A male believer M (pseudonym) and his wife have both served full-time in a church located in an economically disadvantaged area for quite a several years, for which they can be called “senior leaders”. After getting married a few years ago, now they have a child who’s over a year old.
One day, a person from the church leadership team said to M’s wife， “From now on, you can continue to serve, but the team will no longer provide for you.” In other words, she was dismissed from her current position. Therefore, in the future, she could no longer serve as a full-time pastor, but as a volunteer.
The same as M's wife, another female Christian who is also a mother and needs to take care of her child was let go as well.
With regards to the reason for the dismissal, M claimed that they were told that these female church staff could not work outside for they had to look after children, that is to say, they could not go to the threshing floor outside the church to work, so they persuaded his wife to resign.
This church has meeting points in several places. M remarked that after they got married, their newborn baby needed daycare. If both of them went to work in other locations, the child would be left unattended. As a result, the wife stayed to serve in the local church, which meant that her responsibilities changed from frequent mission tours that she used to take to regularly pastoring local church members now.
After being dismissed, M's wife felt very sad. Meanwhile, M considered more realistic issues. "My wife being dismissed really affected us a lot. As we both served full-time before, we had more living allowances that could primarily meet the basic needs of the family. But now my wife has been given the notice, so I am the only one serving full-time, which means that I have to provide for the family by myself. Because the financial capacity of the church is also limited, it will not give me extra subsidies because I have a child in the family.”
M commented that such a thing had never happened before. It was not clear whether the pandemic caused the current situation, or the church actually had funding problems, or rather decision-making and management issues. "In the past few years, such a thing never occurred. Another female believer serving in the team also did ministries in the local church after getting married and having a child that she had to take care of. After her child grew up and went to school, she resumed her original position."
M found that not only married female co-workers with children were dismissed, but also some single female co-workers began to quit just because of the treatment that the married ones were receiving. "As they were also worried that they would be persuaded to resign one day without a new job or knowing what to do. Then, they took the initiative to make a backup plan for themselves in advance, which was to resign after finding a new job. They felt that leaving on their own sounded better, at least not as embarrassing as being discharged.“
"One female believer left our service team in April or May this year to work in a shopping mall. Most of the church staff who left were single females. Co-workers actually start serving as Christian singles. After they get married, they will continue serving in the church. At least we have always followed this way before,” M added with concern.
Female co-workers have been dismissed or voluntarily resigned and the situation of young male co-workers is not good either. “At the moment, there are only a few young male believers in our team. Very few have stayed. If these people are picked on, they may also leave in the future."
- Translated by Shuya Wang
M弟兄和妻子都在某经济欠发达地区的某教会里面全职服事，并且已经持续了好几年的时间，可以称得上”老同工“了。两人于数年前结婚生子，现在孩子一岁多。
某天，教会一名负责人找到了M弟兄的妻子，告诉她——“今后你可以继续参与服事，只是团队不会再供应你了。”换句话说，M弟兄的妻子被辞退了，今后无法再继续以全职传道人的身份服事，而变成了一名义工。
除了M弟兄的妻子以外，这次还有另外一名姊妹也被一起辞退了，而这位姊妹，同样是一个需要照顾孩子的母亲。（==当summary）
至于辞退的原因，M弟兄说，他们给的理由就是说，这些姊妹因为带着孩子不能出外，就是说不能去到外面的禾场工作，所以就把自己的妻子劝退了。
原来，这个教会在好几个地方有分聚会点。M弟兄说，他们结婚以后，随着孩子的出生，需要照看孩子，两个人都出去工作的话孩子就无人照看，所以就让妻子留在本地教会服事了，妻子的工作也从以前的经常四处走动变成了现在的固定牧养本地教会信徒。
被辞退以后，M弟兄的妻子心里非常难过，而M弟兄的考虑则要更加现实一些——“妻子被辞退这件事对我们影响确实挺大的，我们两个人之前都全职服事，这样的话我们俩的生活补助加在一起还好一些，能够基本满足家庭的基本需要。可是现在妻子被辞退了，只有我一个人全职服事，那就意味着只能靠我自己一个人来养家了，因为教会的经济能力也有限，也不会说因为你家里有孩子教会就给你一些额外的补助什么的。”
