DALLAS | Counseling for ministers’ wives will be offered for the first time this year at the SBC Annual Meeting in Dallas to address trials often experienced in isolation given the unique roles of such women.
Ministry wives often have no one to shepherd them apart from their husbands, who are busy with ministry to other people, Cheryl Bell, adjunct professor of biblical counseling at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, told Baptist Press.
To address the need, 90-minute sessions are being offered free of charge to ministers’ wives Monday, June 9, and Tuesday, June 10, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Victory Park 1 Boardroom of the Omni Hotel.
“A number of years ago, I was at the convention, and I noticed that there was a prayer room, and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could offer counseling at the convention as well?’” Bell recalled.
For a couple of years, she has counseled women at Southern Baptists of Texas Convention ministers’ wives retreats, and she has been counseling formally since 2012. Her doctorate in biblical counseling is from Southwestern Seminary, and counselors on hand with her at the convention will be similarly qualified.
“We all have the education, but what I was looking for in the counselors I wanted to work with was actual real life, significant ministry experience,” Bell said.
When she encountered the field of biblical counseling, “it was like my heart found its home,” she said. “The sufficiency of God, His nature and character in His Word, to encourage people’s hearts and produce biblical change is beyond anything I had previously understood or even imagined.”
Ministers’ wives often lack “deep, intimate relationships within the church just because of the need for confidentiality and privacy,” Bell said, and such circumstances leave wives facing “some real challenges” on their own.
Based on research and personal experience with the SBTC, Bell knows the need for biblical counseling among ministers’ wives is notable.
“Our main goal with this is encouragement,” she said. “A lot of times, believers get stuck and don’t know how to move forward, and we think pastors’ wives are no different.” Though ministers’ wives often are well-versed in what God’s Word says, they may need someone to speak the truth over their situations.
“Not only does it give the theological foundation for a response but it gives practical directions to help them move forward,” Bell said. “What we’re hoping to achieve is first of all encouraging hearts that are weary but also to help them move forward in sanctification.
“How can God use the hard things that He is entrusting to you as a result of being in ministry? How can He redeem those things and use them for your good so that you move forward in Christlikeness?”
Bell quoted the apostle Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 1:6: “If we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation.”
“The suffering and trials that these women are going through not only are for their growth in Christlikeness but also for the sanctification of the body of Christ because as they grow, the church where they serve benefits from their maturity as they pour into those women,” Bell said.
A time slot of 90 minutes will be available to each woman who responds because “we need time to hear their story so they don’t feel rushed,” she said. “We’re directive with our counseling. We don’t just listen. We say, ‘This is what God says. I want you to hang onto this.’ We give them practical steps forward.”
Rather than sending ministry wives away emptyhanded, Bell aims to give them resources pertaining to their needs.
“I think people think pastors’ wives are different from other women – and their calling is different – but they struggle with the same things, only in isolation.”
Ministers’ wives who would like to sign up for counseling at the annual meeting may contact Bell at cbell@swbts.edu.
This story originally appeared at Baptist Press.