The role of a pastor’s spouse can be both rewarding and challenging. Spouses deal with challenges other congregation members don’t have, such as:
- finding a friend within the congregation they can safely share things with.
- obtaining recognition that they’re individuals and not just the pastor’s wife (or husband).
- making it clear to congregational members that their children aren’t perfect just because one parent is a pastor.
- communicating that they aren’t the go-between for a congregant and the pastor.
- countering the assumption that being a pastor's spouse automatically means he/she takes on certain roles or does particular things.
- leading a normal life while living in a "fish bowl" where your entire life seems to be on display for everyone to watch.
Pastors' Wives
Thrive hosts a biennial conference specifically for pastors' wives. This is a wonderful opportunity for pastors' wives to be encouraged, supported, renewed, and refreshed. The next conference will take place October 28-30, 2024 at Niagara Falls.
If you have questions, please contact Kim Rankens at 877-279-9994 x2837 or via email at krankens@crcna.org.
Pastors’ Husbands
At one point in time, all pastors were men. This is no longer the case as female pastors are filling a variety of ministry roles in the CRC. To assume that pastors’ husbands and pastors’ wives share identical experiences would be unfortunate, and inaccurate.
Over the past several years, Thrive has twice surveyed male spouses to determine their interest in learning opportunities and support. Both surveys indicated that there’s very little desire for such support and virtually no interest in attending conferences. Based on this feedback, Thrive continues to focus its programming on female spouses.
We’ll continue to seek the input of pastors’ husbands and design our programming accordingly.