The Minister's Wife

[Sam]

I’ve been looking through some old magazines and found this in the September 1939 issue of the Pentecostal Outlook, the monthly magazine published by the PAJC (Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ). It is found on page 19 and no author is given. I wonder how accurately this described the expectations placed on the wife of a minister by folks in Apostolic Pentecostal churches almost 70 years ago. It mentions moving every few years to a new church which sounds like some of the denominations back then although I've seen in the biographies of Oneness Pentecostal pastors how they moved every couple of years or so.


The Minister’s Wife

You may sing of your heroes or war and peace
Your soldiers of fortune and strife;
When the tumult shall die, and the shouting all cease,
Let me sing of the minister’s wife.

You may laud to the skies the learned and wise,
The servants with dignities rife;
My heart says Amen, but I take up my pen
In praise of the minister’s wife.

Oh, the minister’s wife is a cook and a clerk;
A dressmaker, mother, and nurse;
A wonderful teacher, a maid-of-all-work,
And a player and singer, of course!

She must listen, with nerves that are raw to the quick,
To heartaches and troubles galore;
She must welcome the stranger, and visit the sick
Wearing dresses her sister once wore.

She must work with the Aid, and the Junior Hi-Y;
She must help with the Sunday School stunts;
Be a leader in missions, or tell us all why;
And not miss a prayer meeting once!

She must comfort her husband when Mondays are blue
And smooth out his trials --and coats;
Be ready to move every twelve-month or two
When he shepherds new sheep (and new goats).

And whether the weather be cloudy or bright;
In season or out --all the while,
If her heart it be heavy, or if it be light--
She must smile, smile, smile!

Oh, sing of the noble, the great, and the good,
Whom you meet in the course of your life;
I take up the strain, be it here understood,
In praise of the minister’s wife!