Is it a bad witness for a Christian pastor to marry someone 30 years younger?

That’s a lovely thought but I wouldn’t say, “...just a number.” Numbers are representatives of things. Where age is concerned, it represents when you should be mature enough drive, or drink alcohol. It’s used to measure, experience and hopefully wisdom. Then finally it’s more of a countdown to when the body begins to deteriorate leading to death. When I was forty, I was in the best shape of my life, fitness model “in shape”. Changing priorities in the last year made me unable to commit to exercise as before. Tendinitis settled into my forearms causing continuous pain. My sons now beat me in sprinting races. They are athletic teens but I used to be faster. I’m almost ready to return to my fitness regime but in the last year I’m no longer seeing age as “just a number.”

I'm getting higher in numbers myself.

er...Paul was the one who WROTE the letter to Timothy. Im not being logical its just what Paul himself wrote so ask God about it...I didnt write the Bible am just referring to it?!

I could say something about being equally yoked. . . but I won't

What is the general consensus on age difference between people if the man is a pastor? Does his leadership role make a difference if he is thinking about marrying a woman who is 30 years younger than him? Would it be ok for someone else in the church who was not in leadership? Why is it frowned upon?

Since I started this thread I suppose I should make it clear that I am not planning on marrying at all and if I did it would not be to someone 30 years younger than me. I was thinking that a pastor's credibility and ministry would suffer if he made a choice like that and the responses tell me that my perceptions are shared by most others.

Since I started this thread I suppose I should make it clear that I am not planning on marrying at all and if I did it would not be to someone 30 years younger than me. I was thinking that a pastor's credibility and ministry would suffer if he made a choice like that and the responses tell me that my perceptions are shared by most others.

While I agree that if God has called the two to be together, there's nothing more to question. But for me personally, in all the churches I've attended, the pastor's wife had a very active role in leading Bible classes and ministering to the women of the congregation.

If a 50-year-old pastor has a congregation full of women who are willing to be led by a 20-year-old woman, then God bless them, but I doubt that would happen.

By some standards, I'm at middle-age myself and the other women still often pat me on the head with a "There, there, little girl."

So if a pastor with a 20-year-old wife is leading a congregation full of teenage girls, that might work. But if his flock includes older women, there is probably going to be a lot of unrest among the women, as they won't feel they have anyone to lead them or go to with their concerns.

I realize this could also happen if a young minister and his young wife are called to lead a congregation, but I think it would be slightly different in a situation where the couple has a 30-year age difference. I think people would be divided over taking the pastor seriously and not his wife.

And if the pastor were older (80, and his wife was 50), the opposite might occur. People might see his wife as being more in touch with the congregation if she's around the median age of most of the members, whereas he might be seen as pretty much just a figurehead in the background.

I'm definitely not saying that God couldn't call a couple with a large age difference to lead a congregation, but I do think they would run into their own unique set of challenges from the people.

I am not sure if this answer means that you interpret Paul's meaning to Timothy to say that an elder, bishop, deacon MUST be married and have children or that IF he is married let it be to one wife and that he MUST have children or that IF he has children he must govern them well?