M弟兄说，以前这样的事情从来没有发生过，现在这样的状况不知道是疫情的原因，还是说教会的资金问题，或者说决策和管理方面的问题。“前些年的时候并没有这样的事情，以前有一个姊妹也在团队服事，后来结婚生完孩子之后为了照顾孩子也在本地教会服事，等到后来孩子慢慢长大上了学之后，这个姊妹就继续回到原来的位置上服事了。”
M弟兄发现，不仅是结婚生了孩子的姊妹同工被辞退，而且有一些单身姊妹同工也开始因此这个现象而出现流失现象。“因为她们也担心，不知道哪一天就会把自己给劝退，然后自己也没有工作，不知道该去做什么。所以她们就主动地提前给自己找了后路，找好新的工作以后自己就辞职了。她们觉得，自己走人比劝退好听一点，至少没有被辞退那么让人难堪。
”一个姊妹今年四五月份的时候离开了我们服事的团队，去找了一个商场的工作。这批离开的基本都是姊妹，而且还都是单身。我们服事的同工们最初其实就是从单身弟兄和单身姊妹开始的，然后后来他们结了婚之后都会继续留在教会服事，至少我们之前一直是这样的。“M弟兄忧心忡忡地说。
姊妹同工被辞退或者主动辞职，年轻的弟兄同工的处境也并不好， ”目前，我们团队的年轻弟兄也没几个了，能坚持下来的人，可以说已经很少了，还留着的这些人如果能给挑出来毛病的话以后也可能会走吧。“
基层牧者薪资之痛性别篇（上）| 带娃妈妈被教会突然无故辞退，女性传道人何去何从？
A male believer M (pseudonym) and his wife have both served full-time in a church located in an economically disadvantaged area for quite a several years, for which they can be called “senior leaders”. After getting married a few years ago, now they have a child who’s over a year old.
One day, a person from the church leadership team said to M’s wife， “From now on, you can continue to serve, but the team will no longer provide for you.” In other words, she was dismissed from her current position. Therefore, in the future, she could no longer serve as a full-time pastor, but as a volunteer.
The same as M's wife, another female Christian who is also a mother and needs to take care of her child was let go as well.
With regards to the reason for the dismissal, M claimed that they were told that these female church staff could not work outside for they had to look after children, that is to say, they could not go to the threshing floor outside the church to work, so they persuaded his wife to resign.
This church has meeting points in several places. M remarked that after they got married, their newborn baby needed daycare. If both of them went to work in other locations, the child would be left unattended. As a result, the wife stayed to serve in the local church, which meant that her responsibilities changed from frequent mission tours that she used to take to regularly pastoring local church members now.
After being dismissed, M's wife felt very sad. Meanwhile, M considered more realistic issues. "My wife being dismissed really affected us a lot. As we both served full-time before, we had more living allowances that could primarily meet the basic needs of the family. But now my wife has been given the notice, so I am the only one serving full-time, which means that I have to provide for the family by myself. Because the financial capacity of the church is also limited, it will not give me extra subsidies because I have a child in the family.”
M commented that such a thing had never happened before. It was not clear whether the pandemic caused the current situation, or the church actually had funding problems, or rather decision-making and management issues. "In the past few years, such a thing never occurred. Another female believer serving in the team also did ministries in the local church after getting married and having a child that she had to take care of. After her child grew up and went to school, she resumed her original position."
M found that not only married female co-workers with children were dismissed, but also some single female co-workers began to quit just because of the treatment that the married ones were receiving. "As they were also worried that they would be persuaded to resign one day without a new job or knowing what to do. Then, they took the initiative to make a backup plan for themselves in advance, which was to resign after finding a new job. They felt that leaving on their own sounded better, at least not as embarrassing as being discharged.“
"One female believer left our service team in April or May this year to work in a shopping mall. Most of the church staff who left were single females. Co-workers actually start serving as Christian singles. After they get married, they will continue serving in the church. At least we have always followed this way before,” M added with concern.
Female co-workers have been dismissed or voluntarily resigned and the situation of young male co-workers is not good either. “At the moment, there are only a few young male believers in our team. Very few have stayed. If these people are picked on, they may also leave in the future."
- Translated by Shuya Wang
What Should Female Pastors Do When Suddenly Being Dismissed by Church for No Reason as Mother With Baby?
