31 Days of Missional Living: A Wife on Mission, Part 1 (Day 26)

 

 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”.