We have 51 house churches as of now. Thirty eight of them are shepherded by married couples and thirteen by single men. It’s not that the number of single house church shepherds has declined. It’s just that the number of married house church shepherds has increased making the number of single house church shepherds look small. And this is only obvious and natural because over the years many single house church shepherds have gotten married.
I hear very frequently from our KSC that without shepherds’ wives faithfully serving and caring for their house church members, it is just not possible for house churches to do well. The role of house church shepherds’ wives is extremely important, often times more important than that of the shepherds. They pray, cook, call, meet, visit, counsel, babysit, housesit, business-sit and many other things for the sake of serving their house church members and reaching out to their VIP’s. That’s why we have this village structure where village leader’s wives can help and mentor the shepherds’ wives in their villages. Some are doing well but some not so well.
During this year’s team leaders and village leaders’ family retreat, several wives shared that it would be great if we can have an avenue through which they can give and receive mentoring from one another. Therefore, even though we have a village structure through which this can be accomplished, I felt the need to create something that is more regular and organized for them.
In order to help our shepherds’ wives to be better equipped to serve, we are going to start a shepherds’ wives gathering on the last Wednesday of every odd month beginning in September. If, for some reason, the meeting conflicts with a church wide event, then it will be held on the second to the last Wednesday of that month. And of course, this will replace our regular shepherds’ meeting for the week so the men can stay home and take care of the children.
My wife will facilitate the meeting just like I do for the shepherds’ meeting. There will be a time of praise, praise reports, announcements, message and prayer. I believe it will be very beneficial for all the shepherds’ wives if they faithfully attend.
Also, we have village shepherds’ meeting on the second Sunday of every other month. The main purpose of this meeting is for the shepherds and the wives to come together regularly to share both the joys and the difficulties of their house church ministries. Several village leaders’ wives have shared that it often gets very hectic because of little children who need to be taken care of. So, I would like to recommend a few things that I think will be helpful. Since I believe it is best that both husbands and wives get together and share so they can hear from both perspectives, I suggest that you meet in this way as much as possible. You can ask your members to help out with babysitting when there is a meeting. If you can get creative with this, then people in your village need to provide childcare just once a year for their shepherds and the wives to come together for a time of sharing and encouragement. If this is not feasible, then you can alternate the regular meeting with only the wives meeting.
I would like to see every house church grow and thrive as you faithfully pray for and reach out to your VIP’s, serve and love one another and care for your missionaries. And shepherds’ wives, when you are struggling and in need, don’t hesitate to call out and ask for help from your village leader’s wife or one of the pastors’ wives. We are here to help and serve you so you can succeed in your ministry.
Your pastor,
Eric
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