Coordinators Connection — Enriching Resources for Women
Equipping Ministry
Sisters, I am excited to tell you about a new Bible Study by Priscilla Shirer. see Additional Resources.
"Help Each Other"
"A student is not above her teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like her teacher." Luke 6:40
Sisters in Christ,
I read this verse and thought of each of you. For God has placed upon our hearts the desire to reflect His image so that others will know Him and call Him Lord. When God calls us He also equips us. Valerie Burton (author, speaker and life coach) says, "God doesn't always call the qualified but He always qualifies those He calls". Let's roll up our sleeves, get on our knees and get to work with God as our Teacher.
Resources for You
Ministry- the act of serving; one that serves as a means; an instrument.
Your Equipping Ministries team desires to keep you informed and up to date with the best resources for your church. As God calls each of us to excellence we in turn desire the very best for you and your church's Women Ministries. Begin with prayer. Let's go deep with God. Let's pray and when we are done let's pray some more. Priscilla Shirer ( author, speaker, TV and Radio host) says, "we often do more discussing and planning than praying for our ministries". Always begin with prayer.
Leaders, I encourage you to view "Women Ministries- A Strategic Tool of the Church". Our executive director, Ruth Hill, walks us through the importance of Women Ministries in the local church. Please encourage your pastor and leadership team to view it as well. Let's review, begin with Prayer, view the Tools video and follow up with Coordinators Summit. The Coordinators Summit helps you design your church's ministry. It walks you through selecting your Vision and Mission Statements, the ABCs of Ministry which are Assess, Build, and Confirm and go on to building your very essential Leadership Team. I'm praying that once you have gone through these 3 all essential Building Blocks for Women Ministries you will feel ready to embark on the journey the Lord has set out for Women Ministries in your local church.
I hope you are as excited as your Equipping Ministries team is to help you build the ministry God is calling for your church today.
Additional Resources - click here
Equipping the Emerging Generation
The Emerging Generation- how do we equip her? The starting point is to understand her. How can we be relevant to her? Before you begin: Leaders should be willing to invest their time. As Jan Kemper says, "Keep the main thing the main thing". It is about building relationships. Relationships take time. The leader should make a call at least once per month to each woman in the group. Take time with them and PURSUE THEM. Have a personal relationship and then keep it up.
- Go to someone's house for coffee right after church. Keep the time under an hour. The forced end helps first timers feel less threatened. Invite 2 or 3 women over to have a drink and cookies around a table. Our team likes the idea of being around a table so you can look at one another's eyes. The hostess should be a good conversationalist to help the others feel comfortable but the hostess should not turn this into "it's all about me" visit.
- A Christ-centered health and weight loss program. Get fit and build relationships.
- Form a Women Ministries Email Group. Communicate WHAT'S HAPPENING or a SOUND OFF sight. If someone read a good book or saw a good movie they might like to share it with others on the site. Elaborate on this idea as the young women are savvy with computer groups etc.
- Before or after church involve young women in conversation. Do you know that the young women feel inferior to the older women because we look like we have it all together?
- Think ahead to 2007: Encourage your women's group to sponsor a young woman for Triennial. Helping her with expenses shows her that you value Triennial's importance and that you value her as well.
- Scrapbooking- Host an all day or all night Scrapbooking Party at your church.
Advertise it and encourage women to bring a friend or a daughter. For break time give a short 10 minute devotion. For example speak on what the Lord does with the scraps of our lives.
- Team Building - Mold Bible studies into team building. Teach team building initiatives.
- Learn to knit ministry or a knitting group- Women are multi-taskers. We are able to knit and have a devotion with discussion. Our church is enjoying a Prayer Shawl Ministry as mentioned in the Covenant Companion earlier this year. Women pray while knitting shawls for hospital patients, or for someone in need due to death in the family, chronic pain etc. Once a month these knitters meet so they can knit together and encourage one another as well.
- Card Ministry- A young woman in our church began a card ministry a few months ago. This group of women meet to create and make cards and then send them to people in the congregation who could use cheering up or encouragement.
