Caring for Widows

The Tuesday feature of the Worldly Saints blog examines something I have been reading lately. Usually, I can read about one book per week. These posts are meant to share some of my reflections from the latest book I have or am reading.

Wesley M. Teterud has done a wonderful service to the church by publishing his book Caring For Widows: You and Your Church Can Make a Difference. I found this book in my grandfather’s library about ten years ago it and I thought it would come in handy to me in my own ministry someday.

Today, I am the teaching pastor at Wichita Bible Church (WBC) and I have been given the joy of shepherding around ten widows. So when I came to WBC a few months I knew this would and should be a big part of my own ministry – learning to love the widow.

I picked this book up last week and read it cover to cover, trying to get as many ideas and thoughts together for my own benefit as a pastor and to also help lead our church in caring for those that Jesus favors.

What really convicted me in this book was his word of exhortation to pastors and elders of local churches. In his chapter entitled “Mobilizing Your Church,” he concludes that unless the leaders of the church are publicly supporting and actively involved in ministering to the widows in their church, the church will not care to do so either. He says every church needs to develop a “widow consciousness” and it starts with it’s leadership.

I needed to hear that.

The reason God speaks in defense of the widow (Exod 22:22-24; Lev 21:14; 22:13) is because – like the orphan – they are a class of society we tend to forget or abuse. In fact, there is no other minority group in the Bible that received more attention than the widow. God doesn’t forget or abuse any of them. He remembers and loves them; and so should we. If God makes them a high priority, we ought to make them a high priority.

How are you caring for the widows in your church and your sphere of influence?

Homework assignment – Do a study in widows this week by reading all the passages in the Bible that mention them: • Genesis 38 • Exodus 22:22-24 • Leviticus 21:14; 22:13 • Deuteronomy 10:18; 14:29; 16:11-14; 24:17-19; 25:5-9; 26:12-13; 27:19 • Ruth • I Samuel 27:3; 30:5; II Samuel 2:2; 3:3; 14:5; 20:3; 27:3; 30:5 • I Kings 7:14; 11:26; 17:9-20 • Job 22:9; 24:3-21; 27:15; 29:13; 31:16-18 • Psalm 68; 78; 94; 109; 146 • Proverbs 15:25 • Isaiah 1:17-23; 9:17; 10:2; 47:8-9; 54:4 • Jeremiah 7:6; 15:8; 18:21; 22:3; 49:11 • Lamentations 1:1; 5:3 • Ezekiel 22:7-25; 44:22 • Zechariah 7:10 • Malachi 3:5 • Matthew 22:25 • Mark 12:19-43 • Luke 2:37; 4:25-26; 7:12; 18:3-5; 20:28-47; 21:2-3 • Acts 6:1; 9:39-41 • I Corinthians 7:7 • I Timothy 5:3-16 • James 1:27 • Revelation 18:7