Women Ministries of the Covenant

January 7, 2013

Do we really need gender-based ministry?

Why Women Ministries?

It is a good question. We should be asking it—and not just to justify our existence, but to discern how we create vision and move forward.

I’ve considered this question often since you called me to this role. And I’m sometimes asked: Why should we have gender-based ministry if women can now serve in all roles in the church? Why do we need to single women out? The Covenant doesn’t officially have men’s ministries. Why can’t we just do things together as a church? Do women really need their own stuff? Great questions.

Listening to many voices, I’ve learned:

*Women want to connect with other women with authenticity and candor in a   faith-based setting without being judged. Whether introverts or extroverts, women are connectors.

*We are better together than we are apart, especially when it comes to life-changing, world-impacting ministry. Our combined efforts to fight heinous, women-specific problems like trafficking and abuse have
impacted parts of Southeast Asia, India, and Northern California. And we can do more.

*Some things are best done through gender-specific community. Healing from childhood sexual abuse or domestic violence is often best facilitated with women only.

*Women’s life stages are unique. Yet regardless of our season of life, we have needs to talk, process, unburden ourselves or just put our confusion and pain out there for others to help us heal.

*For those who know and love God, there is often a desire to work the scriptures into our lives as women, processing it through our distinct, inherent challenges and without stereotyped gender-based ideals.

*Women long for formal and informal mentoring—help and encouragement without over-directiveness.  With the great cadre of seasoned woman disciples in many of our churches, we are primed to abet those walking a path that already bears our own footprints from years before. It’s about those life stages again.

So do you resonate with any of this? Does it make sense? Do you see it this way, or do you have a different perspective? In a future blog post, I’d like to continue this conversation. What do we need to do to empower younger women to step up and take leadership? How can we open pathways for authentic sharing?

Drop your comment in below, and stay tuned. We have a lot to do together.

Thanks,
Meagan Gillan