There are three important things that must not be left out of our daily lives as church planter wives. The first, of which I wrote in Part 1, is to never neglect reading and meditating on Scripture. Here is the second.

Pray

Please do not neglect to listen to what God is saying. It’s impossible to be a part of His plan of redemption if you aren’t in the know! Don’t be afraid to ask Him to show you where you can participate. 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22 offers a full and practical list of instructions for the saints in Thessalonica, and prayer is key (v.17). Ask Him to reveal to you where you are weak, where you are in sin, where you are strong and where your gifts are. Be led by the Spirit. Being the wife of a church planter or pastor is not an easy task. We often experience loneliness, and often times relationships are difficult for us. Though it’s easy on paper to be behind our men and these great works, the month-to-month challenges can prove almost crushing at times. Be encouraged! God has a vision for your role in this work, and it is not to cower in fear. Our husbands and families – and indeed our churches – need praying wives and mothers behind them. You are on the battlefront. Ask God for big things. And expect them (James 1:5-6)!

I encourage you all to read a book which has made a profound impact upon my life as a planter wife (while at the moment we aren’t planting a church, we are planting a network and there are many parallels). There are many, but one in particular speaks to the life of the church planter family and the prayer that was key to the very existence of their ministry. L’Abri by Edith Schaeffer is a book that I highly recommend. It tells the story of the highly effective ministry – one which has multiplied throughout the world and reached countless people for Jesus – of the Schaeffer family from the wife’s perspective. My husband and I read this book with our children recently and it was a tremendous encouragement to all of us as we try to live missionally and love those who live around us.

I pray for each of you as you grow and nurture your missional families, wherever you are (1 Thessalonians 1:2-3).