One Husband Away from No Call to Ministry

DearMBchurch.ca:
           Years ago I read a book by Katie Funk Wiebe where she shared how when she was newly married, she was very involved in ministry with her husband, who was a pastor. She thrived on church work and loved being involved in conversations with many church leaders about the larger denomination. This all changed when her husband suddenly died. With his death, her call to ministry in the MB church ended. No one was interested in her being involved in church leadership, there was no place to share her ideas anymore. This was the 1950s.
            In Katie Funk Wiebe’s generation, if women felt a call to ministry, their only option was to find a nice man to marry who was going to be a pastor, and they had to hope he didn’t die.
            This unfortunate situation, where women can only contribute through their husband’s position, is still alive and well. See for example the website of the church planting organization C2C, in which the MB church is heavily invested.     https://www.c2cnetwork.ca/about/leadership/    If you just look at the pictures, it looks like lots of women are employed by C2C.
           But the titles are not plural. They aren’t co-directors or missiologists. One person has the job, but two people are pictured. And they don’t even indicate which person is the one employed by the church. That is because they assume we will assume that it is the man who has the job, and the woman is supporting him.
           That is the danger for women in this organization. They are all one husband away from having no call to ministry. If they suddenly find themselves without a husband through death or divorce (it happens), will they still be pictured on this page?  Are their gifts still needed?
            When I started at Lendrum, some people in my church wanted to call us a “pastor couple”. We asked them not to use this term. While my husband supports me in my role, he is not trained as a minister, and does not want to be seen as half of a “pastor couple”. He is happy in his role as a farmer. I support him in his work too.
            I am praying for a miracle in the MB church, so that women’s gifts will be recognized. Part of this miracle means putting women in the picture, not because they are married to a gifted person, but because they themselves have gifts for leadership that the Holy Spirit gives them. Can anyone say Amen?

Love, Carol Penner, Lendrum MB Church, Edmonton

Comments

[Alanna Giesbrecht]

Amen!

[Valorie Goossen]

I am wondering what you are using as your definition of ministry. I can think of many women who have been encouraged and who were encouraging in their roles as workers in God's Kingdom.

[Carol Penner]

That's a very good question Valorie! I think women have always been involved in ministry in the MB church, in the sense that everyone is called to service. And I know women have been leaders in Sunday school ministry and women's ministry. Where women have been restricted, traditionally, in the MB church, is in exercising leadership ministry of the congregation, as ordained ministers and even as chairpeople of boards. In this blog post I am speaking of women who have felt a call to leadership ministry in the congregation, but have only been able to do that through their husband's appointment. Their own gifts are not recognized apart from being a wife of a leader.