Pastors and priests are meant to be role models. They often serve as living examples to their communities. That role has heavy responsibilities in ministering to those of their flock. Some of the challenges they face include caring more for their flock than for their families. They may not have slept with anyone in the congregation, yet their spouses find themselves feeling like they are the one’s loosing out on affection, time and loyalty. The pastor’s wife may begin showing all the signs of being cheated on, including the jealousy and irritability.
In some cases, the pastors or ministers cross the line. When caught up in ministering, they find themselves meeting more needs than they were supposed to. They find themselves caring too much. This is part of the challenge of being in a ministerial role.
Another challenge is that of moving from church to church. Although they may ‘feel the calling to move’, it puts them in a tough position to confront cheaters who ‘feel the call to cheat’. When a role model continues moving on to bigger and better, they are role modeling a behavior that they would disdain in those under their teaching. If a member of the congregation continued moving on from wife to wife or husband to husband, always seeking bigger and better, such behavior would be condemned, with words like serial adulterer or gold digger.
If you are a pastor, you may want to re-commit to your family and re-examine your example setting. You may be teaching your congregation more about cheating than you realize.
Best Regards,
Jeffrey Murrah
