Ministry is Constant Change

Written by Becky Badry

I grew up in an Air Force family so I guess you could call me an Air Force Brat. Living the Air Force life had a tremendous impact on my life and, in many ways, prepared me for my life as a Minister’s wife. For instance, our family moved to a new base about every three to four years. If you have been in ministry long, you may have experienced this as well. Even my husband noticed that if we stayed six or seven years at a church, as the four year mark rolled around, I had an insatiable desire to move something. Usually, that meant rearranging the furniture or redecorating the house. Yet, having this nomadic spirit allowed me to adapt easily to change.

A few years ago, I experienced a time of change that was so overwhelming that it was almost more than I could take. I started a new full-time job for the first time in our married years. My husband resigned the church we had served for over seven years and planted a church (which had not been my plan for my 40s). We moved out of the parsonage, purchased and moved into our own house.

To top it all off, both of our sons left home to attend college within a week of each other. As a result, I grieved as I entered the empty nest season of life. With the exception of the death of a family member, I think I hit all the top five experiences on the stress chart. Everything and everyone in my world had changed.

All I could do is cry out to the Lord, “This is just too much for me to handle at one time. Please show me something that is stable and not going to change!” That is when His faithful words flooded my heart, “I am the same yesterday, today and forever.” As I began to wrap my mind, and my emotions around that promise I was able to endure until the storm subsided.

I learned from that painful experience that I could not wait until I was in the middle of the storm to find an anchor for my faith. Life is full of changes, and the changes seem to increase as I get older. I must trust His ever-living Word before the winds of change begin to blow.

In her book, Renewal on the Run: Embracing the Privileges and Expectations of a Ministry Wife, Jill Briscoe shares some of the benefits of change.
Change can be a tremendous incentive for spiritual growth.Change brings new life experiences with opportunities to discover and use new personal skills.Change challenges us.Change may be the chance to do it right this time.Change is an opportunity to model a right response before others.Change forces us to evaluate our lives.

We can respond to change with anxiety and fear, or we can respond as Paul reminds us in Philippians 4:6-8, “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Becky Badry, a LifeWay Ministry Multiplier and the director of women's missions and ministries for the Colorado Baptist General Convention, has been a minister's wife for more than 25 years. She and her husband Jay have served in Oklahoma, Georgia, and Colorado, where Jay now pastors and Becky is ministry teams coordinator.