I blame the wife

There's an old adage common amongst those in paid Christian ministry.

A wife either halves or doubles her husband's ministry.

There's a certain amount of truth to this statement. Rarely is a wife neutral to the effectiveness of her husband's ministry. She may neutralise it, but she is never neutral. Every man I have ever heard utter this comment clearly perceives his own wife as a doubler. I include myself in this category and those who have had the misfortune of witnessing the earlier versions of my current "bumbling idiot" persona wholeheartedly agree.

But the saying is also a misnomer. The tension is not between ministry and not doing ministry. Rather, the tension is between public ministry versus private ministry. If a wife is 'high maintenance' it is a husband's husbandly duty to maintain her. That last sentence didn't come out quite like I expected it to, but you get the idea. If the man's ministry in the home is more demanding of his time, it is no less ministry than that which is done publicly. Furthermore it is his obligation to minister first within his own household, as a yardstick for his suitability to manage the household of God.

So is the saying true? Does a wife either double or halve her husband's ministry? Not really, if we have a right view of marriage as ministry. Will I keep using the saying? Absolutely, because it gives me a chance to boast about my wife!