Persevering in Ministry with Susan Hunt
On today’s episode of the Journeywomen podcast for the final episode in our series, “Walking Alongside One Another In…” we are interviewing Susan Hunt. Susan is a former pastor’s wife, she served as Coordinator of Women's Ministries for the PCA, and she has authored several dozen books for women and children, of which I have greatly benefited from! We have the joy of hearing from a woman who has weathered many decades of ministry about how we too can persevere for a lifetime of ministry.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Can you tell us about how you got started in ministry?
What (or who) enables us to walk alongside others in their various joys and hardships?
What is the joy in walking alongside others and cheering on the work of the gospel in their lives?
How did you discern what opportunities to pursue, or to say "yes" or "no" to as a young woman in ministry?
What fuels us to persevere in godliness and gospel ministry?
What encouragement do you have for someone who feels really tired, burned out, or discouraged in the work that the Lord has set before them?
Looking back on your life, what advice would you offer yourself (specifically in regard to ministry and walking alongside others) when you were in your 20s and 30s?
How can we, the Body, come alongside our pastor's wives and offer them support and encouragement?
NOTEWORTHY QUOTES
On the passing of her husband… “I want to give testimony, from the moment my husband took his last breath on this earth, I have felt new dimensions of God’s presence and his love, his protection, his comfort, his peace, and even his joy. And that has been a journey, a stumbling, sometimes awkward journey, but at the same time, the joy of the Lord really has been my strength.”
“We loved the life of ministry...even though it wasn’t always easy.”
“One of the wonderful things about being old is that we can look back and clearly see that the hard parts really were good parts because they drew us closer to Jesus.”
“His Word, his Spirit, and just all the means of grace: worship, prayer, sacraments, fellowship, ministry within the context of God’s covenant family protects us, energizes us, and instructs us as we learn from one another.”
“God comforts us and uses that resurrection power and the life of Christ in us to allow us to share that comfort with others. It’s such a beautiful, wonderful process. The more we know him by him comforting us, the more we can share him with others.”
“That amazing commission that our Savior gave us before he ascended into heaven to ‘go and make disciples.’ What an amazing thing that we are commissioned to do that? And this command is bracketed by his words ‘all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me’… then the command… then he says ‘I am with you always to the very end of the age.’ So to know that we are called under the authority of the King of kings and Lord of lords and that he is with us as we do this amazing thing, it just takes your breath away.
“I just can never get over that he does not call out a few men in each decade of history and just give those men and women this assignment, but he gives it to every one of us. The woman who is teaching a Sunday school class, the woman who is mentoring another woman, the mother who is teaching her children. We read in Daniel that ‘those who lead many to righteousness shine like the stars in heaven’ and that’s us! We’re all shining stars in his kingdom.”
“Not only being a part of his kingdom expansion and seeing the results of it in the lives of others, but we also see the results in our own lives and that gives great joy.”
“They become dear to us because they become more important to us than we are to ourselves. Discipleship is costly. That is the transformational work of God’s Holy Spirit in us causing us to love others more than we love ourselves. And when I get a glimpse of that in myself… the work of the Holy Spirit in me that is causing me to love them…wow, that brings me joy.”
“Discipleship is not a formula. It is not a checklist. It is a way of life.”
“There may be some more formal discipleship relationships where you meet and study the Word together, or when you teach a Bible class, but it’s also those conversations after church or over coffee. It’s inviting others into our life to see: How do we grieve? How do we rejoice? How do we live life? And we just talk of him in a very natural way as we go about life.”
“Don’t try to put discipleship into a box because it’s too big for that. It’s all of life.”
“We both eventually realized that when God puts something before us... he will then enable us to do it. He gives us the gifts then. It’s not a matter of waiting for the gifts and then doing it. If it needs to be done and I’m the one there, just do it. And then he meets us there and he enables us to do it. It’s such an adventure!”
“It’s not my perseverance, but it’s his perseverance with me. His steadfast love and faithfulness to me.”
“It’s he who made us. We’re his! We’re his people. We’re his sheep. That just lifts our spirits when we realize that.”
What is our chief end? To glorify God and enjoy him forever. - Westminster Catechism
“When I start sinking down into despair and weariness, I have to ask myself these questions: ‘Why am I doing this? Is it for my glory or his glory?’ If I am doing it for his glory, that energizes me. Then I have to ask, ‘Do I really think this whole thing depends on me? Or have I released it? Am I giving it to him?’”
“It may not to the world look like success, but if his purpose is accomplished, then that’s a good thing. Am I possessive of this ministry? Am I dependent on it to give me significance? These are important questions to ask ourselves when we start sinking.”
“God does not use us to get the ministry done; he uses the ministry to get us done. That’s so freeing!”
“We must continually remind ourselves that we are here for God’s glory. And that is the most spectacular purpose imaginable. I can actually glorify God in the hard places, in the easy places, in the weeping, in the rejoicing, that is my reason for being. That he would use me to reflect his glory? Don’t let yourself ever get over that. It should leave us absolutely breathless. It’s the most amazing reason we could be here, so focus on that.”
“Pray more. Trust more. Release more. If we really pray and release everything to the Lord, there is such freedom in that.”
“Give thanks in all circumstances and rejoice in all circumstances. That’s possible because he’s in control of all circumstances, and he has promised that he will work all things (that’s such an inclusive word) he will work all things together to form us more and more into the image of Christ. If he’s doing that with all things, then I can rejoice and give thanks in all things.”
“Nothing is random. Nothing is wasted. Whatever happens to me at any moment in time, God will use to advance the gospel. Praise the Lord. It really is an adventure! A never-ending adventure! Even as my body is so weak and my mind is so slow, but he uses even this to advance the gospel.”
How to come alongside pastor’s wives… “Just come alongside them and help to lift that burden of what they think are the expectations [of a pastor’s wife]... Love their children. Remind them how much you appreciate their husband. Pray, and let them know you’re praying for them.”
“Take advantage of every opportunity to be in the Word, to learn more of the Lord, to be with his people, and to learn from them, to rejoice together, and to weep together. God’s covenant community is such a precious place for us to belong.”
“There’s nothing random, nothing’s wasted. It all matters. Even the most mundane is part of the magnificent.”
RESOURCES
Aging With Grace: Flourishing in an Anti-Aging Culture (releasing January 5, 2021)
Praying through Ephesians 1 to get back in focus of what God has saved me from
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
SIMPLE JOYS IN MINISTRY
The joy of belonging - we belong to Jesus, and we belong to each other! This belonging is eternal
Realizing I’m part of an eternal story - a very big story
The joy of the long view
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What fuels us to persevere in godliness and gospel ministry?
What has it looked like in your life for God to enable you to persevere in ministry or to equip you for a work he has called you to?
What (or who) enables us to walk alongside others in their various joys and hardships?
How does viewing discipleship as a way of life, versus a formula or a checklist, change how you will seek to engage in discipleship?
What are you going to do or implement as a result of what you’ve learned this week?
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.
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