Diversity is not a stranger in Women’s Ministry. If you are called to women’s ministry, you must recognize that all women are not the same. Our lifestyles, circumstances, beliefs, needs, and preferences are so diverse that it will be dangerous for you to have a rigid list of programs that appeal to one type of women and not others. Asides from a book club and regular Bible study meetings, there are various other creative ways to run Women’s Ministry. I’d be mentioning a few of them. The list is not an exclusive one; it’s only to inspire you to think out of the box.
Creative Ways to run Women’s Ministry
Since we have established the fact that all women are not the same, here are a few tips to guide you through your ministry to women.
Let your ministry deal specifically with real life challenges women face.
Make it safe to talk about issues. So many women are passing through certain challenges but because it hasn’t been addressed in their local church or wherever, they turn to ungodly sources for help. Your program should allow women to open up and talk honestly about their challenges or experience with worry, depression, doubt, insecurity, emotional/physical abuse, loneliness, sexual harassment and a host of other things that keep us stressed and awake at night. It should provide biblical solutions for these issues and see their lives transformed. Let your ministry be a shoulder for them to cry on and a voice of counsel guiding them to the right path.
Your program should encourage, affirm, build up and correct these women in love.
Many women already feel weighed down and devalued by those in the lives and the church for one reason or another. You have a responsibility to reach out to these women in such a way that they feel and start to experience the love of Christ in their lives.
Organize programs that challenge women to live godly lives, basking in the love of Christ.
These programs should be filled with activities that inspire the women to live a healthy lifestyle that is Christ centered rather than settles for less.
Here are some creative ways to run women’s ministry effectively.
This is not an exclusive list. They are only ideas to help you build on what you already have.
Organize get-togethers that allow stay-at-home moms to take some time away from home and bond with other women.
In such kinds of meetings, women should be encouraged to open up and share their struggles. Some others who have overcome in some of these challenges can share their testimony to help encourage each other.
Get women together to do some powerful service in your community.
Depending on the need of your community, you can get volunteers to come together as a team and do the work. They can even bring their families to participate as well. This will make the task a fun one.
Organize programs that allow women to bond and form mentor-mentee relationships.
Many women are looking for mentors but don’t know how to ask for one. Give an opportunity for women to share their stories, or to teach each other about something they’re passionate about.
Organize conferences based on specific challenges women face.
Invite resource persons who are passionate about seeing women delivered. Let it be a group discussion with each resource person attached to a group so that these women can open up freely and interact with each other. Successful women in your ministry can get together and form a business dedicated to giving other women an opportunity to build a business for themselves.
Organize a group of women who enjoy house chores.
These women can go help other women who are going through challenging period. In this way, they’d get to know each other and eventually build a lasting relationship while spreading the love of Christ.
You can invite women to start exercising together
Knowing that others are going to be counting on you regularly to exercise together can be motivating and helps you become more disciplined. Form different exercise groups: Walking, hiking, weight-lifting, biking, jogging, swimming etc. Another option would be to offer workout classes. such as Pilates, Zumba, or Yoga. As they build muscle, they will also be building godly relationships that will naturally deepen with time. Arrange for these groups to meet at least once a week, and more often if you have volunteers to facilitate each group.
Get a team together, volunteers who’d dedicate themselves to providing meals to women in need.
Your team can reach out to women who are sick, new mothers, widows, orphans, a family suffering a financial crisis, homeless women and any other group of women you feel led to. Don’t just feed them and leave. Spend some quality time with them and a word of encouragement/prayer. This is a great way to extend friendship and love of Christ. You can also welcome your new female neighbors with a nice home cooked meal as a special invitation to your group meeting.
Finally…
We would love to hear your ideas just in case you have any. What other creative ways to run women’s ministry are there? Perhaps, you may have seen something that works well. Feel free to drop your beautiful ideas in the comment section below.
God bless you!