Does a Husband's anointing carry over to his wife?

[NJM24]

My pastor died Feb 28th.
The Elders and Board says there are bylaws we have to follow when selecting a new pastor. My pastor's wife who was not co-pastor and spoke rarely when he was out of town now says that she was co-pastor with him and that because they were one in marriage his anointing is also on her and she should be our next pastor.
She refuses to follow the bylaws and bullies her way to the pulpit to speak regardless of the scheduled speaker.
The police had to be called on her twice and she refuses to stop saying she is called to preach and honor her husband and his legacy. This is not a family church. Her husband did not establish it. It was passed to him upon the death of a previous pastor before I arrived there. She even posted on facebook that the police tried to arrest her which is not true and that no one should attend the church. I am having real issues with her behavior but people tend to believe that her husbands anointing can be passed to her because they were one therefore she should be the next passtor of the church. Now, lawyers are involved and we are awaiting a court date. Any thoughts?

 

[visionary]

Every anointing is personal and non transferrable.

 

[Winken]

My pastor died Feb 28th.
The Elders and Board says there are bylaws we have to follow when selecting a new pastor. My pastor's wife who was not co-pastor and spoke rarely when he was out of town now says that she was co-pastor with him and that because they were one in marriage his anointing is also on her and she should be our next pastor.
She refuses to follow the bylaws and bullies her way to the pulpit to speak regardless of the scheduled speaker.
The police had to be called on her twice and she refuses to stop saying she is called to preach and honor her husband and his legacy. This is not a family church. Her husband did not establish it. It was passed to him upon the death of a previous pastor before I arrived there. She even posted on facebook that the police tried to arrest her which is not true and that no one should attend the church. I am having real issues with her behavior but people tend to believe that her husbands anointing can be passed to her because they were one therefore she should be the next passtor of the church. Now, lawyers are involved and we are awaiting a court date. Any thoughts?

She is NOT the pastor! With her alleged behavior she never will be!

 

[381465]

Yikes!

Sounds like there are serious emotional problems.

I thought I was dealing with church issues.

 

[joshua 1 9]

My pastor died Feb 28th.
The Elders and Board says there are bylaws we have to follow when selecting a new pastor. My pastor's wife who was not co-pastor and spoke rarely when he was out of town now says that she was co-pastor with him and that because they were one in marriage his anointing is also on her and she should be our next pastor.
She refuses to follow the bylaws and bullies her way to the pulpit to speak regardless of the scheduled speaker.
The police had to be called on her twice and she refuses to stop saying she is called to preach and honor her husband and his legacy. This is not a family church. Her husband did not establish it. It was passed to him upon the death of a previous pastor before I arrived there. She even posted on facebook that the police tried to arrest her which is not true and that no one should attend the church. I am having real issues with her behavior but people tend to believe that her husbands anointing can be passed to her because they were one therefore she should be the next passtor of the church. Now, lawyers are involved and we are awaiting a court date. Any thoughts?

God does not call women to pastor a church. They have their own gifts, talents, abilities and calling but to be a pastor of a church is not one of them. Unless it is a youth pastor or sunday school superintendent. The Bible says Older Women are to teach younger women and younger women are to teach the children.

 

[Paidiske]

Even when women are called to ministry (which we are), it's not a two-for-one in marriage deal. A man called to ministry doesn't automatically make his wife a minister, and vice versa.

Ministry is always authorised by the community which it serves, and anyone who attempts to take up a leadership or authority role without going through the proper process of negotiating that (whatever that is for that particular community) is usurping authority and being highly improper. They should be removed from any position of leadership. In this case, I am wondering if she should be asked to worship elsewhere, since she's clearly not getting the message.

This woman sounds like she may need help dealing with her grief and loss. But for her to attempt to deal with that by bullying others is not, in any way, okay; and I think it is perfectly acceptable for the church to require her to desist. If other avenues have been attempted and failed, and legal means are the only way to do that, then I don't necessarily have a problem with using them.

 

[Victory-N-Christ]

Husbands and wives become one..thus says scripture.There is no denying that.Personally I've never read where scripture says that one's anointing is passed to the surviving spouse after the other one's death. Now there are scriptures such as pertains to Elijah and Elisha where it seemed that something like this happened. However that was between two men.Hmm...interesting question.

 

[prodromos]

The wife receives the honor of her husband's position but nothing else. In Greece, for example, it was traditional to refer to the wife of a doctor by the same title and that tradition continued in the Church. A priest in Greek is Presviteros and his wife is Presvitera, even though the priests wife plays no part in the sacramental life of the Church. When a priest dies, his widow is still called Presvitera, but her role does not change.

 

[Greg J.]

