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December 2011
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If you've never led a study in your home and are considering making it one of your ministry 'new years resolutions' here are some practical tips on how to start a home Bible study!
One way to put the Great Commission into practice in your women's ministry is to start a women's home Bible study. A home setting can bring added warmth and openness to a small study group.
The key elements of a successful home Bible study – prayer, teaching, fellowship, and the breaking of bread - are given in Acts 2:42-47. Here are some practical tips to get you started on a home Bible study that models the church in that Scripture passage:
Pray!
As God places a burden on your heart for reaching women, pray about the possibility of a home Bible study.
· Ask God to draw you to people who have the same desire, a vision to reach women for Christ and disciple them.
· Pray for those God desires to be a part of this study although you might not know their names yet, He does (John 10:14).
· Pray about all of the details concerning logistics (Philippians 4:6).
· Pray that God would bring unity to the group and that they would love each other deeply (Philippians 2:1-2, 1 Peter 1:22).
· Pray that each woman who attends would encounter Jesus in a personal way (John 20:18).
Consider asking a group of prayer warriors to pray specifically for this ministry and watch God bring together homes, leaders, and everything you need for starting home Bible studies (Ephesians 3:14-21, Philippians 4:19).
Work through teaching details
· Who will be taught? Determine who you're trying to reach with a home study - neighbors, non-believers, friends, co-workers, moms and daughters, grandmothers, homebound women? In your women's ministry, there are gifted persons that have a heart for particular ministries. As you pray, God will direct you to potential leaders (Romans 12:4-8).
· What will be taught? Visit a local Christian bookstore to evaluate which Bible studies will best meet the needs of your target groups. Pray, consult other leaders, and choose the one that will best minister to potential participants (Acts 2:42, 1 Timothy 3:16, 4:2). Check out these Bible studies.
· When and where will it be taught? Home Bible studies provide flexibility because they don't have to be planned around a church calendar. Publicize the study to your target group, giving them the day, time, and location of the study. Decide on the best ways to spread the word to others (2 Thessalonians 3:1).
Nail down details of fellowship and the breaking of bread for your group
· Determine to have fun! Women need each other, so fellowship and the breaking of bread are important. Plan to have refreshments weekly or several times throughout the study to provide an opportunity for women to fellowship casually (Acts 2:46-47).
· Determine what's next. At the end of the study, decide if the group should continue. If so, begin another study. Don't ever become exclusive - beware of becoming a long-term closed group, and be intentional in fostering new relationships (Hebrews 10:24-25).
Home Bible studies provide a wonderful opportunity to expand your women's ministry. If your church hasn't tried one, pray about it. If the Lord leads, give it a shot, and watch God do "above and beyond all that we ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20).
Read more from past blogs: 9 Guidelines, Experiential Bible Study to Reach Young Women, & Long Standing Women's Bible Studies.
This was originally posted in May last year, but I thought it was such a helpful reminder as we head into this new year and our desire to grow spiritually!
As you read today’s post by guest blogger, Shirley Moses, consider asking God who you might team up with as a leader in an accountability relationship. It is such a vital part of continuing to grow deeper in our walk as we serve and lead women.
One thing I have found that can stimulate our spiritual growth as a leader like nothing else is genuine accountability. So what does this look like in one’s life? It starts with giving another person permission to challenge, counsel, and correct you when necessary. Scripture is full of examples where God's people were willing to learn from, lean on, and listen to others so their relationship could go deeper with the Lord.
2. Listens with her heart. You want an accountability partner who can listen to you from the heart. Look for a woman who takes time to listen to those around her.
3. Gives godly wisdom based on Scripture. This woman will make bible study and her personal time with the Lord – a priority in her life.
4.Confronts you when necessary. This comes from a heart which has your best interests in mind.
5. Encourages you. Each of us needs a balcony person in our life…someone who stands ready to cheer us on in our spiritual walk.
How do I find an accountability partner?
1. Seek God's heart in this matter. God uses different people in our lives to help us grow in our relationship with him.
2. Go beyond your normal spear of friends to find your accountability partner.
3. You might even look to women who are in a town close to where you live. It is so easy these days to communicate through emails, Facebook, and texting. Then there is always my favorite way – face-to-face communication when time permits.
