Today continues a blog series I’m running on Mondays entitled So You Say You’re a Church Lady: An Interview Series with Powerhouse Women. As a pastor’s wife, I care deeply about what God is doing in and through the many local churches that dot our nation and our world, and in this series you and I will get to hear from women who are changing the world through their local churches. Most are pastor’s wives, and all of them are following Jesus with passion and purpose. Today I want to introduce you to Elizabeth Griffin from Lark & Bloom. She’s planted churches, lived overseas, and has a deep love for the church. She also helps lead UnBound, which is an anti-trafficking organization run through her church, and is also something that I care deeply about. Liz has got some great things to say–read below!

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1. Tell us a little bit about the church that you are a part of.

I attend Antioch, which is a local church in Waco. Over the years, Antioch has grown into a network of churches all around the world. The Antioch movement is what I have essentially grown up in. When I was in junior high, my family moved to Russia to start an Antioch church there. Later in life my husband and I attended Antioch’s church planting school and moved to Seattle to plant a church.

A few years ago, we moved back to Waco where my husband, Jady, is on staff at Antioch. Is this giving you any kind of indication about how much I love and believe in my church? Pretty much the local church is my jam.

2. What does it look like, in your life, to be an active part of your church?

Being active in my church has looked a billion different ways in various stages of my life. When Jady and I moved to Seattle I co-led the church plant with him. It was very much a partnership and I had a great deal of involvement. After my kids were born I scaled back some and mostly supported him in ministry. (Not that you have to, I just decided it was best for me at the moment.)

Now, I volunteer withUnBound. This is our church movement’s anti-trafficking arm. We have chapters at Antioch churches around the world and I have the privilege of helping develop strategy and equipping local communities to fight human trafficking in their own cities. It’s pretty much my dream.

3. How are your unique gifts and abilities strengthened by being a part of a local church?

I think being connected to the local church really sets me free. My tendency is naturally to be all things to all people. Err, try to be all things to all people. Being part of a community allows me to let others take on things better suited to their gifts and callings.

Also, I think the church is a great place to risk. It is an environment full of encouragement, grace and an understanding that God can cover all my weaknesses. The church has allowed me to grow in my skill versus demanding I have it all together–because I don’t have it all together and learning curves can be messy business sometimes. I doubt a non-profit would have risked on letting me be a part of forming an anti-trafficking organization, but the church has.

The church is a safe place for me to risk and grow because we get that God can take broken and weak people and create something fantastic.

I mean, it’s the Gospel.

4. How has being part of a church challenged and changed you?

I would not be who I am if it were not for the church.

Church has taught me so much about who I am. I have learned to show myself grace. People have lovingly helped me see my rough edges and sat with me as I allowed God to sand them down. I’ve learned I don’t have to compete with people. They are my teammates and my biggest advantage.

Church has also shown me so much more of who God is than I could see on my own. Watching someone give financially out of their own need models faith for me. People being vulnerable with their own struggles and victories teaches me so much about how God works in my life.

5. Why do you value church? What do you love about church?

I guess you could say that I value church because I really believe that it is God’s tool for reaching the earth. I know that sounds kinda cliché, but I have never seen anything like the church. In all the countries I’ve been to around the world, the local church is pivotal to a community’s health.

Even with all the flaws and shortcomings no other group of people has impacted the world like the church has. When you get a group of people committed to God, to each other and the people around them – nothing can top that.

How much do I love the church? If I could do a herkie without pulling my hamstring, I totally would.

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Liz, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us about church (wish I could see you nail that herkie)! I love your vision for the church and the passion you have to see God’s purposes fulfilled through the church.

Get to know Liz more at her blog, Lark & Bloom!

In case you weren’t here last Monday, this summer I am running a blog series entitled So You Say You’re a Church Lady: An Interview Series with Powerhouse Women. As a pastor’s wife, I care deeply about what God is doing in and through the many local churches that dot our nation and our world, and in this series you and I will get to hear from women who are changing the world through their local churches. Most are pastor’s wives, and all of them are following Jesus with passion and purpose. Today I want to introduce the amazing woman who is kicking off the second interview: Christine Hoover, who blogs at Grace Covers Me.

Christine is the author of The Church Planting Wife: Help and Hope for Her Heart, and her work has appeared on Desiring God, The Gospel Coalition, Christianity Today, and Incourage.  If you are a woman who cares about the church or who is in ministry, please stop by her blog and be encouraged. In reading what Christine writes, I always feel encouraged and challenged–encouraged to continue to follow Jesus and love his people, and challenged to live and love more like Jesus. If you can’t tell, Christine is a woman I am grateful to hear from today! Join me as she shares her heart with us.

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1. Tell us a little bit about the church that you’re a part of.

My husband and I moved from Texas to Charlottesville, VA in 2008 to plant Charlottesville Community Church. The little Bible study that started in our living room has now blossomed into a self-sustaining, fully-functioning church, albeit a simple one that meets in an elementary school gym. Charlottesville is a college town, so we serve a fairly young, transient, intellectual, and ambitious population, and our church is full of college students, young professionals, and young families.

2. What does it look like, in your life, to be an active part of your church?

Considering we planted our church and that we don’t have our own building, I’ve been beyond active in our church. Our home has essentially been the main hub of our ministry, especially in the early years before we had additional staff and elders who could help carry the load. Thankfully, almost six years in, I’ve been able to move from being more of a generalist to being more of a specialist. I now am able to solely focus on what I am gifted for and passionate about: hospitality, discipleship (both participating and training others), and teaching.

3. How are your unique gifts and abilities strengthened by being part of a local church?

The local church has been the greenhouse in which I’ve discovered my gifts and learned to use them. I’ve learned how to lead Bible studies, how to serve under authority, how to counsel other women, and how to explain the grace of God to others. I am in fact still learning myself and learning how to best use my abilities and my role as the pastor’s wife to honor the Lord–all within the church. It has been a safe place to practice using my gifts, and I really see no better avenue for the type of growth I’ve experienced in these areas.

 4. How has being part of a church challenged and changed you?

Like most people, I’ve had idealistic thoughts about what the church should be, and those thoughts have typically said more about me and what I want out of church than what God actually intended the church to be. What I’ve discovered is that true community is hard work, difficult at times, and not at all about our comfort or our desires. True church community requires that we handle conflict appropriately, receive constructive feedback, allow others to help us and speak into our lives, be willing to take the risk of authentic relationships, and work really hard at it at all times.

Six years in to our church plant, we’ve passed the honeymoon phase with people. We now know them well enough that we see their faults and they see ours. This year in particular has been difficult for me with relationships, and I’ve learned so much about myself and my need to grow in handling hurts appropriately. Sometimes I want to run away and start over, but God has challenged me that this is what church is about and that I am to stick in there. The nitty-gritty of church life is nothing like my past idealistic thoughts. And that’s a very good thing.

5. Why do you value church? What do you love about church?

I love church for many reasons: an always increasing understanding of the Bible, corporate worship, friendships, and an opportunity as a pastor’s wife to impact others. I value it primarily because God created it as something both for our benefit and for the benefit of nonbelievers as they watch a functioning Body. There is a profound mystery to all of this: why this way? It’s something I’ve thought about, because it’s made up of broken people and it will never perfectly represent our Head, Christ Jesus. But I find that if not for the church, I would be an isolated mess and my faith would be quite self-serving. People in my church make me more like Christ; I need them and they need me. And we all must work together to function as the Body and to love one another well in front of a watching world. The church truly is the manifest wisdom of God.

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Make sure to stop by next Monday when we will hear from our next powerhouse church lady!