Zoe (back right), Clare (middle left) and others at MTS Recruit 2024
Zoe Phillip’s introduction to MTS was unconventional. When she started dating Josh, her now-husband, he was in his first year of MTS. For Zoe, navigating a relationship with Josh came hand-in-hand with confronting bigger life questions: ‘Do I want to marry a man in ministry? And do I want to embrace a ministry lifestyle myself?’
“I kind of had this weird thing where I was trying to figure out, do I want to marry you, but also do I want to go into ministry, all at the same time,” Zoe recalls.
Josh invited her to attend MTS Recruit in 2017, explaining it was a conference that was designed to encourage and equip people considering ministry. For Zoe, it wasn’t about becoming an apprentice herself but grappling with what ministry life might look like as a spouse.
“I went the first couple of years just to think about ministry,” she says. “I think at that point, it was less common for spouses or fiancés to come along, but it helped me figure out that I was really keen to go down this ministry path.”
Training as a ministry spouse
Now Josh and Zoe are married and have two young children. Josh works as an assistant pastor at Wild Street Church in Maroubra. Wild Street has been intentional about fostering an environment where potential ministry apprentices are encouraged, something Zoe finds exciting.
“We have a couple of people who are considering doing MTS, and it looks like they might be doing it in the years to come,” she shares. She describes the joy of being involved in their journey, even as she works through her own insecurities. “I feel big imposter syndrome,” she admits. “I was asking Josh, how can I be a part of this process? I’ve never done MTS. I’ve never done any training, like formal training at college, but I want to walk alongside these women and help support them.”
Zoe sees the value in modelling gospel-centred family life as a form of discipleship. She says, “Even just having these women in our home to see what life is like as a ministry family, and seeing like the messiness of it, but also the goodness of it can be a training tool in itself.”
Vision and intention for the passing the baton
Since attending MTS Recruit in 2017 (which was called Mission Minded then), Zoe has been at the conference every year. Zoe is passionate about the broader vision of MTS and what it represents for the future of the church.
This year at MTS Recruit, she attended the Passing the Baton group workshop time. It was great to gather with other ministry spouses during this time, as it was a rare opportunity to share with one another from the perspective of their unique context.
Zoe reflects, “Clare Merkel (Ministry Training for Women Partnership Developer) ran the sessions this year. Going into it I didn’t really know what I was expecting, but I really loved what they did this year in breaking into specific groups, like ministry spouses. It helped me to feel like a valuable part of the process, and see how I can be involved.”
This is something Zoe has already been thinking about, so it was a great chance to hear from others and further her thinking.
She shares, “It’s something that I’d started to think through prior to the conference. Josh and I have been meeting up with some couples from church who we’re hoping will do MTS – either both of them or just one of them. But we’ve been catching up with them as a married couple to help them consider what it would look like for them as a couple.”
As part of a ministry family who has very consciously been through that process, Zoe has great counsel to offer in this context!
Raising up leaders in the whole church
Zoe has a big-picture idea of the church, which is why she thinks MTS is so important. “It’s about raising up the next generation for God’s whole church, not just our own. Ultimately, these are the people who will one day be running the church that, prayerfully, my kids will be in.”
Despite the challenges of juggling ministry with raising a young family, Zoe remains committed to the process. Her perspective is one of joyful sacrifice for the sake of the kingdom. “For us, it’s about taking people from our church, encouraging them to think about doing ministry, and then hopefully we’ll be actually sending them off.,” she says. “If you look at it one way, it’s a really bad strategy because we’re training up our best people to be sent away. But actually, for the kingdom, that’s the best strategy.”