Proclaimer Blog
Preachers, don’t forget to pastor your wives
Mrs R and I are away at the Summer Wives Conference – almost 100 of us, Anglican and Free Church. Great weather. Good food. Superb accommodation. A good teaching programme, I hope, but also a chance to stop, take stock, rest and recuperate from the busyness of the pastoral home. I say this every year, but it comes to me every year afresh – it's quite possible, Mr Preacher, that the pastor's wife is the least churched person in your congregation. Some of the wives here have spent the last YEAR in the creche. Others find it almost impossible to listen to their husbands ministry without doing so as a friendly critic. Others are so overwhelmed with juggling children, hospitality and church responsibilities that they find it very difficult to take anything in.
Some of these are unavoidable tensions, but they can be mitigated, if only preachers would not neglect the pastoral care of their wives. Mr Preacher, what about your wonderful helper whom God has given you. Are you pastoring her as well as the rest of the congregation?