The Biblical Role of the Pastor's wife - South African Theological ...

The wives interviewed for this research project are associated with the
local Protestant churches. 3 Due to the confidential nature of this research
(Mouton, 2001:243-244), the identity of the pastors’ wives and their church
names will be codified for the sake of anonymity. 4
2.2. Research Methodology
The aim of this study is to define the role of the pastor’s wife in the [local]
South African church context from a biblical perspective.
For years, I sat in my own home church in Canada and viewed my
pastor’s wife with awe. She always looked perfect, walked with grace, smiled
incessantly and could play the piano and lead worship for hours. My personal
perceptions were related to putting my pastor’s wife on a pedestal and
identifying some ‘saintly’ characteristics through her lifestyle and practice. It
has been evident over the years of watching many pastors’ wives that my
expectations of them, although sincere, were often misguided. I was
perpetuating the misconception of their sainthood without appreciating the
unique and wonderful individual God had created them to be. The emphasis is
rightly placed on their identification with God, their Saviour, as opposed to the
role of their husband within a particular church surrounding. I began to
question whether the pastor’s wife was indeed meant to be a prominent
member of the church. Is she a leader simply because she is married to the
‘guy in charge’? Does she hold an office on the executive? Are there specific
responsibilities and functions she is required to perform? As mentioned
previously, my pastor’s wife sang beautifully, played the piano and led
worship most Sunday mornings. I was surprised to attend other churches
where wives did not do the same. Instead I found wives who gave children’s
talks every Sunday morning, others running women’s ministries, others
running counselling seminars, youth or children’s Sunday school ministries
and the list goes on. I found that these women were often leading or
ministering in some capacity, as though it were expected and part of their role
3 For a list of church names and denominations see Appendix 4.
4 A copy of the questions posed is attached as Appendix 5.
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