Editors’ note: This continues a series addressing your specific questions related to ministry among women through the local church. We have a team of women eager to respond to a select number of questions. Please send all questions on the subject of women’s ministry to our coordinator for women’s initiatives, Mallie Taylor (mallie.taylor [@] thegospelcoalition.org).
Then make sure to pick up a copy of Word-Filled Women’s Ministry: Loving and Serving the Church (Crossway) [review]. This new book casts a vision for ministry among women that’s grounded in God’s Word, grows in the context of God’s people, and aims for the glory of God’s Son. You can also now register for our 2016 National Women’s Conference, June 16 -18, in Indianapolis.
Previously in this series:
- Why Women’s Ministry? (Kathleen Nielson)
- 5 Ways to Minister to Women in Crisis (Kristie Anyabwile)
The Scriptures plainly articulate why and how teachers in the local church do what we do: We teach to glorify God by equipping the saints for the work of ministry (Eph. 4:11-16). This equipping builds up the body of Christ so that together we mature into his fullness, ministering in unity and speaking the truth in love. How can we accomplish such a lofty mission? Only by depending on the Spirit of God and the Word of God in which Christ himself shines. We’ll speak it in various ways in various teaching contexts. But a teacher’s mission of equipping the saints through the Word remains the same whether we speak to children in the nursery, youth in the gym or women in Bible study groups.
Pastors and women’s ministry leaders regularly ask TGC Women’s Initiatives about the most profitable Bible study resources. Selecting good material to help us teach Scripture is crucial—and hard work. Rather than listing resources, I’ll offer five questions to ask of any material we might use. The good news is we’re not meant to face these questions alone but in the community of God’s people, with the input of brothers and sisters in our local congregations.
1. Will this material equip women by encouraging them to study and teach the Bible for themselves?
I was recently reminded (in Psalm 29) of the power of God’s speech: “The voice of the LORD is over the waters … the voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars … the voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire.” This very voice is the one that speaks to us in Scripture and by which God transforms us. So if we’re going to equip women for the work of ministry, above all we’ll call on them to know God as he’s made himself known through his Word. Only then can they go about the business of making him known in their various vocations.
Our Bible teaching—and the curriculum we use—ought to train women to listen to God’s Word and share it with others, especially non-Christians. What will this look like practically? Here are some questions to ask:
• Does the material follow the text of Scripture closely?
• Does it help us discern a text’s central thrust and its structure?
• Is attention paid to the literary and theological contexts—of the passages before and after, of the entire book and of the whole biblical story?
• How about the historical context? Who was the original audience and what was the situation in which the passage was written?
Good teaching (and resources) will train us to ask basic questions of a text so that we’re hearing God’s voice as clearly as possible.
Of course, to encourage others to study the Bible for themselves, we must study it for ourselves. This is one reason I appreciated the discipline of writing my own material for Bible studies when I served in my local church’s women’s ministry. I wanted the freedom to shape the questions and gear them toward that group of women, addressing their specific needs and concerns. The process of preparing questions about the text richly benefited my soul, even as it benefited my teaching. Prayerfully studying a book of the Bible ahead of each semester strengthened my understanding of the book as a whole—and, consequently, all of its parts—and enabled me to teach from the heart as I applied it to the hearts of women. Even though my teaching might be mediocre compared to a more experienced teacher on a screen or page, I was the one who was present with these women; who prayed with and for them; who knew their hardships and joys; who shared the Lord’s Supper with them week after week. Immediate, life-on-life ministry of the Word offers significant advantages over Bible study in which women facilitate discussion based on the work of a remote instructor. (I realize not all will agree on this point. In certain situations, heavily relying on outside material can be a good option.)
Most women who lead Bible studies aren’t full-time, paid ministry staff like I was. Some of my friends in this season of their lives can’t take on the joyful burden of writing Bible study material, or even teaching intensive Bible studies week after week. The power of the gospel is not tethered to a particular Bible study method. But some methods are better than others. We do well to subject any approach or material to rigorous questions to ensure we’re getting into the text (rather than just launching out from the text) and teaching women in the process how to ask good questions for themselves.
I regularly encourage women’s ministry leaders to develop both a short-term and a long-term plan for their approach to Bible study groups. Why not begin taking steps as a church to train women to prepare and teach Christ-exalting expository Bible studies—even if it’d be some time before these women felt ready to take up that mantle? (Here’s an article I wrote about a group we formed for this purpose in my previous local church; Carrie Sandom also offers sound counsel on training new leaders in her chapter in Word-Filled Women’s Ministry.)
