Hi to everyone! My husband is considering going into the ministry. He is currently a prosecutor and has been unhappy with his job for many years. He taught a whole year of Sunday School on the Basics of Life and did an awesome job. Many people including a former pastor have told and asked him to consider being a minister. The process would take 5 years if he keeps his job. He has found a place close by that he can take online course and weekend courses. I support his call but wonder about the strain on his time and what to expect as the pastor's wife. We are hopping to not have to move. How did you react to your husbands call? Is there a way to help him and me know this is God's will? How did the preperation of becoming a minister change your lives? Any advice will be appreciated.
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Husband considering ministry
- Thread starter JeanaB
- Start date
Jean - if you have not already done so - go back and read the threads that have been posted here- especially the first few - you will get an idea of our /the wives gripes. If God impresses him through His word/Bible reading and through circumstances and also gives him the desire to preach - and if he can't let this feeling/urge go & continues to be drawn - then he should consider going ahead and begin the preparation process - also he might have opportunities to preach/speak as a lay person (before being ordained/licensed as a minister). I don't know your denomination - but there is nothing like the experience of going to seminary (in our faith it was just a wonderful blessed experience). Your husband would have college behind him (being a prosecutor). If he feels he needs Bible college classes first - that is a very good idea to start with that - and you can get that online. One thing to consider - income - if you are use to a upper class lifestyle - you may be well set & not have that as a future concern - but being in ministry for 32+ yrs. with my DH - I do know in our denomination - most ministers are underpaid. But, for us it was a calling & we are content to live by faith in that respect. God always provides. I don't regret anything we were able to do for the Lord - I would not give it up for all the money or material goods on earth. Bless you.
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erin74
Ministry is about people not structures.
I agree - look to go to a seminary (we call them theological colleges). It is an excellent time to put all your time into study, rather than be torn between two things. Plus the support structures are usually excellent, and provide you with people to support and be suppoted by in your future ministry. Our college friends are now our closest friends, and the ones we rely on when things get tough. Even if we didn't meet them until college, or get to know them well til part way through.
Our college was a residential college, which reinforced that even more. We lived for 2 of the 4 years in college accomodation (a 2 bedroom unit), where 11 other families also lived (not in our unit obviously, but on site). We were a smaller site for our college. They also had about 40 other units/townhouses/terraces right in close to college. The environment was one of the great things about college, just because we learnt to look after each other.
If you can, do some study yourself too, even if just a little.
It was not cheap, but we managed. Actually many students came out of college with the same money they went in with. It was a great way to see God at work.
As for what ministry is like - I agree with reading some of the threads.
There is hard stuff, but I still love it. To get to see and be part of God working in people's lives is such a privilege.
Our college was a residential college, which reinforced that even more. We lived for 2 of the 4 years in college accomodation (a 2 bedroom unit), where 11 other families also lived (not in our unit obviously, but on site). We were a smaller site for our college. They also had about 40 other units/townhouses/terraces right in close to college. The environment was one of the great things about college, just because we learnt to look after each other.
If you can, do some study yourself too, even if just a little.
It was not cheap, but we managed. Actually many students came out of college with the same money they went in with. It was a great way to see God at work.
As for what ministry is like - I agree with reading some of the threads.
There is hard stuff, but I still love it. To get to see and be part of God working in people's lives is such a privilege.
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Heart4Him
I'll still love you, Lord.
Welcome!
When my husband was called by God to preach, I felt it as well. There are so many questions that I'm sure all of us wondered in the beginning, too.
The Lord has never failed to give me what I needed along this journey of a short few years so far.
It is a job like nothing else...quite tough at times, but so very rewarding, and full of blessings!
When my husband was called by God to preach, I felt it as well. There are so many questions that I'm sure all of us wondered in the beginning, too.
The Lord has never failed to give me what I needed along this journey of a short few years so far.
It is a job like nothing else...quite tough at times, but so very rewarding, and full of blessings!
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Thank you for all your advice. I think God is sending me some signs:
1. My mother-n-law found a bookmark with an inscription on the back of it for Brian from 1978 VBS saying "I am so proud of all the bible verses you memorized" The picture on the bookmark is of a big cross maybe at a church with John 3:16
2. I sat beside a woman who is a preacher at a show and we struck up a conversation about this topic. One thing she reassured me about was that you can continue being yourself and doing what you enjoy without worrying about what others think about you being a preacher.