4. Take action! Contact those women who God has laid on your heart and discuss the possibility of starting a group whose focus is growing deeper in the Lord through accountability.
Finding women you can grow in the Lord with is not always easy, but it is well worth the hunt. We have an enemy - the Devil - and he is always looking for an opportunity to destroy the lives of believers. No one is immune from temptations. We need others to help us stay on track in our spiritual walk.
So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. Romans 14:12
To gain greater insight into starting an accountability group, see the resource:
Heart Friends- Beginning and Maintaining a Small Accountability Group
Shirley Moses is an author, Women’s Ministry Team Advisor at Hagerman Baptist Church in Sherman, Texas, and the Women's Ministry Consultant Women’s Ministry Consultant, Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. She also serves currently as a .LifeWay Ministry Multiplier, helping us train women’s ministry leaders across the country. Shirley contributed to our leadership book, Transformed Lives: Taking Women's Ministry to the Next Level. She is also co-author of Heart Friends: Beginning and Maintaining a Small Accountability Group.
This November we completed our 16th LifeWay Women Leadership Forum and it was the best ever according to attendees! I always have a blast being with these leaders and hope you will attend next year! Click this link to find out dates.
We asked attendees to share their ministries that have been planned or have already been successful at connecting the generations. I will share those in several blog posts so you can see what is working. Please tell us what you are doing to connect the generations. Here are three more.
From Cinnamon: This year’s women’s retreat really focused on bridging the gap between the women of our two services. One service attracts young families while the other service attracts seniors. We had 50 women attend ranging from 15 to 70. We engaged the younger ones by offering options in our breakouts that included excursions. We engaged our older gals by having one of their own as a speaker. We also included breakouts that were interesting to them: women’s health issues (heart health and spiritually surviving cancer). Other options in our free-time were crazy hikes that might interest our young gals and prayer places that might attract our older gals. Our young 20’s gals were small group leaders of our teen group. I mixed the rest of our groups but made use of the wisdom of our older gals by making them group leaders. They needed training to feel confident but did outstanding. Worship is tricky but we try to include praise and hymns in every sessions worship (worship leaders sensitivity is crucial for this to succeed).
Ida Faye shares her Sweet Life Cafe and Legacy Café idea to purposefully engage generations: Sweet Life Cafe was a Friday night and Saturday at a retreat area. Legacy Cafe was a Friday night and Saturday at church. It was an overnight for the ones that wanted to spend the night. We had high school students to senior adults that attended. We set up a cafe atmosphere with the use of round tables. At each table we placed a variety of ages. Many of the ones that attended expressed to us these were two of the best events they had been involved in.
And finally, Karen shares this event called "Be His Hands and Feet”: This event encouraged women of all ages to live out their faith in our church, community, and world. The speaker encouraged Spirit-led service. There was a video featuring women of all ages from our church serving in many different capacities. The food was mission-trip style with beans and rice. There were photographs and statistics about world needs on the walls. Ministries from our church and community had tables along the walls to educate women on ways to serve through their ministry. Then, the women were encouraged to browse the tables and consider ways they might serve. The women were also given a $10 voucher (from the $10 price of admission) to support the ministry of their choice.
Keep sending ideas and I will keep sharing them on this blog.
Helpful Resources:
Women Reaching Women, Revised and Expanded version, Chris Adams
Lost and Found, Stetzer, Stanley & Hayes
Context, Threads by LifeWay
The Millenials, Thom Rainer & Jess Rainer
Respect: Meaningful Ministry with Baby Boomers in your Church and Community, Craig & Gandy
Essential Church, Rainer & Rainer
Simple Church, Rainer & Geiger
www.lifeway.com/womenreachingwomen
The Barna Group on-line, http://barna.org
Gen Trends, http://www.gentrends.com/
Scouting the Divine, Margaret Feinberg
No Other Gods, Kelly Minter
Interrupted, Jen Hatmaker
Sacred Roads, Heather Zempel
The Tough Sayings of Jesus, Michael Kelley
What Do You Do With Your Wait?, Mike Harder
Connect the Dots, Mike Hurt
unChristian, David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons
This November we completed our 16th LifeWay Women Leadership Forum and it was the best ever according to attendees! I always have a blast being with these leaders and hope you will attend next year! Click this link to find out dates.
