As I have traveled to numerous women's events this past couple of years, one question I am asked a lot is, "How can I get started with a women's ministry? My church does not have one." Our thanks to Norma Klock (ERC) for sharing her breakout session from the ARC Fall retreat with us! We would love to hear about how you are leading your ladies. Even a few pictures with a brief description would be great!
Starting a Women’s Ministry
By Norma Klock
There are many of us who have a desire to start a Women’s Ministries, but are not sure how to even begin or what it should look like. There is no magic bullet that will hit the target for you. Every church is different. Churches all have their own personalities and cultures. What works for one church will not necessarily work for another church. So a very good starting point is to pray.
Prayer was a vital part of Jesus’ life. He often would find a solitary place to pray to his Father in Heaven. Before Jesus picked his twelve disciples he went out to a mountainside to pray. (Luke 6:12-16). So if prayer was Jesus’ way to communicate with God and to ask for guidance with choosing the twelve, shouldn’t we do the same to start a Women’s Ministry. Pray for someone who has the same passion for Women’s Ministry as you do. Listen for God’s direction, He may speak to you through something that someone says or through His Word. Watch for women who show the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and display the same passion as you. When God has revealed that woman or women, then pray together for God to reveal the purpose for your Women’s Ministries.
“Defining your purpose statement or mission statement is the foundation to beginning a women’s ministry or remodeling an existing ministry. What are you trying to accomplish? What do you hope to achieve? What is the bull’s-eye of your target? Beginning a women’s ministry without a purpose statement would be like a builder placing piles of cement, bricks, lumber, shingles, nails, flooring, insulation, wiring and various hardware in a yard and telling the workers to get busy building a house. All the right materials might be there, but the workers would not know what to do. Some would start building a ranch house while others might begin on a Tudor home. Then before you know it, everyone is arguing.”
“Here are some examples of mission statements from various women’s ministries:
Women’s ministries is committed to equipping women to know God and to glorify Him in our home, church, community, and the world.
Our mission is to provide a safe place for women to meet God and make friends.
We are a community of women, grounded in God’s Word and living out the teachings of Jesus by reaching out to unchurched women, by influencing the next generations of young women, and by serving those in need with hearts of compassion”
(Taken from Building an Effective Women’s Ministry, Author Sharon Jaynes)
Here are several resources that will help you start your women’s ministries:
Building an Effective Women’s Ministry by Sharon Jaynes
Leading Women to the Heart of God – Creating a dynamic women’s ministry by Lysa Terkerkeurst
Designing Effective Women’s Ministries – Choosing, Planning and Implementing the Right Programs for Your Church by Jill Brisco, Laurie Katz McIntyre, & Beth Seversen
Once you have a purpose statement or mission statement, you begin to build your program(s) around that statement. Here are a few ideas for starters:
Bible study
Mom’s ministry
Knitting/crocheting/crafting
Have a Mother/Daughter Tea, a Christmas tea, etc.
Here are a couple of resources to help kick start your thought process:
Women’s Ministry in the 21st Century published by Group – It is a collection of fun, easy-to-use ideas that is a one-stop resource for women’s ministry events and programs.
Women’s Ministries Handbook – Ideas, Plans and Programs of Effective Women’s Ministries by Juanita Purcell
I want to leave you with this thought: “A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.” Proverbs 31:10. John Adams, the second president of the United States said it well: “From all that I had read of history and government of human life and manners, I had drawn this conclusion, that the manners of women were the most infallible barometer to ascertain the degree of morality and virtue of a nation. The Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, the Swiss, the Dutch, all lost their public spirit and their republican form of government when they lost the modesty and domestic virtues of their women.”
“…teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind and to be subject to their husbands so that not one will malign the word of God.” Titus 2:3-5
PLEASE NOTE: Our website has moved to a new address online. The new address is https://www.cggcwomen.org/
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