I think that I have mentioned here that my husband and children are still faithful members of the church I most recently served before becoming a hospice chaplain. Well, it didn't take the nominating committee long to swoop down on my husband now that he's no longer married to one of the pastors. Wait... that sounds like we're no longer married. You know what I mean!
Tomorrow night, two members of the nomcom are taking my hubby out to coffee with the purpose of asking him to serve on Session. He has never served on session and has, to my knowledge, never sensed the call to do so.
I'm trying very hard to keep my nose out of this decision. There's a part of me that doesn't want him to because I'd like to relish in these meeting free evenings for awhile. On the other hand, if he feels like he's called to serve in this way, I'd hate for him to say no. If he doesn't serve now, I wonder if he ever would. He has said that he absolutely would not serve as an elder of a session where I am the moderator. Not because he thinks I'm a sucky moderator, but because he fears that it wouldn't be the best thing for our marriage. I think he might be right about that.
So, what do you all think about pastors' spouses serving on session (or your denomination's equivalent?)
P.S. How do you do that neat trick where it looks like you've crossed out a word? I wanted to do that in my title, but didn't know how.
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8 comments:
i think it's wise for a spouse not to serve when the other spouse is the pastor... it does strain things. and for me i like the separation of work vs. home you know?
however now that it's different with your chaplaincy... if it were HubHC and me... we'd pray together about it and then truly i'd trust his gut and like you said i'd try (valiantly) to keep my nose out of it... good luck!
In my denomination, I don't think you'd see a family stay behind after the pastor left the church, or at least not without complications. If they are going to church there, what are you doing? I would just wonder if it's wise for him to commit to something more when you might well want to find a church together as a family.
good point from SB.
however, if this is, at all, a call... this may be his only opportunity and that is something to honor.
k will not serve on a session i moderate either, but he did agree to be a deacon.
wow, once again you have some good advice here. i'll just say hello,
"Hello, Iris! You're wonderful! Good luck with this! Love ya!"
was that okay?
nAbsolutely, HipChick! Thanks.
He's still mulling it over....er, I mean, prayerfully considering it.
Songbird, the reason my family stayed behind was because we only wanted to change congregations on the kids once. I am doing some pulpit supply around the Presbytery and I am worshiping regularly at the Presby church close-by. But you're right that this set up of the family staying behind wouldn't work at many churches, but this is an incredibly healthy congregation.
But this issue of my seeking another call means that he would likely only serve a partial term. He was up front with the nominating committee folks about that and he said that they didn't seem too concerned. Of course, because that would be another nom com's problem!
About the striking thing, you use the HTML tags "strike" and "/strike", only without the quotation marks, and with the <> around each.
It took me forever to learn that!
Thanks, Cheesehead!
thanks cheesehead and now I know too :)
Iris what was the outcome in the end?
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