I haven’t seen any mention of a Women’s Ministry or Women’s perspective in the CRC Network or the Banner, yet more than 50% of the members of the CRC are women. Many other denominations have large Women’s Ministry Programs in their churches and on the web. Rarely do I see anything other than Coffee Break in the CRC. We have Coffee Break at our church as well as a Mom-to-Mom Parenting Program that reaches about 100 women with God’s word. We study and pray together, support each other and encourage one another in our faith and reach out to others who are seeking or do not know the Lord. This is a wonderful ministry but is that all Women’s Ministry is?
A couple of years ago a number of women in our church got together to pray and seek the Lord’s leading and direction for a women’s ministry. Out of that came women’s retreats, a way to intentionally get together as women to grow our relationship with each other and the Lord, even as we encourage new friends and seekers to join us. This year we felt lead to start a new small group for women called Heart to Heart where we meet once a month for dinner in one of our homes. This dinner evening is such a blessed time as we share and laugh and cry together and close in a wonderful time of prayer and song.
Supporting each other in this way gives us the courage and strength to be bold for Christ in our daily lives and to reach out in love to our family and friends wherever we are. We started with 5 women for dinner last spring and now have 2 groups running with 16 women coming. We are excited to see where the Lord leads this new group and what growth will occur. All of these activities are really just an opportunity to be in community so that we may grow with each other in our walk with the Lord, a way to intentionally support, love and care for each other in a real way as Christian women who love the Lord.
We know that women love to share and talk and mentor each other. Let’s make this blog an opportunity for us to share how God is leading us as women in our churches. Is there a unique ministry the women of your church are involved in? How is your women’s ministry doing things differently, reaching out to women in a unique way to build relationships with one another and with Jesus? Are women’s ministry programs the best way to reach women? What is it women are looking for in the church?