By Rodetta Cook

Rodetta Cook has been a pastor’s wife for over 40 years. She and her husband, Ron, have actively served the Lord together in ministry during the entire time and are co-founders of Care for Pastors. She understands the expectations, loneliness and how hard it is to find balance in ministry as a pastor’s wife. Rodetta also leads the pastor’s wives initiative at Care for Pastors called The Confidante and ministers to hundreds of wives each week. She strives to share blogs with other pastors’ wives that will help them in their ministry walk.

Posted by Rodetta Cook

Topics: For Pastors' Wives · Resources for Pastors' Wives

Ministering to Problem People

Monday, March 27, 2017

We don’t have to be in ministry very long to realize there are difficult people in our ministries. What do we do with those people? We must minister to them in spite of the difficulty. It is hard at times to show grace to those people but that is what Jesus would do.

I want to recommend a book to you, Ministering to Problem People in Your Church by Marshall Shelley. While the book is written more for the pastor, I believe we as pastors’ wives can glean from it as well and then we can pass it on to our husbands. I love the subtitle, “What to Do With Well-Intentioned Dragons.” Can any of you relate to that? Sometimes that is how people come across to us, as dragons.

I want to share the description of this book in hopes it will intrigue you enough to purchase it, whether hard copy of download on your Kindle.

“Every church has them—sincere, well-meaning Christians who leave ulcers, strained relationships, and hard feelings in their wake. They don’t intend to be hostile; they don’t consciously plot destruction or breed discontent. But they often do undermine the ministry of the church and make pastors question their calling.

Ministering to Problem People in Your Church will guide you in dealing with these challenging people. Based on real-life accounts of battle-scarred veterans, this book helps you go beyond just tolerating problem people to limiting their damage and showing them God’s love. You’ll discover effective strategies to turn dissidents into disciples.

This time-tested book by the editor-in-chief of Christianity Today’s Leadership Journal has new chapters on using social media and caring for those with mental illness. It will help you not only preserve your sanity (and maybe your job), but minister more effectively, even to those who make life difficult.”

Let’s face it we all have difficult people in our ministries, but let’s remember to extend God’s grace to them and don’t allow them to cause us to give up on ministry or question our calling. I pray this book will be a blessing to you and your husband.