I have been a minister now for almost 30 years. My wife left me after nearly 30 years of marriage. However, I need a helpmate. I want to date but all women are scared of dating a preacher. I understand that too. I don’t want to cause a “Black Eye” on the church so here is my question:<\/p>\n
If I date other women, should I quit preaching? Not quit serving God. No<\/strong>! Quit preaching. I think that would look best on God and His church. Please give your honest opinion. Thanks.<\/p>\n\t What isn’t mentioned is why your wife left you. I assume that she was committing adultery and left to be with another man. If the marriage didn’t end because of fornication on her part, then you have no right to another marriage (Matthew 19:9; I Corinthians 7:10-11). For the purpose of this reply, I am assuming you do have the right to marry again.<\/p>\n And do you plan to resume preaching after your marriage? If so, then leaving the job solely for the purpose of finding a wife is to be dishonest with her. Sure, a lot of women are reluctant to marry a preacher. She is not only agreeing to marry a man for the rest of her life, she is also signing up for the extra difficulties of being the wife of a preacher. It takes a special woman to handle that.<\/p>\n Be the man who you are. Don’t pretend to be someone different because deception won’t make your life better.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I have been a minister now for almost 30 years. My wife left me after nearly 30 years of marriage. However, I need a helpmate. I want to date but all women are scared of dating a preacher. I understand that too. I don’t want to cause a “Black Eye” on the church so…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[149,536],"class_list":["post-29397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-dating","tag-preaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23910,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-married-a-man-who-was-divorced-because-of-his-adultery-is-our-marriage-ok\/","url_meta":{"origin":29397,"position":0},"title":"I married a man who was divorced because of his adultery. Is our marriage ok?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What do you do if you are a Christian, have a second marriage, and realize only too late that it was not the will of God?\u00a0 My spouse was a called man of God, but he committed adultery in his first marriage.\u00a0He is no longer preaching, and I am\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17446,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-date-someone-from-the-church-you-attend\/","url_meta":{"origin":29397,"position":1},"title":"Is it wrong to date someone from the church you attend?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question regarding church discipline. I attend a congregation where a brother has dated several sisters in the same congregation.\u00a0 Also, some of them have left this congregation. Should I stay or look for another place of worship? Is this acceptable? Thanks for your cooperation. Answer: If\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5908,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-jesus-ever-require-someone-to-quit-a-marriage-or-walk-away-from-family\/","url_meta":{"origin":29397,"position":2},"title":"Did Jesus ever require someone to quit a marriage or walk away from family?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: He was married and his wife was going to leave him for a man who just got out of prison. He begged her to not leave. He figured they had sex but was not certain. She reluctantly came back to him. Several years later, his drinking and mental abuse\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51729,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-man-continue-to-preach-when-his-wife-left-him-because-she-doesnt-want-to-be-a-preachers-wife\/","url_meta":{"origin":29397,"position":3},"title":"Can a man continue to preach when his wife left him because she doesn’t want to be a preacher’s wife?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If a minister's wife leaves him, is it still biblical for him to stay in the pulpit? She left him as she didn't want to be a preacher's wife any longer. He preaches for a church of Christ. Answer: There are few qualifications of a preacher, beyond his ability\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89534,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/growing-tired-of-the-congregation-where-you-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":29397,"position":4},"title":"Growing Tired of the Congregation Where You Worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Steve Waller Be careful before you answer the above question! Occasionally, one may be heard saying something like, \"I'm so tired of the congregation where I worship. I want to find someplace else to go!\" It's not that there is anything wrong with the local church from a doctrinal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":553,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-question-about-adultery\/","url_meta":{"origin":29397,"position":5},"title":"Does an adulterer have to leave his second marriage in order to repent?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 10, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a friend and I am trying to teach my friend the truth. I found out that he is in an adulterous relationship. His wife was married before but for only one year. The marriage did not end because of fornication. She is now married to my friend.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29397\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Answer:<\/h2>\n