Around the physical and virtual halls of Christianity Today, there are a lot of grown-up pastor’s kids (PKs). And missionary kids (MKs). And other types of ministry kids, such as the children of prison chaplains and third culture kids (TCKs) whose parents served as tentmakers. Like the Dennis family in Sophia Lee’s “How One Family’s Faith Survived Three Generations in the Pulpit,” some of our staff members grew up with their parents and even grandparents in full-time ministry.
Our now-adult ministry kids (myself included) serve as reporters, designers, and editors for this magazine, as well as on CT’s business operations, marketing and sales, user experience, PreachingToday.com, global, and executive teams.
Many cite both the struggles and blessings of growing up in ministry as core to their faith formation. They are candid about the discouragements and difficulties of living under a church’s expectation that they be perfect, carrying the stigma often associated with PKs, or witnessing troubling church situations. But they also see their upbringings bearing direct fruit in their work at CT.
“Being the pastor’s kid helped to strengthen and form my faith in ways I would have never experienced otherwise,” Caitlin Edwards told me. She began her career at CT developing ChurchSalary.com. “It was something I was very passionate about because I am a PK. Making sure that pastors are paid fairly feels very personal to me.” Edwards now serves as CT’s marketing and sales manager.
Print art director Jared Boggess’s experience as a PK “contributes to my desire to push back against both Christian and secular misconceptions about Christianity. That drive fuels my passion for our work at CT.”
Growing up as a TCK in a church representing over 70 countries was a “little picture of heaven” for business operations administrator Kathryn McQuaid. Her enduring love for the church comes, in part, from her parents’ openness about “the challenges they faced in ministry” as she was growing up. “I learned so much from seeing the ways my parents handled the ups and downs that came with helping lead a church. This gave me eyes to see the way God can work, even in all its messiness.”
Kelli B. Trujillo is CT’s print managing editor.
