Father, mother, daughter, and dog running on the beach

The Mission of Mothering in Relation to the Mission of the Church

Happy Mother’s Day to all pastors’ wives deep in the trenches of mothering. Were it not for your faithful service behind the scenes, the visible outward ministry of your pastor husband would not be possible. Your quiet service is vital to the overall mission of the church.

The church is the most valuable institution in the world. It is the institution God designed and called to head into the world proclaiming the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9) The church is the only institution tasked with an eternal mission. There is nothing else like it.

At the center of the mission is the call of the pastor. The pastor, Sunday by Sunday, labors to bring God’s word faithfully to the people. The pastor baptizes, marries, and buries the saints. The pastor leads the charge of world evangelization. When necessary, the pastor works on cases of discipline. It is quite the role. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, in season and out, the pastor must be ready to fulfill his ministry of the word (2 Timothy 4:2). The pastor carries his call out locally but with a scope that ends with the eternal redemption of the nations. The mission of the church is the mission of all missions. 

It is difficult for a mom to feel like she is playing a role in this grand mission. How do changing diapers, folding laundry, and running teenagers around town serve the church’s mission? Or, to put it another way, it feels like your husband’s mission counts for all eternity. But what about your mission? Making dinner feels like a far cry from discipling the nations. 

Mothering is a daily grind full of tedious tasks, but never forget that God delights in using small repetition over time in grand ways. When faced with the immense task of rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem, it was common to doubt if completion was possible. Workers would lay a few bricks each day. How can a few small bricks ever amount to anything as significant as the temple? Yet, Zechariah reminded the people, “Do not despise the day of small things.” (Zechariah 4:10). Small tasks eventually complete the grandest of projects. Success is not instantaneous. 

A good word for the moms consumed with daily repetition: The church’s mission includes the daily mission of moms doing the small but faithful work of mothering. 

From G.K. Chesterton:

When people begin to talk about this (mothering) domestic duty as not merely difficult but trivial and dreary, I simply give up the question. For I cannot with the utmost energy of imagination conceive what they mean.

No; a woman’s function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute. I will pity Mrs. Jones for the hugeness of her task; I will never pity her for its smallness.1

Mothering the children of pastors is a huge, not small, task that serves the church’s broader mission in two key ways.

First, the mission of the church depends on all people doing their part. Romans 16:1-16 is a broad list of different types of people serving in the church. The list includes young and old, wealthy and poor, singles and families. The Roman church was a wide array of people, each doing their part to serve the unified mission of gospel advancement. 

Think of a war. Of course, there will be those doing the heavy work of serving on the front lines, but for there to be victory, there also needs to be engineers designing the planes, cooks making the food, and doctors caring for the injured. Victory depends on each person fulfilling their role with complete excellence. The whole of victor’s efforts consists of specialized parts. 

Think of a mother as a specialized part. A mom sitting alone in a pew with squirmy children so that a husband can bring God’s word to the masses is serving the greater mission. Staying at home with the kids while a husband is at another elder’s meeting is caring for the church. All the little sacrifices that come with being a mom are acts of service to the greater mission of the church. Pastors would not be on the front lines were it not for the supporting cast of faithful moms caring for their children behind the scenes. 

Second, the mission of the church is to make disciples. Making disciples involves time with people in the context of God’s word. No one has a greater opportunity to do this work than moms. While a mother’s job can be tedious, it provides ample time for Christian discipleship. There is a kingdom-advancing ministry that happens out in the world that a pastor is often involved with. There is also kingdom-advancing ministry that happens at home throughout the week as a mom cares for her children. Don’t underestimate the amount of tedious time you have with the kids. What an opportunity to advance the mission of the church!

Mothers, when you are sitting alone in the Sunday pew while your friends are by their husbands, as you carry the unique burdens of the church that many will never fully understand, as you give yourself to the mundane tasks of daily housework so your husband has a brief respite from a chaotic job, know this: your role is serving the greatest cause in the history of the world. Through the church, God will redeem people from every tongue, tribe, and nation (Revelation 7:9). What a mission to serve. While your husband might be on the front line, you are part of the battle. You are serving a grand cause. The grace of God will redeem the daily work of mothering for the most majestic of purposes. 

Give yourself to mothering. Serve your kids. Honor your husband as the pastor. Don’t despise the small things that God has called you to. 

Happy Mother’s Day. 

 ©2024 Jon Saunders. Used with permission.

  1. Chesterton, G. K. (2022). What’s Wrong with the World. Sophia Institute Press. ↩︎

About The Author

Jon Saunders
Jon Saunders

Jon is married to Vanessa and is father of Lillian, Eleanor, Henry, Marion and Katherine. He is a graduate of Michigan State University and Calvin Theological Seminary. He formerly served at University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Mich., as the pastor of campus ministry, before moving to Detroit to help with the planting of Redeemer.

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