- Frost Cookies together. Doesn't this sound fun. Frosting cookies or cupcakes can become tedious but not if you do it with a group of women. You can even lick the icing off the knife after you are finished. Make enough so you can bring some home and bring some to your neighbor. Tell her about what a fun time you had and invite her to the next frosting and devotion event.
Do you have a brochure promoting your local ministries?
The Women Ministries Office would appreciate receiving a copy. We use them as samples for one portion of the Coordinators Summit.
Thank you!
Additional Resources
- Sisters, I am excited to tell you about a new Bible Study by Priscilla Shirer.
HE SPEAKS TO ME –PREPARING TO HEAR FROM GOD. Lifeway Press, 2005.
I am just finishing up this 6-week study at my church and I could sit right down and do the study all over again. It is full of good teaching. Priscilla uses the 12 year old Samuel, 1 Samuel 3:1-10, as the focus of her study. In her introduction she writes, "Could our inability to hear God have less to do with His desire to speak and more to do with our lack of preparedness to hear? The Lord speaks clearly but those most likely to hear are those who have correctly positioned themselves.”
The Leaders Kit includes one member book and 2 DVDs that contain 7 teaching sessions with Priscilla. The workbook comes with 6 weeks of 5 daily assignments for each week.
It took me about 30 minutes each day to complete the lesson. I encourage you and your women’s group to go deep with God through this study.
FYI- Now in Spanish!
Beth Moore studies and HE SPEAKS TO ME by Priscilla Shirer are now available in Spanish through Lifeway.com
**About Priscilla Shirer. She is the daughter of Dr. Tony Evans and well-known women’s speaker Lois Evans. Priscilla is the author of A JEWEL IN HIS CROWN and is a Bible teacher and motivational speaker.
- A WOMAN'S GUIDE TO SERVANT LEADERSHIP - A Biblical Study for Becoming a Christian Leader.
by Rhonda Kelley
New Hope Publishers, 2002.
Written in workbook form this book is about servant leadership as exemplified by Jesus Christ.
- CALLED TO INFLUENCE - from the Women of Influence Series available through NWMA at their website www.nwma.net in their resource section.
Called to Influence "seeks to provide women with the training and encouragement they need to embrace God's calling on their life so that they can confidently fulfill His purposes." Designed with a small group format to supply women with an "environment of encouragement, relationship building and interaction that provides a safe place for women...Personal growth and personal development are the primary focus." This is a year-long study designed for the group to meet once a month. The kit comes with a complete leaders guide (with CDs and information to help the facilitator every step of the way) and 5 member workbooks. Each month a book is read for discussion at the next meeting. I have had the privelage to facilitate this study for the last 9 months and the leaders guide is excellent and all inclusive. The Fall 2005 InSPIRIT has an article on our group written by Sandie Fleming.
- FOR WOMEN ONLY - What you need to know about the inner lives of men
by Shaunti Feldhahn; Multnomah Press, 2004.
For Women Only is filled with eye-opening answers from men so we may better understand the man in our life but also support and love him in the way he needs to be loved.
A must read! An excellent book for a women's small group. Millenials, busters and boomers will all appreciate this book. A Bible Study with leader kit will be available for small group study in July of 2006. Available through Lifeway.com/women. Shaunti is available for speaking at shauntinet@aol.com or 615.370.4700.
- RELEASE YOUR POTENTIAL - Using your Gifts in a Thriving Women's Ministry
by Elizabeth Inrig; Moody Press 2001.
Elizabeth lives in California and is an excellent speaker. Her email address is einrig@trinityonline.org
- RESOURCE GUIDE FOR WOMEN'S MINISTRIES
by Linda McGinn
Broadman and Holman Publishing, 1990.
- Contains a women's ministry survey
- Organizing a prayer group
- Designing a women's conference
- Reaching out to the poor
- Women and Hospitality — Reflecting Christ in Your Home — In this chapter Mc Ginn lists several programs which have helped further the ministry of hospitality in various churches.
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