Including leaders from your ministry to women in your church’s strategic vision planning will not happen by accident.
By Bryan Rose
I recall your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and now, I am convinced, is in you also.
2 Timothy 1:5, CSB
Generational faith is a powerful force. There’s no higher vocational, educational, or financial calling than the parental mandate to raise your children to know and follow Christ. The apostle Paul chose to celebrate Timothy’s generational faith, handed down through his grandmother and mother. I’ve not researched what was up with Timothy’s father, but in my wild imagination, he was a good guy who married well and was probably too focused on growing his Greek gyro stand.
All joking aside, today’s church leaders can find serious encouragement in Paul’s celebration of Lois and Eunice’s impact on Timothy’s faith. We are surrounded by legions of Loises and innumerable Eunices in the church today. In many faith traditions, the strongest female leaders exercise their God-ordained gifts through a directional role in ministry to women.
Lifeway Research’s recent State of Ministry to Women report discovered that while most women’s ministry leaders feel appreciated and supported in their calling, only 5% plan alongside the church staff and are rarely present in the church’s directional, visionary leadership conversations. As you lead toward God’s better future, you have an opportunity to include women’s ministry leaders in meaningful conversations beyond their slice of the congregational calendar.
While most women’s ministry leaders feel appreciated and supported in their calling, only 5% plan alongside the church staff and are rarely present in the church's directional, visionary leadership conversations. Share on XStephanie Lyon, director of ministry to women at First Baptist New Orleans and women’s life coordinator at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, expresses the importance of being in the room for vision and planning conversations:
I’m listening to the heart of my pastor and the entire children and youth ministry staff in the room during the meeting. It’s critical for me to know what’s going on in all those other ministry departments—the timing of events and their visionary goals—because many of my women are the moms and grandmas of those kids. Also, I cannot healthily plan for the ministry to women without being fully aware of the church leadership’s heart and vision.
Like generational faith, including leaders from your ministry to women will not happen by accident. Lifeway Research found more than 4 in 5 women’s ministry leaders identified as volunteer or unpaid staff members, likely serving the church out of an already overrun family and professional calendar. Many of these leaders have roles outside of church life that prevent them from attending regular weekly staff meetings and being in the room where planning happens. Considering these realities, could excluding your women’s leadership be an issue of stewardship concerning their gifts and talents?
Knowing the impact and influence of Lois and Eunice, and thereby seeing the disciple-making potential of at least half of your congregation, why would you not work to include women’s ministry leaders in the critical conversations that set the course for Great Commission effectiveness?
Here are seven keys for bringing ministry to women into your church’s strategic vision-planning conversations:
1. Placement
More than 9 in 10 women’s ministry leaders agree that their pastor supports them. Yet only 5% participate with the staff in the ongoing planning of church ministry. It’s time to pay attention to meeting times in order to include your ministry to women in weekly staff meetings or annual leadership retreats. Sensitivity to school and work schedules will reap dividends when the investment in women’s voices across the church begins to impact directional decisions.
Ask: When and where should we meet to ensure our women’s leader is included?
2. Development
Most churchwide disciple-making occurs within ministry to women. Yet less than 30% of their leaders have experienced formal leadership development from pastoral staff or seminary study. Provide as much training and time to your women’s director as you do to your student minister. After all, it’s likely those students have a mom in the women’s ministry, too. You should include access to formal seminary education or seminary-level resources like Lifeway Women Academy courses in recruiting your ministry to women leadership. Even a default “pastor’s wife as women’s ministry director” assignment deserves development and resources as a disciple-making leader in your church.
Ask: What resources or training can we provide for our women’s leadership team?
3. Assignment
Ministry to women reaches into every other church ministry, often comprising a larger share of the church population. Yet almost 1 in 3 women’s ministry leaders wonder if their efforts for women matter. Every visionary environment grows stronger from the voice and view of women. The most effective strategic plans benefit from explicitly including ministry to women with responsibility for objectives and initiatives planned.
Ask: What strategic initiatives could only be accomplished through our ministry to women?
“Every visionary environment grows stronger from the voice and view of women.” — @TheBryanRose Share on X4. Alignment
Some of the most successfully planned and consistently attended church events are in ministry to women. Yet, the women’s ministry calendar rarely influences or appears to be integrated into the church calendar. Include ministry to women in planning conversations to leverage shared missional direction through their unique ministerial application. Keep families connected through consistently calendaring with every ministry area in mind. Ensure that events for women support and advance the church’s annual themes or seasonal campaigns.
Ask: What women’s events on the church calendar will help advance the vision?
5. Excitement
Some of the most successfully planned and consistently attended church events are in ministry to women (it was worth saying again!). Yet many church leaders struggle to celebrate women reaching and consistently discipling other women. Bring verbal and visual encouragement to the spiritual growth within women’s ministry in front of the entire church. Reach beyond the announcement time, celebrating what God is up to within the ministry to women in moments of worship and points in the sermon. Give up-front face time to the women’s leadership in your church through prayer times, Scripture readings, and personal testimony.
Ask: When and where can we celebrate what God is doing in our ministry to women?
6. Judgement
Directional planning conversations for the church family impact every family in the church. Yet planning decisions are mainly made by middle-aged men at conference room tables. Bring women’s leadership into the directional, planning conversations and listen to them to gain a whole-family and a whole-church perspective. Leverage the wisdom and influence of women’s leadership in understanding the impact that pressing decisions may have on the average church family. It’s highly likely your women’s ministry leadership already plans within this reality anyway.
Ask: What questions should we ask women’s leadership before making this decision?
“Leverage the wisdom and influence of women’s leadership in understanding the impact that pressing decisions may have on the average church family.” — @TheBryanRose Share on X7. Environment
Excellence is expected in every ministry activity because it honors God and inspires people. Yet ministry to women often bears the highest standards of excellence in hospitality and environment. Fuel your women with ample resources of money and volunteers to set the standard of God-honoring greatness for the entire church. Set the standard for every people-reaching moment by creating excellence in every people-gathering environment, starting in your ministry to women.
Ask: What resources will fuel women’s ministry and inspire church-wide excellence?
Bringing your women leaders into strategic vision planning will take intentionality and effort. Still, the long-term gain received in your planning and direction will far exceed those short-term costs. Sit down with your lay or staff leadership team and review the seven keys above and their associated questions. What is one step your team can take this week to grow in this work?
Are you missing the full impact and influence of ministry to women in the ongoing leadership of your church? In answering this question, imagine how many potential Loises you could empower to raise the next generation of Eunices and Timothies to lead the church into God’s better future.
For permission to republish this article, contact Marissa Postell Sullivan.
Bryan Rose
Bryan is the Chief Engagement Officer and a Senior Lead Navigator for Auxano.
