What is women's ministry?

Like most forms of ministry, women's ministry is Jesus-centred. It's all about helping other women to come to Christ and grow in Christ. It's about encouraging people to understand the gospel, respond to the gospel and apply the gospel to every aspect of life. And that happens when women engage with God through his Word and prayer, in the community of the local church. Beyond that - there are many forms that women's ministry can take!

Women's ministry can involve:

• Running pre-evangelistic events where non-Christians can get just a tiny glimpse of Christ and his community
• Being involved in social action projects with an emphasis on loving other women eg crisis pregnancy centres, visiting women's prisons, visiting elderly housebound ladies
• Friendship evangelism where we intentionally share the gospel with the women we meet in the office, the school gate or our ante-natal classes
• Reading the Bible one-to-one with a non-Christian friend
• Running evangelistic courses for interested women, such as Christianity Explored
• Helping a new Christian understand basic doctrine or Christian living
• Running a book group where Christian books can be read and discussed
• Leading a women's Bible study group
• Reading the Bible one-to-one with a Christian sister
• Speaking at women's breakfasts
• Offering pastoral care and counselling where the truths of the gospel are applied to the difficult situations of life.

The list is almost endless!

But it's not just about women being active. It's about women being intentional. The key to women's ministry is looking at the needs of the women in the local church and the local community and thinking strategically about how best to meet those needs. Have a list of aims. Something like this:

Our aim is to ensure every woman in this congregation has the opportunity to:

• Hear and respond to the gospel (Acts 16:13-15)
• Grow in godliness (Ephesians 4:22)
• Be spurred on to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24)
• Be equipped for service (Ephesians 4:12)
• Be active in making disciples (Matthew 28:16-20)

And the let those aims shape all you do.

The women's Bible study that has been running for the past 20 years may be meeting the needs of many women. If it is, great! But if it's not - it's time to gently close it (having prayed and talked to the ladies in it first, of course!). And to replace it with something that genuinely does help the women grow and thrive in Christ. Women's ministry is not there to maintain the status quo, it exists to promote growth and doing so requires flexibility and creativity.