Pastors and church leaders can intentionally implement these five characteristics of women’s ministry throughout their churches.
By Scott McConnell
The first extensive research on women’s ministries across evangelical and Black Protestant churches isn’t just a good descriptive story of ministry to women. Five common characteristics of these women’s ministries also provide pastors with insights on areas where churches can make improvements by emphasizing similar things.
1. Foster a culture of giving God the glory
More than 8 in 10 women’s ministry leaders (82%) say they hear women giving God glory for what they’re experiencing in their women’s ministry each month. Cultivating these same habits throughout the church is a worthwhile endeavor for pastors, as it creates a positive environment that honors God by shifting the focus off us.
Anyone can give God glory, but a culture where people are doing so regularly must be fostered. When conversations turn to complaints, displeasures, and opinions, spiritually mature people must challenge those around them to look for the good God is doing. Leaders must model looking for God’s activity. Prayers must ask God to work. The stories we tell and repeat should be stories of what God is doing.
“Anyone can give God glory, but a culture where people are doing so regularly must be fostered.” — @smcconn Share on X2. Plan collaboratively
Only 13% of women’s ministry leaders do the planning for ministry on their own. Almost half of leaders plan with a women’s ministry leadership team (45%) or the church staff (5%). And 28% gather suggestions from women in the church before they plan. This not only improves the planning but also creates buy-in from key leaders.
While taking nothing away from a pastor’s leadership role in the church and the importance of their teaching, collaboration is biblical. A pastor doesn’t possess all the spiritual gifts, so there are spiritual gifts others must contribute for your church to get where it’s going. Whether your leadership team is dictated by your church’s polity or is simply an informal group you bounce ideas off, collaboration allows ministry to address more needs and intersect with lives in more relevant ways.
3. Connect people of all ages
The second biggest challenge women’s ministry leaders face is connecting women in different age groups (45%). However, these leaders are not just lamenting this difficulty, they constantly work at it. More than a third of those with a leadership team say the group represents all the women they are seeking to reach (36%). When asked who their women’s ministry is well designed to meet the needs of, large majorities indicate a wide age range: 63% say 26-40 year olds, 78% say 41-55 year olds, and 83% say 56-70 year olds.
And the work women’s ministries are doing is paying dividends. Women whose church has activities for women say this ministry brings value in many ways. One of the more common is that relationships across age groups in the church are stronger because of women’s ministry (56%).
Pastors in many churches lament that their church is aging quickly. If churches are going to reach the next generation, each church must be a community that welcomes all ages. It’s hard to be truly welcoming if you don’t believe it’s possible to cross the age gap or don’t think it will be worth it. Creating experiences that foster interaction, trust, and fun across ages leads to relationships. Relationships that cross generations give all involved optimism that they can relate as they encounter others in those age groups.
“If churches are going to reach the next generation, each church must be a community that welcomes all ages.” — @smcconn Share on XHalf of women at churches with activities for women say they’ve been helped in developing significant relationships with women in different age groups that would not happened without women’s ministry. That last phrase is a testament to the value of women’s ministry, but it should also motivate pastors and church leaders to replicate this across ministries throughout the church. One distinctive of women’s ministry is the investment in relationships.
4. Disciple in relationships
The two priorities for their ministries women’s ministry leaders ranked the highest are a clear one-two punch of discipling women in their walk with Christ (83%) and developing community and fellowship among women (70%). When asked, these leaders describe an incredibly long list of ways they serve within the church. But mobilizing women to serve was a distant 3rd in top priorities (23%).
Because of this investment in developing community, more than two-thirds of female churchgoers say women’s ministry has delivered the value of strengthening relationships among women (68%). Similarly, the top way women’s ministry has helped women is in developing significant relationships with women at church (55%).
Women’s ministry pairs solid Bible study with opportunities to connect over food, gather around a shared affinity or hobby, serve together, and attend events that correspond to holidays. While the specifics need to be customized, that pattern is important for kids, students, and men as well.
5. Welcome questions
Another thing women value from their church’s activities for women is that it provides them a place to ask questions and openly discuss faith topics (58%). Questions come from people who may be exploring, confused, interested in knowing more, and wanting to know how to take next steps. A church needs to create space for these conversations.
The need for a place and time to ask questions will only grow as people who visit have less familiarity with the Bible’s teaching and as churchgoers are bombarded with messages from our culture that are further from what they hear in Scripture.
“The need for a place and time to ask questions will only grow as people who visit have less familiarity with the Bible’s teaching.” — @smcconn Share on XRecently, I visited a church that ended the worship service with this need in mind. At the close of the message two people with microphones walked through the congregation as the pastor asked if people had questions about the sermon’s teaching that day. Several people asked questions and the pastor and guest speaker responded to each one. They had created a culture that clearly communicated they didn’t want anyone to leave with unanswered questions. And they had created space for these questions.
None of these five things regularly seen in women’s ministry are completely absent in churches. But, to fully realize the value, pastors and church leaders must intentionally implement these women’s ministry characteristics throughout the church.
For permission to republish this article, contact Marissa Postell Sullivan.
