One of the Most Difficult and Demanding Positions in Ministry

Have you given any thought to the most difficult positions in ministry?  Was your first thought the pastor, the business director or the pastor’s executive assistant?  Each of those ministry positions is indeed difficult and demanding, but the one that I am referring to is the pastor’s wife.  I am not talking about the wife who is co-pastor – mainly because that means different things at different churches.  I’m talking about the pastor’s wife who is an unpaid  layperson.

Twenty Reasons the Pastor’s Wife is one of the Most Difficult Positions in Ministry

1. She has to share her husband with the entire congregation
2. She can’t have a bad day
3. She always has to smile
4. She is expected to be nice to rude people
5. Her children are examined under a microscope
6. Her home and family are expected to be perfect
7. If she doesn’t have children something must be wrong with her
8. She can’t have a bad hair day
9. She can’t have a bad outfit day
10. If the church has no staff, she is often it
11. She is often expected to lead the Women’s Ministry or the Children’s Ministry
12. Church members expect her to know everything about the church
13. Church members expect her to be a counselor even though she has no training in that area
14. She is expected to accompany her husband to every little church function
15. She lives in a fishbowl
16. She’s never off duty (even at the doctor’s office and grocery store)
17. Her life is often lonely because she doesn’t know who she can trust
18. People prey on her family and friendship
19. Her marriage is often stressful because of the weight on her husband’s shoulders
20. She is sometimes privy to confidential information that people try to pry out of her

There are many other reasons and you can add your own.  These are just a few for you to think about.  Please feel free to share some of your own thoughts in the comment section below.

Tweet This Post 

Tags: church, church volunteers, demanding ministry positions, ministry, Pastor, pastor's wife