Melissa Small supports her husband, Rusty, in his ministry as a pastor at Liberty Baptist Church while raising her 2 boys, James and Thomas. She also serves as the women’s ministry leader and on the worship team at her church. She has a passion for women growing deeper in their knowledge of God’s Word and fostering a supportive Christian community among women. A doctorate in Education and Christian Leadership aids in accomplishing these goals through teaching, mentoring, and Bible study.
Women represent the majority of church attendance, and ministry to them is vital in the local church. According to the Pew Research Center (2024), women comprise more than 55% of the evangelical protestant church population, however only 40% of the female overall population attend church at all, and that is on a downward trajectory according to Barna (2011) survey research. Therefore, women’s ministry is necessary to meet the needs of those attending and to reach additional women for Christ in the community. Effective women’s ministry consists of discipleship, community, counsel, and childcare. In order to meet these needs, there are several practical steps that can be taken to lay a foundation for a healthy women’s ministry to meet the needs of women in your church.
- Pray – Prayer should always be the first foundation for any ministry. It unites our hearts with God’s and allows us to receive His direction to meet the needs of His people. In Acts, we saw that God added to the numbers of the church daily. He is the one who sends people to receive ministry and be part of His church. We must first we aligned with Him.
- Survey – Women need to feel invested in their own women’s ministry. Listening to their voices to identify needs and desires for programs and offerings from Bible study topics to times of day and days of the week, to social events. If they provide input and that input is used, it creates a foundation of co-investment, and they are more likely to participate and already feel a part of what is taking place.
- Plan – Planning is important to provide a cohesive, organized ministry offering to women in the church. Calendaring, creating checklists, recruiting enough help to be able to offer events that do not feel hectic, start late, or fall short of items needed at the time of the event all make a difference in the ethos of the event. Poor planning creates a distraction to the main focus of any event, to engage women in a welcoming environment and create deeper relationships for the purpose of discipleship and community.
- Seek Out – Once events are planned, women must be sought out and individually approached and invited to events. New attendees need to be personally welcomed into the women’s ministry fold to feel comfortable and see an open door to other relationships already established.
If you are building or re-building a women’s ministry, invest in individual women to create a core. Do not be discouraged by or overly focused on numbers, but do create a plan for growth. It does not usually happen in a vacuum. Steps must be taken and plans made, but the prayer, relationship building, and planning pays off. Hearing women’s testimonies of gratitude for inclusion into a “family”, finding friends to grow in the Lord with, and thriving in Bible study. I remember a decade ago in our church when we had concerns of the lack of Bible study attendance and offered a survey with several topics including Bible study. We received vital feedback that led to more offerings, day and night, and more attendance. We went from about 30 in women’s studies to over 100 and have maintained that involvement over time. We are grateful for the Lord’s work and the following of His people in our women’s ministry. Be encouraged to labor on in this vital ministry! Galatians 6:9, “Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”
