Marriage and Ministry: A strong marriage nurtures effective ministry

Ministry is hard. Ministry with a strained marriage can be harder still. Armed with that knowledge, our peer group created this training tool. Experience has taught us that healthy marriages contribute to healthy homes and healthy children, and healthy, happy homes support and contribute to healthy and vibrant pastoral ministries. This tool is based on the belief that a pastor with a healthy marriage is better equipped to provide effective leadership for the church. Meeting together, members of our peer group quickly came to realize that many church councils do not take seriously enough the task of caring for the pastor and the pastor’s family. We also concluded that many pastors neglect to care for their marriages and families to the extent that they should. An antidote to neglect, this training tool urges pastors and councils to work together to create conditions conducive to the health of the ministry and the marriage. Without focused, preventive action, the results for pastors and churches are predictable: pastoral burn-out, frustration, division in the church and home, neglected children, failed marriages, and more. We believe that this tool, if used as a starting point for discussion and intentional action, will help prevent the conditions that often contribute to the breakdown of marriage and ministry.

by the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence project of the Christian Reformed Church in North America

Source:  www.crcna.org/pastoralexcellence

Marriage and Ministry: A strong marriage nurtures effective ministry