3. Through his sister, my husband helped a man get a ticket continued and he was a Presbyterian minister and thanked him. His sister mentioned Brian's call and the man wants to meet him and thank him.
Now here is the cool part: None of his family know about us considering this change. They just know and have always said Brian should be a preacher. Is God sending us signs to accept this call?
1. My mother-n-law found a bookmark with an inscription on the back of it for Brian from 1978 VBS saying "I am so proud of all the bible verses you memorized" The picture on the bookmark is of a big cross maybe at a church with John 3:16
2. I sat beside a woman who is a preacher at a show and we struck up a conversation about this topic. One thing she reassured me about was that you can continue being yourself and doing what you enjoy without worrying about what others think about you being a preacher.
3. Through his sister, my husband helped a man get a ticket continued and he was a Presbyterian minister and thanked him. His sister mentioned Brian's call and the man wants to meet him and thank him.
Now here is the cool part: None of his family know about us considering this change. They just know and have always said Brian should be a preacher. Is God sending us signs to accept this call?
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erin74
Ministry is about people not structures.
Not sure about signs.
What we did with the decision making side was to pray about it. To see what those in ministry who knew thought about us going into ministry, and listen to their thoughts. Then we proceeded with the view that God would close the door for us if he didn't want us to go ahead. And that is how it worked.
We applied for college, and for him to be an ordination candidate in the diocese. And we sought to work out our accommodation. He got into college without worry. He didn't get approved for the diocese, and our accommodation plans fell through. So we began to consider if maybe this was God closing a door. But then we came home one night and there was an offer of accommodation and a student ministers job on our answering machine. We hadn't applied for it even, or even heard of the place. God had other plans for us. So we went to college. Later that year he applied to the diocese we are now in. We had always intended to come to it in the long run, but had thought that starting out in the diocese we were already in would be the best way. But God knew better.
Entrust your plans to God, and ask him to make your path clear, and to close any doors that he does not want you to through.
What we did with the decision making side was to pray about it. To see what those in ministry who knew thought about us going into ministry, and listen to their thoughts. Then we proceeded with the view that God would close the door for us if he didn't want us to go ahead. And that is how it worked.
We applied for college, and for him to be an ordination candidate in the diocese. And we sought to work out our accommodation. He got into college without worry. He didn't get approved for the diocese, and our accommodation plans fell through. So we began to consider if maybe this was God closing a door. But then we came home one night and there was an offer of accommodation and a student ministers job on our answering machine. We hadn't applied for it even, or even heard of the place. God had other plans for us. So we went to college. Later that year he applied to the diocese we are now in. We had always intended to come to it in the long run, but had thought that starting out in the diocese we were already in would be the best way. But God knew better.
Entrust your plans to God, and ask him to make your path clear, and to close any doors that he does not want you to through.
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- Sep 24, 2005
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I have been a pastor's wife for nine years. My husband was in college studying to be a minister when I met him, so I knew what I was getting into when we started dating. It probably would have been harder to adjust to the idea of being a pastor's wife if he had changed careers after we got married.
Being a pastor or a pastor's wife is tough. There are great blessings when we see God's working in people's lives, and there are also great trials and difficult people to deal with. At times we have wondered if this is really God's will for us and have seriously thought about quitting.
I guess my only advice is just to be open to listening for God's voice and willing to go wherever He leads, whether that is in pastoral ministry or some other kind of ministry. My husband has also considered becoming a teacher or a Christian counselor. I believe that we are all called to minister to others in some way. God will give us the strength to do whatever He asks of us.
Being a pastor or a pastor's wife is tough. There are great blessings when we see God's working in people's lives, and there are also great trials and difficult people to deal with. At times we have wondered if this is really God's will for us and have seriously thought about quitting.
I guess my only advice is just to be open to listening for God's voice and willing to go wherever He leads, whether that is in pastoral ministry or some other kind of ministry. My husband has also considered becoming a teacher or a Christian counselor. I believe that we are all called to minister to others in some way. God will give us the strength to do whatever He asks of us.
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