Proclaimer Blog
Marriage & Ministry
We’ve long understood that for married preachers, healthy preaching is not only about good technique, it’s about godliness in the home and marriage. It’s one of the key reasons we have a ministry in wives’ conferences. We also have some deliberately small under-the-radar conferences called Marriage & Ministry stopovers. These are 24 hour breaks in luxurious surroundings for couples in ministry. Each is limited to 12 couples and is a great opportunity to refresh and regroup. We’ve been running these for three years and they’ve been an oasis for beleaguered ministers and their wives.
Our next two are in October half term. Why half term? Based on some initial research it became clear that, for couples with kids, it was actually easier to get away for a day in half term, when parents were already thinking about childcare, than it was in term time, when arranging someone to do the school run and homework supervision was much more complicated.
We’ve also picked venues which attempt to cover the country. We’ve already held one stopover in Yorkshire. In October Wallace and Lindsay Benn are hosting one at Hothorpe Hall in Leicestershire and Mrs R and I are hosting one at The Old Bell in Malmesbury in Wiltshire, apparently England’s oldest hotel. The dates for both are 26/27 October. We’d love to see you there – or perhaps there is a ministry couple in your church who you will know will benefit from joining us. Why not encourage them along?