Meet The Pastor's Wife

There are snails that move faster than the pastoral call process. My husband and I are currently waiting on the call process. We're at a complete standstill, one foot in our current call (and yes, I do consider it a call for both of us), and one foot in what could be. We'll be here for the next 3-4 months at best, testing our patience. Maybe longer. And at the end of it all, we might not even move. We might stay exactly where we are, doing exactly what we're doing. If you’re

Any normal person in church (really, in any social situation) is going to have favorites. Including the pastor's wife.

My all-time favorite Christian books for the littlest listeners from my experience as a mom, teacher, and pastor's wife

My husband is my pastor. He's also my husband. The person who runs most of the goings-on of my church is my husband. The person who delivers most sermons I hear on Sundays is my husband. The person who heads up meetings that make major church decisions is my husband. The one leading most of the Bible studies I have attended lately is...you guessed it, my husband. Sometimes I get really frustrated with my church. I get mad about the way something is run, or how an event went,

Pastors and their families need some important boundaries with their church.

Rule number one: DO NOT ENGAGE. Hi, I’m Emily. I’m a pastor’s wife. Chances are that if you’re reading this, you’re about to be one, too. Welcome to the club. The first year after Call Day is a wild one. You’ll probably meet some lifelong friends and get to explore a new area, but this year is also critical to set up your entire life as a pastor’s family. (No pressure.) This first year can be make or break. Make bad habits now, and it’s really hard to reverse them. Don’t worr

I know. I'm not proud of it or anything. It just happened. I think people naturally assume that when you’re married to the pastor, faith is a very natural part of the household. I mean, you pray before meals you pray before bed, so faith should be a foundational part of life, right? Maybe in other pastors’ families this is the case, but I’ve been a pastor’s child and pastor’s wife, and in neither household thus far have we talked about faith nearly enough. Especially not near

A few times in the past month, my husband has turned to me after tucking our kids in and said 6 words that simultaneously brought excitement and resentment: "A church reached out to me." One email from a completely unknown person from an unknown church in an unknown town. And this is how every job opportunity in our church denomination (the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod) begins. Let's review how most people get jobs. Search forums, google, local ads, or job sites for a job.

I recently applied for a job at our church. I was really excited about the job and thought I would be a great fit. In case you hadn't heard, pastors don't make a ton of money and stay-at-home moms make even less, so I was eager to combine my passions in the workplace and have a little income boost. Maybe we could get some takeout pizza with extra toppings every now and then! I had half a notebook scribbled with ideas, and I could already feel the excitement rising in my ches

I dread the end of the worship service. As soon as it ends, I just want to pack up the granola bar crumbs and board books from my pew, stuff them into the unorganized depths of my diaper bag, and sprint out with my overtired kids. But as soon as the last note of the closing song sounds, the pastor's wife post-service routine begins. Even before I stand up from packing up the diaper bag, someone comes by and comments on how well or poorly my girls behaved during service. After

Hi. My name is Emily. If you’re reading this, you’re one of the few who knows my name. At church and in my community in general, my name is “Pastor’s Wife” or (my favorite, just to give an extra degree of separation between myself and the speaker) “ The Pastor’s Wife”. And it’s not a, “oh, you’re Pastor’s wife, aren’t you? I knew you looked familiar. I’m Debbie. Remind me your name?” No, no. It’s a "hello" from a distance and then the explanation to their children, “that’s t

Hi! I’m Emily. I happen to be a pastor’s wife. In my daily life, I tend to find that the above sentence is all that people care about. Saying it to another person either turns the conversation sour and awkward as the other person tells me they’re not religious and assumes I’ll call down God’s wrath on them, or the Christian I’m talking to clams up, not wanting to look bad in front me. I’m here to find a new path for myself and other women who happen to be married to pastors.