Recently, I woke up at 6.am with the following on my heart. For me, it’s a dangerous time to write! In the sense that I know it’s probably going to be a challenge!

I was at the MIT (Minster in training) conference 2023. My second one. I am 54 years old, been in ministry alongside my fantastic husband for over 30 years. We pastored in the Rhondda Valley for 22 years, (2 separate stints), we were missionaries in Tanzania for 9 years (2 separate stints) and we’re now leading the Elim church,  Kingdom Life Church, in Newcastle – been there for just over 4 years and we are loving life and ministry! 

How did I get to be a MIT? If you’d have said to me in the summer of 2021 that I’d be applying to become a minister, I’d have laughed you out of the park! It was never something I thought I wanted or needed to do! And I know this may sound a bit weird, but it was a dream, which I believe was from God that got me in the position I now find myself. I can still picture me and John in the car driving through Wales when I told him my dream. His response wasn’t what I thought it would be! I thought he would also laugh me out of the park, not in a demeaning way at all, just because he, like me, didn’t ever see this coming! If you see me, you can ask me about the dream, but it’s enough for here. However, the more I go on this journey, the more I can see that God has a purpose for it. I believe I can confidently say, I feel called to this. 

That being said, I’m kind of a reluctant MIT! Haha!

This is what was on my heart when I woke up! 

If we don’t put the right people, male or female, in charge of our churches, the church will become weak with no voice. If pastors, seek to ‘climb the ladder’ to manipulate positions, it will not end well. Now, more than ever, leaders need to be men and women of integrity. The stories that we are all reading or watching at the moment e.g. Mike Pilavachi; Hillsong; the Falwells, must create an urgency in everyone who is responsible for interviewing, training and commissioning leaders to get it right – and if ‘no’ is right, then ‘no’ is good! 

I worry that a motive of diversity, i.e., male to female ratios and inclusion are in danger of becoming bigger than the call of God, I worry that people will be put in charge of churches who aren’t meant to be there just so we can say we reached the target. We will let men and women into training who maybe shouldn’t be, we will put them on the front line of ministry when they shouldn’t be there. I don’t think targets will be at the forefront of decisions, but, if they are in the picture at all, these things have a way of being in the background and ‘help’ us make decisions that perhaps we wouldn’t make if there weren’t targets to reach or people to please.  

I don’t want to be a part of something that ticks an equality box. Don’t get me wrong, of course I believe in equality, but that shouldn’t be the driving force of any decisions, from local church teams to lead pastors and everything in between. Being in ministry is very hard. Being the no. 1 leader of a church is very hard. I am extremely blessed to be working with John. I’m not sure I would want to be ‘no. 1’ without him by my side. It’s too hard. Granted, after over 30 years, the things that once bothered us, no longer do, but for those starting out in the world in which we live, we have to know it’s a calling from God. 

Here’s a ‘shoot from the hip’ question if you’re a pastor – “Are people following you?”

Don’t shoot me for saying this, but, at one time, not that long ago, I would have said, women shouldn’t be no. 1’s (Lead pastors) in churches simply for their protection. Put the guns away haha! –  I no longer think this. I have been on a personal journey to the point that I now believe that women can and should be no. 1’s. BUT if we move away from the call of God to a target-based selection process, it won’t end well, and people will get hurt. Every denomination and movement have a responsibility to put the right leaders, called by God, into leadership positions. God help us never to make any decisions based on boxes ticked.