We asked attendees to share their ministries that have been planned or have already been successful at connecting the generations. I will share those in several blog posts so you can see what is working. Please tell us what you are doing to connect the generations. Here are two more.
Nancy shares about an outdoor event for the adventurous!:
Our ministry began as an outreach ministry to all of the women in our community. Our vision is to unite women of all ages and denominations through events hosted outside the boundaries of the church walls. Our most recent event was a hike. We hiked through a stream, with our guides posting themselves in the middle to point out the stable rocks, provide a hand for balance and encourage those who were afraid. We hiked up steep trails, ensuring not one was left behind, cheering on those who did not think they could make it. We each walked along with someone we had not met before and gave them a chance to share their lives with a safe traveling partner. Finally, we arrived at a beautiful water fall and shared a meal together, surrounded by God’s amazing creation: wildflowers, butterflies, mountain peaks, mountain critters, various trees and the wonder of His greatest creation-women! After the exhausting hike, one of our guides treated us all to ice cream at a local favorite burger place. As we sat around sharing ice cream, our thoughts for the day, our struggles in life - relationships were built. What a grand day it was.
Helpful Resources:
Women Reaching Women, Revised and Expanded version, Chris Adams
Lost and Found, Stetzer, Stanley & Hayes
Context, Threads by LifeWay
The Millenials, Thom Rainer & Jess Rainer
Respect: Meaningful Ministry with Baby Boomers in your Church and Community, Craig & Gandy
Essential Church, Rainer & Rainer
Simple Church, Rainer & Geiger
www.lifeway.com/womenreachingwomen
The Barna Group on-line, http://barna.org
Gen Trends, http://www.gentrends.com/
Scouting the Divine, Margaret Feinberg
No Other Gods, Kelly Minter
Interrupted, Jen Hatmaker
Sacred Roads, Heather Zempel
The Tough Sayings of Jesus, Michael Kelley
What Do You Do With Your Wait?, Mike Harder
Connect the Dots, Mike Hurt
unChristian, David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons
This November we completed our 16th LifeWay Women Leadership Forum and it was the best ever according to attendees! I always have a blast being with these leaders and hope you will attend next year! Click this link to find out dates.
We asked attendees to share their ministries that have been planned or have already been successful at connecting the generations. I will share those in several blog posts so you can see what is working. Please tell us what you are doing to connect the generations.
Linda shares this great generational idea:
This year our Women’s Ministry theme “A Refuge for Generations” is based on Psalm 145:4. Our fall dinner featured a panel of women representing the decades from their 20’s to their 70’s. We had a moderator (our women’s ministry director) who asked each of them questions based on information provided by the participants in advance and gave them an opportunity to share how they had seen God work through the circumstances of their lives. The event was for women 18 and up. We’ve had women of all ages tell us how meaningful this evening was to them and that it was the best one ever. Thank you for the opportunity to share.
And Kay shares this brunch idea:
We had our Christmas Traditions' Brunch November 5, 2011. Our ladies decorated tables (on Thursday and Friday) with their favorite tradition and we had ladies in their 20's to ladies in their 70's decorating a table. On Saturday, our speaker was one of our own young mothers who is in her early 30's. Last year's speaker was in her 60's. In attendance yesterday we had girls as young as 11 and ladies in their upper 80's. Our youth hand bell choir played as we viewed the tables. Our special music included a mother and her two daughters - one in her 20's and one in her early 30's. Involving all these different ages in preparation and in the program draws all ages. This event is one of my favorites!
What great ideas! Watch for more ideas coming soon!
