Can the pastors wife, also be the secretary of the church ?

[TheGloryLand]

I believe this is a conflict of interest, leaving a window for the pastor, to do what he wishes. Do the Baptist churches have any bylaws forbidden this practice. The wife of the pastor, being the secretary of the or his church?

Thanks, TGL ️

[BrotherTony]

1 minute ago, TheGloryLand said:

I believe this is a conflict of interest, leaving a window for the pastor, to do what he wishes. Do the Baptist churches have any bylaws forbidden this practice. The wife of the pastor, being the secretary of the or his church?

Thanks, TGL ️

There's nothing to prevent her from being the church secretary. I've been a member of three churches where this was the case. Some churches are so small that this is bound to happen. You state you believe it leaves a window for a pastor to do whatever he wishes. Care to give an example of that happening? I have never seen it happen, and it's quite unlikely to happen because the congregation has input on things that go on in the church. It could possibly be a conflict of interest in some cases, but that would rarely be the norm.

[SureWord]

Wouldn't the congregation vote on whether she is or not?

[HappyChristian]

This would depend upon the church's constitution - whether or not the pastor's wife can be secretary, and even if the congregation would vote on it or not.

Our constitution specifies that there are two elected offices - pastor and deacon. Those are the two that the congregation votes on. Our constitution states that other positions, for lack of a better word, are appointed by the pastor. 

When hubs became pastor, there was a different secretary. For the first almost year, it was left that way. They had voted on that position before we came, and that's  fine. So hubs explained to people that he was going to appoint me. Not because the person doing it was doing it badly, she wasn't. But it was extremely difficult to do basic stuff like correspondence, etc., because our building is not big enough for an office. So everything was kept at our house.  I did do secretarial work for him (as in welcome letters, etc.), but he wanted it all in a central location/person. Also, she had no printer, so she wasn't able to print off things like the financial record for the business meeting, etc. His decision was a wise one, even though it increased my work load (at least I can do it from home, which is nice).

Our hope is to one day have a church office with a couple of ladies (because my hubs cannot be there with just one lady) whom we can pay for their services. I do not get paid (nor did the lady before me). 

Does this give room for my hubs to do what he wishes? No, absolutely not. The church was only having one annual business meeting. At that same meeting where he announced I would be the church secretary he told everyone that he wanted us to go to a quarterly meeting so that members could see more often where their monies are going. So he actually brought about more transparency.

[TheGloryLand]

8 hours ago, HappyChristian said:

This would depend upon the church's constitution - whether or not the pastor's wife can be secretary, and even if the congregation would vote on it or not.

Our constitution specifies that there are two elected offices - pastor and deacon. Those are the two that the congregation votes on. Our constitution states that other positions, for lack of a better word, are appointed by the pastor. 

When hubs became pastor, there was a different secretary. For the first almost year, it was left that way. They had voted on that position before we came, and that's  fine. So hubs explained to people that he was going to appoint me. Not because the person doing it was doing it badly, she wasn't. But it was extremely difficult to do basic stuff like correspondence, etc., because our building is not big enough for an office. So everything was kept at our house.  I did do secretarial work for him (as in welcome letters, etc.), but he wanted it all in a central location/person. Also, she had no printer, so she wasn't able to print off things like the financial record for the business meeting, etc. His decision was a wise one, even though it increased my work load (at least I can do it from home, which is nice).

Our hope is to one day have a church office with a couple of ladies (because my hubs cannot be there with just one lady) whom we can pay for their services. I do not get paid (nor did the lady before me). 

Does this give room for my hubs to do what he wishes? No, absolutely not. The church was only having one annual business meeting. At that same meeting where he announced I would be the church secretary he told everyone that he wanted us to go to a quarterly meeting so that members could see more often where their monies are going. So he actually brought about more transparency.

Thank you for serving and sharing your experience in this area. I’m sure this will help others going through this. This can be different for others, like I mentioned, a window to do wrongly and this too can happen, not in your church, thank God. There are those that might say here, it’s none of my business, if he chooses his wife. These are those that thinks that all pastors are Saints? I know that there are some that are wolves in sheep clothing out there. They are taking advantage of the not so smart or blind sheep . Then there are those that say, the Lord is control of all and know all things. Yes, this is true, that’s why He tell us beware.

[HappyChristian]

10 hours ago, TheGloryLand said:

Thank you for serving and sharing your experience in this area. I’m sure this will help others going through this. This can be different for others, like I mentioned, a window to do wrongly and this too can happen, not in your church, thank God. There are those that might say here, it’s none of my business, if he chooses his wife. These are those that thinks that all pastors are Saints? I know that there are some that are wolves in sheep clothing out there. They are taking advantage of the not so smart or blind sheep . Then there are those that say, the Lord is control of all and know all things. Yes, this is true, that’s why He tell us beware.

Oh, I agree that things can be different...if said pastor is himself a wolf rather than a shepherd.

[BrotherTony]

1 hour ago, HappyChristian said:

Oh, I agree that things can be different...if said pastor is himself a wolf rather than a shepherd.

And if the congregation is blindly following.

[Salyan]

Can she? Yes, of course. Should she? It’s probably better to have someone else handle the financial stuff - counting & depositing offerings - if possible, but secretarial is fine. Even just having others help with counting so the money is seen by more people will help with preventing any appearance/future accusations of financial impropriety. 

[TheGloryLand]

5 minutes ago, Salyan said:

Can she? Yes, of course. Should she? It’s probably better to have someone else handle the financial stuff - counting & depositing offerings - if possible, but secretarial is fine. Even just having others help with counting so the money is seen by more people will help with preventing any appearance/future accusations of financial impropriety. 

Should the members have a part in this decision-making?

[Salyan]

In choosing the secretary? Probably depends on the church. I don’t think there is a scriptural ‘should’ for this.  I mean, in my church they vote for the Treasurer and Clerk, but the pastor hires/appoints the secretary. (They’re not always paid.) 

[BrotherTony]

8 minutes ago, Salyan said:

Can she? Yes, of course. Should she? It’s probably better to have someone else handle the financial stuff - counting & depositing offerings - if possible, but secretarial is fine. Even just having others help with counting so the money is seen by more people will help with preventing any appearance/future accusations of financial impropriety. 

Most churches, even the small ones have a treasurer who handles the money. I've never been a member of a church where the secretary handles it. I'm not saying there aren't any, but I find it unlikely in the majority of cases.

[Salyan]

And then there’s ours, where the secretary is often (not always) also appointed treasurer.