The responses received also raised another

The responses received also raised another interesting question: two of the
respondents identified themselves as minister’s wives. Both regarded themselves as

women in ministry in complementarian churches, which is indeed what they are. This
raises a question which it is beyond the capacity of the present study to investigate:
what is the position of the minister’s wife in today’s churches? The widespread
cultural assumption that men and women, even married, are independent individuals
with independent careers, is not necessarily held by Christians. However, the impact
of this cultural shift is often seen in the minister’s wife having her own working life
outside of the church and home. It certainly should not be assumed that the
minister’s wife is automatically an unpaid worker in the church. Yet many wives do
carry out a great deal of formal ministry, without pay or recognition. How many
minister’s wives are in fact women working in complementarian ministry, may even
have an official position within the church, but were not contacted/did not realise
they could answer the survey? Should they be considered under the oversight of the
Bishop of Maidstone?
Two church wardens also answered the survey, which may indicate that incumbents
have varied views as to what counts as ‘doing ministry’.
The age range of respondents was from 25 to 83; 3 widowed, 2 divorced, 42 married,
32 single.
What kind of ministry are they doing?
5

6
41 specified full-time work (5-6 days/week). 9 did not give a level (all volunteers). 29
worked various levels of part-time (4 or fewer days/week).
16 were unpaid; two paid nominal amounts. Some did not specify or gave
descriptors such as ‘Church of England salary’, ‘Curate’s salary’, ‘Minimum wage’. The
highest salary worked out at £50 000 per year pro-rata for a woman working 2.2
days/week, but this was an outlier in the church ministry jobs. Of those below £30
000 pa, only 8 specified that housing was also provided. Of the 26 being paid the FTE
of £20 000 or less, only two also had housing provided. The survey asked for salary,
and did not specifically ask if housing was also provided; it could be that some
respondents did not think to mention it.
Of the single women, one was working full-time unpaid, one for a nominal amount.
14 single women were employed full-time on less than £30 000, with no mention of
housing; four on £20 000 or less. (Pension contribution was not explored.)