Being a pastor’s wife can feel lonely. Through Lavish HOPE, a ministry of HOPE Network Ministries, ministry wives find encouragement, friendship and community with women who understand. Read their stories below.
We’re Not Alone: How Lavish HOPE Transformed Emily’s Sundays
The walk from her parsonage to the church building was something Emily Childers used to dread. Like most ministry families, she and her husband Joel often arrived at church at different times on Sundays. “I had these feelings of anxiety,” Emily says. “I had to walk into church by myself and it was so scary.”
When Joel moved from youth ministry in Abilene, Texas, to pulpit ministry in 2021, the pressure Emily put on herself only grew. “I’m not just their friend now; I’m the pastor’s wife.”
Out of the Fishbowl: Finding Confidence and Community in Ministry
Growing up, Andrea Turner thought she knew what the life of a pastor’s wife would look like. “It meant dressing appropriately and serving in the nursery,” she remembers. After 22 years of ministry alongside her husband Bob, her reality looks different: teaching at work and at church, volunteering with their foster care ministry, and serving the local homeless community.
It’s a life of service Andrea loves, but it’s demanding. Sundays are an extra workday on top of her full-time teaching job, and building deep friendships as the pastor’s wife hasn’t been easy.
Finding Grace for an Imperfect Church
Tara Biesboer and her husband Mic have served in campus ministry and youth ministry, but it wasn’t until he took on a preaching role that Tara began to feel more eyes on her. “Comments were made about my attire at church,” she says. “It made me realize, okay, I’m definitely being judged.”
As the burden of expectations grew, so did the strain on the whole family. “Church hurt doesn’t just affect your husband, it affects your whole family,” she says. “My kids are in it just as much as I am.”