"Church Planter's Wife"?

When I was first asked about writing a blog like this, I wrote about it on one of my other blogs.  And a friend immediately came back to me with a very helpful and interesting question.

Why a blog about being a church planters "wife"?  Aren't you church planting too, same as Tim?".

It's a questions that I've been pondering ever since.

The friend had commented this partly because they had observed in the way I had talked about Grace, I had shown how excited I was about what we were doing, how involved I was, how much Tim and I worked together in the process.

And when you look at my working week, and what I do, I think its fair to say that I am pretty involved.  In many ways I "work" for the church the same way that I work in University ministry, my other two days a week.  The only difference is that I'm not paid for it.  But its still ministry, and its still (under God) an important part of church planting.

And this, I find is the reality for most people I know who are wives involved in a church plant.  There may be some women out there, for whom work or family means that they have no involvement with serving at church (be it meeting with women, teaching Sunday School, setting up chairs, whatever).  But I'm yet to meet that women :).  I think that is partly the nature of church planting- that there is much to do and limited resources and everyone (whether they are part of an initial "couple" or not) all end up doing something.

So, should I just make this blog about being "A female church planter" or "A member of a church planting team"?

No.

Because there is something unique in this position that I am in.  And it was talking to Tim after this initial question that helps me clarify what I was already feeling.

When I asked Tim what he thought about the title "Church planter's wife", he made an interesting observation.  His concern with the title was mainly in the fact that he didn't like being called "A Church Planter"!  He felt it was unhelpful because Church planting was a team effort, and many of the people in the church were involved in "church planting".  Not just him.  He said his preferred way of talking about his role was as "A Church plant leader".

And in many ways, its the 'leadership' involved in church planting, not just the church planting itself, that has such unique struggles.  It's the pressure, it's the decision making, it's the expectations, it's the 'buck stops with you' nature that makes Church Planting Leading, in many ways, a  unique Christian ministries.  It is an incredibly demanding role.  It is also a bit of a lonely role.

And in that world, I have an important part to play.  I am the partner.  I am the support.  I am the cheers squad.  I am the one who is on his side no matter what.   And while everything I do for the church plant is important, this being a support to Tim is actually one of the most important things, because no one else in his life (besides Jesus of course!) has such power to encourage him in what he is doing. And not just in a "good job honey" kind of way.  I can be someone who points him to Jesus and the Gospel.  But more about that in future posts.

So, I guess I would describe myself as a Church Plant leader's wife.  And even though that doesn't sound quite as glamorous as a "church planter", it's actually a really important job.  And a really hard job.

And that's why I hope to encourage others in it.  Because it is unique, and it's hard.  And it's so important.
Belinda