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

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23C2y: Serve God – I want to be <strong>the</strong> best partner I can be for my husband.<br />

He is my priority, after God. I will love, accept, defend, support and be loyal to<br />

my husband’s calling. Don’t put God in a box. Don’t be a people pleaser.<br />

12B5t: Allow us (as a pastoral couple) to have a private life, give much more<br />

needed space to allow us free time to do family things. Respect days <strong>of</strong>f and<br />

family time (after hours), etc.<br />

44D3w: I would want to tell <strong>the</strong>m to reach out to those in need, <strong>the</strong>re is<br />

tremendous need and suffering. Don’t judge people so easily or too quickly.<br />

12B4z: Nothing specifically. That I need <strong>the</strong>ir prayer and that with 3 young<br />

children I won’t be able to be as involved as I would like. That we are still<br />

young and don’t know everything. I’m still learning.<br />

22B4w: I would urge congregational members to take good care <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir<br />

pastors and <strong>the</strong> pastors’ families. Respect <strong>the</strong>m and <strong>the</strong>ir privacy. Pray for <strong>the</strong><br />

pastoral families daily.<br />

Answers to this question were most interesting; wives felt comfortable<br />

and were encouraged to share openly. <strong>The</strong>re was a general call to<br />

congregational members to a) love and serve God completely, b) be<br />

committed to <strong>the</strong> church, c) respect and support <strong>the</strong> pastor and his family, and<br />

d) understand who I am (as <strong>the</strong> pastor’s <strong>wife</strong>) and how I fit in.<br />

At times, wives expressed at times dissatisfaction with congregational<br />

members’ commitment to <strong>the</strong> ministry <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> church and members’<br />

expectations were <strong>of</strong>ten unrealistic. As members would expect <strong>the</strong> church to<br />

run in a certain way without being participants within <strong>the</strong> church, wives were<br />

not pleased with <strong>the</strong> criticism and expressed a desire to see church members<br />

more involved and passionate about serving God and local church.<br />

One <strong>wife</strong> indicated that as church members focused more on <strong>the</strong><br />

ministry and needs <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> church <strong>the</strong>ir focus would be less on unimportant<br />

issues, such as, her role within <strong>the</strong> church. A general need to be understood<br />

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