Jump directly to the Content

Sharing the Stage

A husband and wife reflect on the challenges and rewards of pastoring together.

We are a husband-and-wife team who lead a faith community in Deep Ellum, a district of Dallas, Texas. From the beginning we wanted to be co-pastors, but we knew this would be an adjustment for the congregation. Now that we've led the church for a few years, we decided to share our reflections on how leading together is going so far.

Rachel: We knew communication to the congregation was essential. We explained that Joel and I truly serve side-by-side, a 50-50 split. Our roles would be based on giftedness, not gender. We really were going to co-pastor, together. Though we were resolute about this commitment, we tried to be accommodating in the early days. We both preached on Sundays but Joel led our staff and board meetings. Joel loved leading the staff meetings. The board meetings were another story.

Joel: Leading the board was a chore for me. Actually, "leading" consisted of Rachel creating the agenda for the meeting and spending two hours prepping me on what to cover. It ...

April
Support Our Work

Subscribe to CT for less than $4.25/month

Homepage Subscription Panel

Read These Next

Related
Gideon Strauss: The Narrow Faith/Work Conversation
Gideon Strauss: The Narrow Faith/Work Conversation
How do we bring the faith/work conversation to all professions and workers?
From the Magazine
What Kind of Man Is This?
What Kind of Man Is This?
We’ve got little information on Jesus’ appearance and personality. But that’s the way God designed it.
Editor's Pick
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
What Christians Miss When They Dismiss Imagination
Understanding God and our world needs more than bare reason and experience.
close