A struggling Pastor and wife

[DaveW]

I am not at liberty to give details but I have a friend in the ministry who is having struggles that are near to overwhelming him and his wife.

These struggles are coming from many directions and they are near to breaking point.

I know that they are not alone in this, so I would greatly encourage you to pray for any ministry men, couples, and families that you know of.

You just do not know the struggles they are hiding beneath their prayer letters.

[HappyChristian]

I know you're not at liberty to give any details, but I do hope things are improving for your friend. Still praying.

[DaveW]

They will be taking a short sabattical to rest up. No one know where they are going as most Pastors end up preaching and ministering to people when they holiday. They need a complete break away and someone is giving them a place to hide away for a while.

I mostly wanted to remind people of this sort of situation and pressure that those who serve the Lord in ministry face.

[DaveW]

I really need to add to this:

Most people don't realise that the wives of Pastors bear an incredibly heavy burden, and most people simply don't realise that these precious "weaker vessels" are so easily broken and bruised by that pressure, and often try as he might the faithful pastor cannot protect her from these things.

Remember that these men and women are just men and women who want nothing more than to serve the Lord - but they are not "Special" people with strength and endurance beyond mere mortals.

Often the men double down and put up with it, because after all, it is what he was called to, but the wife - the help meet for him - sees the pressures on him and on their family, and she wants nothing more than to protect the man that the Lord has given her, but she can't and she feels that deeply.

 

Don't forget to pray for the wife of that man of God that you know - even if you can't see it, the life of that (hopefully godly) woman has pressures that most people just can't understand.

[Jim_Alaska]

Well said Bro. Dave. The pressure on a wife can take a heavy toll on the pastor's ministry, which affects the whole church. It also makes the pastor's ministry difficult and complicated. Many deal privately with depression because of this situation. It is one thing to deal with the everyday pressures of the ministry without also having to deal with added pressure that strikes his family as a result of the wife being bruised and tormented by conditions out of the control of them both.

[No Nicolaitans]

Everyone here knows I'm not a pastor, but my wife and I have discussed things if I ever were to pastor. There's a lot of pressure put on a pastor's wife that is uncalled for. Too many churches "expect" certain things, even though there is no biblical basis for it. There are no qualifications given for a pastor's wife, yet many churches seem to have them anyway...or they expect certain "qualifications" to be met as an unspoken rule.

I haven't said anything up until now, but my heart is breaking for this dear family.

[Ukulelemike]

I don't know if it is the same for others, but I know, quite often, the stresses my wife deals with are trying to shoulder responsibilities that aren't hers to shoulder. The Lord gives a pastor wide shoulders, with a great amount of load-bearing potential; the wife, God has given the shoulders to bear up her family, to see to their needs, not the needs of the church-that is for the pastor. Often I find my wife trying to bear those things with me, rather than to be there for me when I need some bearing up, and those things will crush a pastor's wife if she can't learn to leave certain things to the pastor. God bless them for being willing, but it isn't their place nor lot to do so.