing in their community. Establish ministry
traditions with them. One tradition we
established, from the very first public Sunday night Bible Study gathering, was
that after Take-Down was completed, we would all go out to Sonic Drive-In. Our kids called it “tradition.” It was a fun time and we would laugh and
dream together about what God was doing through the church plant.
Be sure to check back tomorrow for the rest of Dena's seven tips.
Dena
Deal, along with her husband Pastor Randy and five other families planted Rock
Point Church in Gilbert, Arizona eleven years ago. She currently works alongside her husband as
he coaches new Church Planters in Arizona and Southern California. Dena has a passion to mentor women through
God’s written Word. She lives in
Gilbert, Arizona, with her husband. They
have five grown children, one daughter-in-law, one amazing grandson and one
scruffy dog-named Buddy. You can follow all her posts written from a wealth of experience at, “Corkin the Crazy”.
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