Feature: Young Pastors Desire Spiritual Covering

The pastorate ordained a female church worker as a pastor in Datong, Shanxi Province, on December 19, 2021.
The pastorate ordained a female church worker as a pastor in Datong, Shanxi Province, on December 19, 2021. (photo: Shanxi CC&TSPM )
By Esther TianMarch 10th, 2023

Young, immature, and inexperienced pastor couples who run churches on their own have to fight ministry battles and deal with life, family, and raising children on their own. They need the help of mature pastors; they also need prayers, communication, pastoral care, and covering.

Brother Guang and Sister Qiqi are a young couple serving in the same church. They met while studying at the seminary and got married because of their common vision. However, after a few years of marriage, Brother Guang said he felt powerless and needed help; Sister Qiqi, although she believes in God's guidance, also said she was hurting in her marriage and needed someone to help restore her family.

Brother Dayong and Sister Yujie are also a married couple of forty years old and also work together as pastors in the church. In terms of age, Brother Dayong is six or seven years older than Brother Guang; the couple is also more experienced in life.

During a testimony of grace conducted online, the two families interacted with each other in a video.

Brother Guang, who was moved to open up about his family situation because of the testimony of Brother Dayong and Sister Yujie's beautiful marriage, first expressed his dilemma, "I do not have the strength to lead my wife in the path of faith. She knows this path and is sure that she wants to follow the path of ministry, but when faced with reality, she gets anxious about life and her child. For example, now that the church can only pay one person's salary, she nags."

Brother Guang added his family needs a push. He hopes that he and his wife can continue to move forward.

Faced with the pressures of real life, Brother Dayong pointed out, "The life of a pastor must be filled with battles; too much worrying and overthinking will cause people to lose sight of God. Without God in our hearts, problems will increase."

Brother Dayong believes that the descendants of the righteous do not beg for bread. "Since the Lord has called, He will provide. We will not look at how much the church sends us; rather, we will seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. God has extra provision when you need it. We have worries about having children too, but this requires constant practice. When we get through it, we will discover that God has not caused us difficulty. We need to set our hearts on the Lord."

Regarding the relationship between husband and wife, Brother Guang explained that he started working at the age of 16 and also experienced poverty. Married at the age of 30, he had been used to living independently for a long time and had not yet adjusted to his married role. Born with a strong personality, he found it difficult to yield during arguments, and he did not know how to handle conflicts with his wife.

Sister Yu Jie used her own marriage experience to guide the young couple: "My husband is very broad-minded, and he never argues with me. In fact, I have a very strong personality, but we follow the biblical principle that instructs the husband to love his wife. I am willing to put myself down and submit to my husband, which is the principle of a wife. Even though sometimes I might be right, I will not fight against my husband. We respect each other, understand each other's upbringing, and we are a little more tolerant."

Sister Qiqi also expressed her own inner pain. "During the years we served, we had no pastors, no co-workers, no teachers or elders, and no spiritual covering whatsoever. It was difficult to even get some pastoral resources, so you could say we were on our own for a few years. We also had to figure out marriage and our children's upbringing on our own. There was no one to listen to us when we encountered difficulties, and we could not talk to believers when conflicts arose. So I felt very sad."

Brother Guang added, "Now we have two children, and neither of our parents can help with childcare. Sister Qiqi is facing a lot on her own: ministry, life, family, children, and so on, and she is under even more pressure.

Sister Qiqi continued, "I wanted to move on, but it hurt too much. I have a special call from the Lord to choose the path of ministry, and I have faith in Him that I can persevere. It's just that Brother Guang has little knowledge about families, and he hurt me a lot after we got married. In ministry too, we often argued. I had some ideas, but he would not let me talk about them in church."

"A lot of things make me get tired of life and ministry, and I do not have the confidence to move forward. I actually believe in God's provision. We have gone from having nothing here to building a church worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. I have seen His provision, and I believe in Him."

Brother Dayong and Sister Yujie comforted her and felt sorry for the two young preachers. Their sharing may demonstrate how difficult it can be for pastors without a cover. Without a covering, pastors have no place to speak of their sufferings, and many problems arise.

Brother Da Yong and Sister Yu Jie said they were willing to start a fellowship for pastor couples so they could help more pastors who needed spiritual support. They also hope that more pastors will pay attention to young pastors.

(All names in the article are pseudonyms.)

- Translated by Nonye Nancy 

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