I have a friend, a pastor’s wife, who often reflects about what it is like to live as a pastor’s spouse, and she has been doing a series for us … today reflecting on the “manse.” Join along in this discussion with “PW.”

There
is a house for sale in our neighborhood and it is right next to the
Presbyterian Church. I drove by as they were posting the “for sale”
sign on the house and it occurred to me: oh, that would be a nice
manse! But, churches hardly do that anymore.

We once lived in the house
next door to the church. A lot of funny stories in our life come from
that situation. We were a marked family: the preacher’s family. There
was no getting away from it! Our phone rang in both our house and in
the church!

Nowadays, most ministry people in Protestantism do not live next door to the
church–or only some of the staff live next door.

Is that something you
have experienced? Is this a part of the way the church compensates the
ministry family, by providing housing? Are you expected to mow the lawn
of the church when you mow your own lawn?