Helpful Resources:
Women Reaching Women, Revised and Expanded version, Chris Adams
Lost and Found, Stetzer, Stanley & Hayes
Context, Threads by LifeWay
The Millenials, Thom Rainer & Jess Rainer
Respect: Meaningful Ministry with Baby Boomers in your Church and Community, Craig & Gandy
Essential Church, Rainer & Rainer
Simple Church, Rainer & Geiger
www.lifeway.com/womenreachingwomen
The Barna Group on-line, http://barna.org
Gen Trends, http://www.gentrends.com/
Scouting the Divine, Margaret Feinberg
No Other Gods, Kelly Minter
Interrupted, Jen Hatmaker
Sacred Roads, Heather Zempel
The Tough Sayings of Jesus, Michael Kelley
What Do You Do With Your Wait?, Mike Harder
Connect the Dots, Mike Hurt
unChristian, David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons
This November we completed our 16th LifeWay Women Leadership Forum and it was the best ever according to attendees! I always have a blast being with these leaders and hope you will attend next year! Click this link to find out dates.
We asked attendees to share their ministries that have been planned or have already been successful at connecting the generations. I will share those in several blog posts so you can see what is working. Please tell us what you are doing to connect the generations.
Colleen shares an idea you may have thought was passé!:
This past year, we held a “tea.” I know most churches are doing away with this, but we hadn’t had one in a long time. HOWEVER, it was not a traditional tea. Each “female” (targeted all ages) was given a shallow sturdy paper bowl (the ones we found had larger circumferences) that they were to decorate as a hat. The only rule was that this had to be the base or used in creating. We had prizes for most creative, most feminine, most “tomboyish,” best group (encouraged to make similar hats as a team), most unusual, and most outrageous. Each adult (defined as teenager and up) participant was given “tickets” with each of these categories on it. During the mingle time, they were encouraged to give their vote to the person with the hat they believed embodied this category. (Children younger than teenagers were all given prizes.) The person collecting the most votes won.
Decorations and the meal were simple. Each table was decorated differently with a mix of borrowed teapot, small teddy bear, fake pearls, lace, etc. We had a small table set for a child’s tea party with bears in each seat and a child’s tea set. We served a variety of teas (hot and iced) in china cups that were borrowed. We cut sandwiches into fourths (with the crust cut off) alongside fresh fruit and salad.
We had a photographer take pictures of family groups or other groups and had these pictures provided to the participants the following Sunday.
One of our team members had a devotion that addressed our inner adornment (1 Peter 3:3-4)
Result: Our church attendance is about 180 (men, women, and children) average and we had 60 females from infancy/toddler to over 80 years in attendance. Some brought other family members who didn’t attend along with them – there were a lot of 3 and 4 generation groups. These mixed ages mingled while looking at the hats. There was a lot of laughter and changing tables to talk to other groups. SUCCESS!!!
Watch for more ideas coming soon!
Helpful Resources:
Women Reaching Women, Revised and Expanded version, Chris Adams
Lost and Found, Stetzer, Stanley & Hayes
Context, Threads by LifeWay
The Millenials, Thom Rainer & Jess Rainer
Respect: Meaningful Ministry with Baby Boomers in your Church and Community, Craig & Gandy
Essential Church, Rainer & Rainer
Simple Church, Rainer & Geiger
www.lifeway.com/womenreachingwomen
The Barna Group on-line, http://barna.org
Gen Trends, http://www.gentrends.com/
Scouting the Divine, Margaret Feinberg
No Other Gods, Kelly Minter
Interrupted, Jen Hatmaker
Sacred Roads, Heather Zempel
The Tough Sayings of Jesus, Michael Kelley
What Do You Do With Your Wait?, Mike Harder
Connect the Dots, Mike Hurt
unChristian, David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons
Ministers’ Wives, if you missed this special web cast just for you! It's not too late! We interviewed minister's wives LIVE from our National Women's Leadership Forum!
Click here to view the web cast!
LifeWay Women Live AT WOMEN’S FORUM: Ministers’ Wives GET REAL to Connect All Generations of Minister’s Wives! with guest ministers’ wives Rachel Lovingood, Jennifer Landrith, Pam Case, Leighann McCoy and Brandi Wilson. Hosted by Chris Adams and Paige Greene.
While serving in ministry is a privilege it also comes with unique challenges. Join some real ministry wives to discuss the very real life issues facing us today. If you are minister's wife and you are joining us in Nashville at the Forum, make plans to join us in the live audience. If you can't make it to the Forum this year, join us at 9:30 a.m. for this special webcast!
