The Roles of a Pastor’s Wife in the Post-COVID 19 Pandemic Era in Reference to Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) and the Salvation Army, Nigeria

Abstract

The status of a pastor’s wife is an honourable position with huge responsibility. She holds a unique role in advising, encouraging, and cautioning the man who bears the responsibility of leading the church. Yet, the pastor’s wife is an often neglected discourse both in the academic and ministerial spaces. Churches like the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) adumbrate the role of the pastor’s wife both in liturgy and operations. There is a paucity of literature on the personality and role of a pastor’s wife. Nevertheless, the COVID-19 pandemic has made the role of the pastor’s wife more cumbersome. Church life has not remained the same since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the eventual lockdown laws on social, public, and religious convergence. This study sought to determine the role that a pastor’s wife plays alongside her husband in the ministry. A descriptive approach was adopted as the basic methodology for this study with the research tool of structured interviews. The role of women in the early church is also briefly reconnoitred in order to demonstrate that women have a very important in a church, including the wives of ministers and preachers. The study recommended that churches like ECWA should give due attention to the status and role of pastors’ wives in their traditions and liturgy. Also, ECWA, like Salvation Army, should prepare and organize ongoing educational programmes to equip and empower pastors’ wives for optimum performance and fruitful results in church ministries. Likewise, pastors’ wives are enjoined to rise to their calling by giving necessary support to their spouses at home, church, and community spaces.