Three years ago, I gathered a group of young, influential women around my dining room table and asked what worked and what didn’t work within women’s ministry. The answers varied from outdated to passé.
But one voice cut through the others.
The girl I didn’t know would soon become one of my dearest friends spoke words that I’ve only dreamed about in my head. She had seen a movement of women who were passionately pursuing God, worshipping Him with their whole hearts and living an abundant life in the fullness of God. Who? Where? But more important, how?
Annie shared about the global party happening around the world from Sydney to Cape Town to London and we needed to get to this party. I was intrigued …
While American churches are hacking away at ministry sects like women’s ministry in order to maintain a simple-church model, I feel there may be a detriment to the collective good of the body.
The American Evangelical church is 61 percent female, who are more inclined to tithe regularly, serve in ministry and give of their time in the community. 57 percent of church volunteers are women and 64 percent of lay missionaries are women. Sociologists will affirm that women are naturally more communal, and when given a collaborative goal, they are more inclined to think of the collective good over their personal gain.
So why all the hate?
It could be a number of reasons. But instead of throwing the baby out with the bath water, why don’t we start asking questions?
How can we provide an outlet for 61 percent of the body to meet not only a personal need, but a Church need. I’ve heard it all, “Women are demanding. They’re so hard to get aligned. Those girls just want to do their own thing.” And it could quite possibly be true.
But true leadership management requires more effort to align a maverick than to cut him or her loose.
If done well, there is a high success rate for true change. But look at Peter! Look at James and John! Look at Gideon! These men suffered from petulance, immaturity and ego. But when aligned with the vision set before them, they radically changed the world.
Monday night, I sat in an auditorium completely in awe of what God was doing. Hundreds upon hundreds of women burst into worship, unabashedly praising Jesus, and in that moment — the moment I believed could happen — I saw a picture of limitless potential.
There were no doilies or teacups or Bunko cards, but there was a feminine mystique that’s unique to a gathering of women. There was a reverence of the past with a relevance for today. Everything I asked God for three years ago had come to pass. A revival is brewing, friends.
My deepest dream is to see men, women, young and old, gather together to know God, but then to scatter into their communities and take the gospel into their colleges, communities, cubicles and campuses to radically change the world. Monday night at Cornerstone Church, I was able to partner with my dear friends Brian Wurzell and Promise Tangeman for a night that I believe will change the trajectory of how many people view women’s miseries ministries.
Change is coming, friends. And this is why I still believe in women’s ministry.
For more on women’s ministry conversation, check these posts out:
Why women don’t like women’s ministry.
