This is an ongoing series by a pastor’s spouse about pastoral life from that angle. In this post we are asked to converse about the implications of pastoral geographical relocations.

By PW: How have ministry relocations affected your ministry “home base”? Has this affected
your family adversely? Or has it enriched your family’s experiences?
How about the pastor(s) of your local church?  How important is it to
your congregation that they put down roots and be a long-term part of
your community?

A number of years ago, I met someone for the first time and as we gained acquaintance, we each exchanged some of our story. I don’t often blurt out that I am a ministry spouse in the first 5 minutes of meeting someone. I like to get to know them and allow them to get to know me. This one person, Kara, was casually chatting with me at a school function and she tossed into the conversation that her family has “relocated a number of times.” She was concerned about her children and their adjustment to the new school, etc.

This has happened to our ministry family as well–I thought we had moved A LOT. So I listened and asked a few friendly questions. Kara disclosed that they had moved over 20 times since she and her husband married.
 
Now, my mind is creative and the possibilities that occurred to me were many. I thought: oh, well! Maybe they are military (usually they move as often as ministry families)…maybe fugitives…maybe corporate… In fact, her spouse was in education and had been working up the ranks of K-12 education. I was empathetic to her concerns for her family.

I have had to help our family adjust to several moves. Thankfully, they have been fairly reasonable when you think about it.

What about you? How many times have you moved? How has it affected your family and you and your ministry?