Today we held a spring luncheon for our women's ministry. We had a catered lunch and one of our ladies spoke on cleaning out our clutter - lots of very practical tips on getting organized. It was a lot of fun and we had a great turn out.
I get a lot of questions on our women's ministry and what we do and what works. I'm not the Women's ministry leader - Laurie is! But I'm on the ministry council and help run events and I also speak at a lot of women's events. I always love to see what other churches are doing and what is working. We do a lot of great things but we sometimes get frustrated with lack of attendance or participation. We are always trying to find ways to reach women in an impactful way.
I will share what we do but I would LOVE if you would comment with things YOUR churches do and what has worked and what has not worked. And what you would LIKE to see? Maybe we can all help each other.
1. We offer Bible Studies on Tuesday mornings (usually 3-4 different studies), Monday nights and Sunday afternoons. We try to give an option for all different women to be able to attend.
2. We normally have one to three events a year. They are either held on a week night or a Saturday morning. What we have done the last few years is
- Mugs and Muffins - this is a Saturday morning event where we have muffins and everyone brings their own mug for coffee and we have a speaker. We changed it up this year and did Biscuits and the Bible and served a Biscuit bar (biscuits, ham, jellies, butter, honey) and had a speaker.
- Tacos and Testimonies - We serve tacos and have a speaker and then have 3-4 members of our church do their testimonies in short form on film. We show it before the speaker.
- Sweet Retreat - We serve some kind of "sweet dessert" and then have a speaker. This is usually on a Thursday night.
3. We started last year having a few events a year for Single Women. These can be singles moms, single women or widows or divorced women. All ages. We usually have a catered dinner and childcare and just offer a time of fellowship.
4. Our service project is we do a big clothing give away at our church in August before school starts. Families are contacted through the schools and we serve hundreds of families who are able to clothe their families. It's a huge project that takes a week to set up and tons of volunteers but it's amazing. We also have prayer teams that meet with the families and pray with them as they wait to shop.
5. We also have 2 luncheons - one at Christmas and one in May. We try to have it so working women can stop in on their lunch hour.
Our goal is to always make room for all generations. For single or married. For working women, stay at home moms, and retired women. And we want to equip women to know Jesus better above all.
But women are busy. Jobs, marriages, kids, grand kids - it can be hard to get them engaged. So I'm curious - what are you looking for in a women's ministry? Or what would draw you in? Or how would you want to serve?
