Open Letter to the Wife of an Evangelist

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March 4, 2012

Dear Donna,

Ed may never be employed in a church but still he is an evangelist and he needs a wife.  Evangelists boldly approach men and women with the heaven or hell message (today is the day of salvation) and because they are so focused they are often misunderstood.  Wives may think he is coming on to them, and their husbands think it anyway!   A married man will be more trusted and hence more effective.

Because evangelists are so one sided they can also be blind sided.  I can picture this conversation. Ed returns home and reports that he hasn’t been able to get Ralph Jones saved.  His wife calmly says, “Have you seen Mrs. Jones?  She looks terrible, and tired.  The children’s shoe-glue is coming apart.  Maybe instead of a gospel message they need some financial help?  Maybe then he will listen you? “

Ed says: Oh that is a great idea.  I will give him $1,000.  (Ed doesn’t notice people’s shoes.)

Oh no, says his wife, you don’t want them dependent on you, only to see the kindness that the Cross has worked in your life.  Maybe then you can win him.

For good reason opposites attract.  (Help-meet in Hebrew means “fitting” – people need to fit together.)  Ed is all zeal for the gospel; his wife must be a calm balance to stabilize his home. 

What the wife needs to do

Your job, if you will take it, will be to offer comfort, assurance, grounding, and acceptance – all the things he will not experience at the hands of a fallen world.  For your part you will have love, because evangelists must love God first and then love souls.  You’ll never lack for friends or company because evangelists attract people as they should. 

Evangelists will accept pastorates so they can be closer and more available to their own children.  This is often a mistake.  They make rotten pastors, because they will see the smallest flaw in the congregation and preach salvation week after week, when what the sinners actually need is pastoral correction or teaching on holiness.

You will never be bored.  Evangelists have so much faith it drives fear out.  They scare people; Ed might even scare you.  Evangelists are the big wheels in the body of Christ and they need a strong axle, which a proper wife provides. 

You bring polish, education, style and an innate pastoral skills, working with people as individuals with needs and concerns, just as you showed me how to work with Chusita, my rebellious 76-year old English student. 

Don’t you remember how you dumped all that ESL material on me?  seeing that my residents here need ESL training as my handle for reaching old people for the Lord?  And that is what I am doing.  You may never have recognized this as a ministry but it is one of your gifts.

Of course you’ll want counseling if things go that far.  It’s especially true for seniors as the baggage they bring into relationships, both good bags and bad ones, alters the playing field.  So please don’t think of it as a nasty chore.

God is good.  He made marriage the highest state for Man because it requires the most work and reaps the best results – another generation of believers ready to serve their own Era.

Blessings,

Cornelia

Psalm 68:6  God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

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