My pastor died Feb 28th.
The Elders and Board says there are bylaws we have to follow when selecting a new pastor. My pastor's wife who was not co-pastor and spoke rarely when he was out of town now says that she was co-pastor with him and that because they were one in marriage his anointing is also on her and she should be our next pastor.
She refuses to follow the bylaws and bullies her way to the pulpit to speak regardless of the scheduled speaker.
The police had to be called on her twice and she refuses to stop saying she is called to preach and honor her husband and his legacy. This is not a family church. Her husband did not establish it. It was passed to him upon the death of a previous pastor before I arrived there. She even posted on facebook that the police tried to arrest her which is not true and that no one should attend the church. I am having real issues with her behavior but people tend to believe that her husbands anointing can be passed to her because they were one therefore she should be the next passtor of the church. Now, lawyers are involved and we are awaiting a court date. Any thoughts?

Becoming one flesh has nothing to do with this, besides which, when he died, they were no longer one flesh. Death dissolves a marriage. That carries enough implications to resolve the question, in my mind.

If she was not prone to this kind of strange behavior before (you might have to ask the women that knew her), then I would presume it to be an effort to hold on to something of her husband for comfort. No matter what is done to her (such as forcibly removing her), it should be done with humility, tenderness, with respect (out of respect for her husband), and without burning bridges. However, that there is this conflict at all may be a sign that there are underlying spiritual problems at the church (which would probably be best identified by someone who is not part of the church).

 

[pescador]

God does not call women to pastor a church. They have their own gifts, talents, abilities and calling but to be a pastor of a church is not one of them. Unless it is a youth pastor or sunday school superintendent. The Bible says Older Women are to teach younger women and younger women are to teach the children.

Not true! You can believe that way if you want but it's not biblical. Women had churches in their homes as early as Paul's time and there is neither male nor female in Christ Jesus. Women are just as capable of being pastors as men, so there is no reason for them not to be.

 

[Dave-W]

I do not have a problem with a wife taking her husband's place in that way; but only if she is called and gifted to do so. And even if she were, there needs to be a time for her to get over the grief of losing her husband.

What this sounds like to me is she is not wanting to deal with her loss and instead is occupying her mind with the husband's work. (so she can still feel close to him)

 

[joshua 1 9]

Women are just as capable of being pastors as men

Ok, then show me a woman pastor in the Bible. Women have their gifts from God. Everyone is called to the Holy Priesthood, but God does not call women to pastor a church.

 

[Albion]

I am having real issues with her behavior but people tend to believe that her husbands anointing can be passed to her because they were one therefore she should be the next passtor of the church. Now, lawyers are involved and we are awaiting a court date. Any thoughts?

There's nothing in scripture or even Christian history that would substantiate her claim on the pastoral position. The rest of what you've described would make her ineligible anyway IMHO, but that's something for the board to decide.

 

[Paidiske]

Ok, then show me a woman pastor in the Bible. Women have their gifts from God. Everyone is called to the Holy Priesthood, but God does not call women to pastor a church.

The difficulty with this demand is that a "pastor" as we know them today weren't in the Bible. The church had not yet developed to the point where what we have now was recognisable in what they had then.

But we do see women in leadership, women teaching, women involved in leading worship, and so on. It's likely that the closest thing to a Protestant pastor known in the Biblical church were the patrons who opened their homes, and hosted - and therefore mostly led - the church gatherings. A good few of those patron-leaders were women.

 

[joshua 1 9]

But we do see women in leadership, women teaching, women involved in leading worship, and so on.

Yes of course we do. In the Bible women delivered prophecy and in the OT Debra was a judge. Still in 1 Timothy 2 12 we read: "I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man"

 

[Paidiske]

And yet from other places we know that Paul did indeed allow both such things! So the comment in Timothy must pertain to a particular situation, and not to all places and times.

 

[prodromos]

But we do see women in leadership, women teaching, women involved in leading worship, and so on. It's likely that the closest thing to a Protestant pastor known in the Biblical church were the patrons who opened their homes, and hosted - and therefore mostly led - the church gatherings. A good few of those patron-leaders were women.

You are assuming that the patron also led, but that does not necessarily follow from the text.

 

[Paidiske]

It's not explicit in the text, but the best scholarship in the area finds that that is, if not an unbroken rule, certainly common practice in many of the churches.

 

[prodromos]

It's not explicit in the text, but the best scholarship in the area finds that that is, if not an unbroken rule, certainly common practice in many of the churches.

Whose scholarship is being considered 'the best'?

 

[Paidiske]

I can find you some references if you really want them - but not today, because I'm swamped with work - it came up in reading I was doing as background for a thesis on a slightly different topic (I was interested in what today we would call "lay" ministries in the very earliest church documents).

All of this, however, is off topic to this thread; because whether or not women can do x, y, or z... does not mean one inherits the role when one's husband dies!