This November we completed our 16th LifeWay Women Leadership Forum and it was the best ever according to attendees! I always have a blast being with these leaders and hope you will attend next year! Click this link to find out dates.
We asked attendees to share their ministries that have been planned or have already been successful at connecting the generations. I will share those in several blog posts so you can see what is working. Please tell us what you are doing to connect the generations.
Tami shares:
One event we've completed this year encompassing all ages is an annual event we hold in March. The title of the event is "Spring Fling". We encourage women to bring their daughters, mothers, sisters and lost friends. Each year we choose a theme and every aspect of the event matches the theme. For example, this year our theme was "Fiesta" so our meal was Chicken Fajita salad, our entertainment and music had a Mexican flare. Our decorations were things associated with Mexico. We encourage our speaker to choose a topic that relates well to the theme and has a great spiritual application. We ask our women to theme dress if they would like to participate in that way. The men of the church volunteer their time to help in meal preparation, they serve the meal and clean up as the event comes to a close. We have found this to be a great time of fellowship and spiritual encouragement for the men as much as for the women. This is our biggest women's event of the year and ladies who have attended in the past look forward to it with great anticipation.
Sheila, a member from a small church, shares her Girls Night Out idea:
In January, a “Girls Night Out” was hosted by women’s ministry. This night was full of fun, fellowship and encouragement for those who came. A pizza, salad, and dessert dinner was provided followed by a program from our church body “experts”. We featured a wardrobe color analyst (a dear lady in her early 70’s), a nail specialist (in her 50’s) and also a local prosecutor’s office professional raising our awareness on the topic of domestic violence. Then a Chonda Pierce DVD was enjoyed in the sanctuary on the big screen which included lots of laughter and encouragement especially in the area of depression. The event was attended by 75 women across the generations. Our color analyst was surprised and thrilled to have the attention of our young college age girls. We truly mixed with and enjoyed each other!
Watch for more ideas coming soon!
Helpful Resources:
Women Reaching Women, Revised and Expanded version, Chris Adams
Lost and Found, Stetzer, Stanley & Hayes
Context, Threads by LifeWay
The Millenials, Thom Rainer & Jess Rainer
Respect: Meaningful Ministry with Baby Boomers in your Church and Community, Craig & Gandy
Essential Church, Rainer & Rainer
Simple Church, Rainer & Geiger
www.lifeway.com/womenreachingwomen
The Barna Group on-line, http://barna.org
Gen Trends, http://www.gentrends.com/
Scouting the Divine, Margaret Feinberg
No Other Gods, Kelly Minter
Interrupted, Jen Hatmaker
Sacred Roads, Heather Zempel
The Tough Sayings of Jesus, Michael Kelley
What Do You Do With Your Wait?, Mike Harder
Connect the Dots, Mike Hurt
unChristian, David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons
This November we completed our 16th LifeWay Women Leadership Forum and it was the best ever according to attendees! I always have a blast being with these leaders and hope you will attend next year! Click this link to find out dates.
We asked attendees to share their ministries that have been planned or have already been successful at connecting the generations. I will share those in several blog posts so you can see what is working. Please tell us what you are doing to connect the generations.
Jan shares a great idea for a retreat that small churches can easily do:
At our church, we hold an annual event that includes all denominations, all ages! This was our third year and God has certainly blessed our event over and over again! Our speakers have been Kelly Minter, Lisa Whelchel and Jennifer Rothschild. Next year we have already booked Esther Burroughs. Our first year, we had about 350 ladies on Friday night, last year we had about 450 and this year, we squeezed in almost 700 women…all denominations, all ages! We structured it for our rural area, the women in our area and many others just simply cannot afford the time or money to go somewhere to a large event so we decided to bring something to our area. We charge $10 which includes both sessions, Sat. a.m. also, supper on Friday night and more than a continental breakfast on Sat. It is a huge success because it is God-centered.
