Evidences of a Church that Values Women’s Ministry

AI was not used to generate this post.

Over the past 40 years, we have seen so much improvement in our churches regarding women’s ministry. Many churches now recognize someone directing the church’s ministry to women—whether a paid staff or a volunteer. I praise God as I see churches value their ministry to women! What a change since my first church experience as an adult, especially in two areas: women needing childcare in order to participate and working women needing community within their limited schedules. There are many other areas that are discussed in Engage blogs, but I want to focus on just these.

Ministry to Mothers of Young Children

Recognizing the need

When I was a young mom back in the 70s (yes, I was VERY young!), I wanted to be in a women’s Bible study. I had been in Bible Study Fellowship before having our first baby. But there was no nursery for her. I was also new in town, knowing no one I could trust to care for her. And I didn’t have a car to drive up to the church from where I lived anyway.

The church we attended didn’t offer any kind of women’s daytime study. It wasn’t as common back then for churches to offer any women’s Bible study during the week. I needed a women’s fellowship, so I invited a few women from my church to start meeting for a weekday Bible study at my house. We had women from a variety of generations and stages of life. But between us all, we had six children under the age of three! That required some kind of affordable, trustworthy childcare. A dear older woman stepped up and offered to take care of our children for $2 each. And our church allowed her to use its nursery during our Bible Study time even though we met offsite. Without her, we would not have been able to really focus on the Word as we met. We moms were so grateful to her for that.

Read the blog, “Jesus Understands Moms.”

My family grew to three children, and I got more involved in women’s ministry in other churches. I soon became convinced that quality childcare for women’s Bible studies (and other ministry events) is key to an effective women’s ministry that mixes up the generations. One piece of evidence that a church really values ministry to women is how much money is in its yearly budget for childcare personnel and training to support women’s ministry. I can testify to knowing several churches that do just that.

Examples of churches that value women’s ministry

In the 90s, I became involved in women’s ministry at a church in the DFW area of Texas. We probably had 60 women attending our weekday Bible study. At first, we took an offering each week to cover childcare costs, hoping we would have enough to pay our dedicated workers. Then, the elders of the church voted to underwrite our childcare. That meant we would still take an offering, but the elders would fund the rest of what was needed and pay the teachers through the church budget.

By the late 90s, we had 200 women attending. The cost of childcare climbed, but so did this church’s commitment to its ministry to women. They began to cover the entire cost of childcare. The church also hired a director for the childcare ministry and provided training for all the teachers. We provided an in-house created easy-to-use curriculum that made it easy for anyone to walk in and teach a Bible story without preparation.

The elders continued to put in the yearly budget enough money to cover the cost of childcare. Unchurched women who started attending the Bible Study were blown away by this generosity. It drew them to trust in the Christ we were teaching and to stay at our church. Many women who moved here from other churches were also blown away by this generosity from the elders and confirmation of how much they valued ministry to women.

Over the next fifteen years, we offered a daytime moms’ group that attracted lots of young moms. Those women, who were already sacrificing a second paycheck to stay home with their children, were only asked to pay a small registration fee to cover breakfast each week and some study materials. At the beginning of every semester, the ministry leaders made the announcement that “childcare is free to you because our elders value this ministry so much.”

That church has gone up and down in size through the years, but the elders still value ministry to women so much that a large childcare budget is included every year. I am still blown away by this generosity and honor I have witnessed and experienced the past 20 years.

And it is contagious. Someone who was trained at my church moved to another church in our area and was hired to direct their childcare ministry. The elders of that church soon began covering the childcare costs for all of their men’s and women’s classes.

Some churches are too small to offer a staff person to oversee women’s ministry and to pay for childcare. But many churches are large enough to at least pay for childcare and recruit a volunteer leader for their ministry to women. Thankfully, this is so much more accepted now than it was 40 years ago. My current church does this, only asking for a small fee from the moms to help cover the childcare with scholarships available to those who cannot afford that. It’s a win/win!

Churches that don’t value women’s ministry

Sadly, some of those who had been in our Bible study for several years, feeling really valued by our elders, moved away to other parts of the country where women have to scrap for everything they want to do in a church. That includes paying to hire babysitters themselves just to meet for Bible study. Or they had to set up a volunteer system (which hardly ever works). One lady who moved to Oklahoma told me that she did not feel valued at all in her new church. There was such a sharp contrast with what they had experienced in our women’s ministry.

Besides the need for childcare, working women should also feel valued.

Ministry to Women Holding Outside Jobs

After the 90s, more and more women were holding outside jobs during the days and could no longer participate in traditional daytime Bible studies. We moved away from our old church and started over at another church. There was a wonderful daytime study for women. Soon the women’s ministry director felt that they needed to offer something for working women that met at night. What I have learned from our own single daughters who work full-time during the day and from working moms is that women are tired at the end of the day. And those with children have a hard time giving up an evening because of all the other responsibilities they have with their children. It has to be worth attending.

Our new church began offering a night-time Bible Study on Wednesday nights during the time when there were children’s classes already all the way through teens. The meeting time was not too long—less than 90 minutes. The women’s study offered small groups so there could be community for those who were too busy with their lives to make friends on their own. And the women didn’t sit there and watch a video the whole time on any week. A Bible study I led was part of this offering. We didn’t even have a lecture time. The women could get to know each other while getting good Bible teaching.

I believe in leading a balanced Bible Study that incorporates strong Bible teaching and builds community among the participants. That is what those busy women needed.  

Read the blog, “Leading a Balanced Bible Study.”

I am so grateful for being part of several churches that value women’s ministry.

---

Related Resources:

• Leading a Balanced Bible Study
• Jesus Understands Moms
• Disciplemaking Focus for Women’s Ministry
• Stop the “It’s MY Ministry” Mentality
• Women’s Bible Study Leading Resources

AI was not used to generate this post.