We are completely funded by our event. We hold two fundraisers every year, a Faith, Friends and 5K Run/Walk, and a “Crop This House” scrapbooking event, plus we sell t-shirts and custom Bible bags! We are very proud of this event but we give God the credit. If you could hear about our first year and how we got started and funded (our church has no money!) you would realize He has had his hand in this from the very beginning! It is a one-of-a-kind event in our area. We have local speakers, one on Friday night and one on Saturday morning who share something God has done in their lives, we have a wonderful storyteller who writes original material, a story about a woman in the Bible, and then we have an awesome lady who performs Christian drama! All have been on board since the beginning.
We formed our own acapella singing group, Amazed, and that has been inspirational. We have been invited to sing at every church around during the past year! We call our ladies conference Rock This House taken from the Acts 4:31 scripture.
For rural areas, this has to be the coming thing! We start as soon, as the event held in August is over, planning our next event.
Watch for more ideas coming soon!
Helpful Resources:
Women Reaching Women, Revised and Expanded version, Chris Adams
Lost and Found, Stetzer, Stanley & Hayes
Context, Threads by LifeWay
The Millenials, Thom Rainer & Jess Rainer
Respect: Meaningful Ministry with Baby Boomers in your Church and Community, Craig & Gandy
Essential Church, Rainer & Rainer
Simple Church, Rainer & Geiger
www.lifeway.com/womenreachingwomen
The Barna Group on-line, http://barna.org
Gen Trends, http://www.gentrends.com/
Scouting the Divine, Margaret Feinberg
No Other Gods, Kelly Minter
Interrupted, Jen Hatmaker
Sacred Roads, Heather Zempel
The Tough Sayings of Jesus, Michael Kelley
What Do You Do With Your Wait?, Mike Harder
Connect the Dots, Mike Hurt
unChristian, David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons
This November we completed our 16th LifeWay Women Leadership Forum and it was the best ever according to attendees! I always have a blast being with these leaders and hope you will attend next year! Click this link to find out dates.
We asked attendees to share their ministries that have been planned or have already been successful at connecting the generations. I will share those in several blog posts so you can see what is working. Please tell us what you are doing to connect the generations.
Sarah shares this great ideas for connecting women with high school girls:
I've also started the planning for a "Bride of Christ" retreat for the senior high girls in which our adult leaders and ladies of the church will be involved in a ceremony for the girls. I'm creating it around a wedding and approaching it that we should be married to Christ first so that we understand the love of Christ before we even begin to embark on love from a man. The goal is to provide each of the young ladies with a veil at the start of the retreat and before it's over, they get to "walk the aisle" to Christ and receive a "true love waits" ring from one of our adult ladies, and essentially be married to Christ through a commitment ceremony. I have some senior high girls that are helping me plan it as well, and we're going to start it with a wedding shower, and end it with a wedding reception!
And here is a retreat idea from Elena:
Our conference each year has approximately 90 women. We provide a Friday night extravaganza, starting with dinner and some sort of pampering and an early bird break out, general session then dessert. In the morning we start off with a huge home cooked meal, two more breakout sessions and two more general sessions... Lots of music, praise and teaching! To bridge the gap, each year we try to cover a wide range of topics in our breakouts that will specifically speak to each stage of life that our ladies might be going through! Our general sessions do the same. From the tote filled with goodies, food, decorating and fellowship times, we hope each lady walks away feeling special, pampered and spirit filled!
Watch for more ideas coming soon!
Helpful Resources:
Women Reaching Women, Revised and Expanded version, Chris Adams
Lost and Found, Stetzer, Stanley & Hayes
Context, Threads by LifeWay
The Millenials, Thom Rainer & Jess Rainer
Respect: Meaningful Ministry with Baby Boomers in your Church and Community, Craig & Gandy
Essential Church, Rainer & Rainer
Simple Church, Rainer & Geiger
www.lifeway.com/womenreachingwomen
The Barna Group on-line, http://barna.org
Gen Trends, http://www.gentrends.com/
Scouting the Divine, Margaret Feinberg
No Other Gods, Kelly Minter
Interrupted, Jen Hatmaker
Sacred Roads, Heather Zempel
The Tough Sayings of Jesus, Michael Kelley
What Do You Do With Your Wait?, Mike Harder
Connect the Dots, Mike Hurt
unChristian, David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons
