Article

Women’s Ministry Must Be a Priority for Church Planters. So, Where Do We Start?

Emily Dunlap

In every church, effective women’s discipleship is vital to the church’s health.

In church planting, prioritizing and starting specific ministry areas in your church can be overwhelming. However, a key focus area for ministry must be women’s discipleship. In every church, effective women’s discipleship is vital to the church’s health. If a formally established, Word-driven, and strategic women’s ministry is crucial to your church, where do you begin?  

Church planters should not start any new ministry within the church without qualified, trusted leaders who can keep the ministry area functioning properly. Pray for the Lord to clarify ministry priorities and to bring the leaders you need to execute those priorities well. For women’s ministry, seek out leaders who are mature, faithful followers of Christ, deeply care about seeing women come to saving faith in Christ and grow in their faith, can faithfully teach God’s Word, and have the practical leadership skills needed to build a new ministry area from the ground up.   

To the Pastors/Elders

While you will not personally be leading the women’s ministry in your church, you, as the pastors/elders, play a key role in making it successful. What are some ways you can help?   

• Publicly and privately celebrate women’s discipleship.  

• Make sure the women’s leadership team understands and aligns their priorities with the church’s mission, vision, and values.  

• When appropriate, consult women’s ministry leaders for certain meetings or for church-wide decision-making.  

• Do not isolate women’s ministry by avoiding it. It can be intimidating to be the only man in a room full of women, but do not shy away from women’s spaces in your church. Your support encourages your leaders and communicates that the ministry is valuable to you.  

• Trust your team, but be involved. This is true of any ministry area in your church, but it can feel like a tricky balance with women’s ministry. It may be tempting to be too hands-off, out of fear of overstepping, but your input is valued and necessary. 

• Building a relationship establishes trust on both sides. If you take time to know your women’s ministry director and understand her heart for the ministry, it will be much easier to trust her to lead it.  

• Communicate clearly and often. What is your rhythm of checking in with your staff team and other ministry leaders? Your women’s ministry leaders should be included in that rhythm.   

• Money talks. Be willing to allocate necessary budget dollars to the women’s ministry so it can be done well.   

To the Women Doing This Work

The Lord called you into this work of starting a women’s ministry. It can feel overwhelming, and sometimes, impossible. Where should you start?  

• Pray. Pray for the women you serve in your church and for the lost women around you. Pursue Christ above all (even this important ministry work), and exercise godly wisdom.  

• Study your context and assess the needs of your church and community.  

• Seek out relationships with the ladies you serve, taking time to understand who they are and what they need. Create your ministry plan from there. For example, if you know you are serving primarily new believers with little to no Bible knowledge, your first women’s Bible studies should be easily accessible and help them learn how to study Scripture. (Maybe start with the gospel of John instead of Ecclesiastes.)  

• Build a team. Do not try to do it alone. When I first stepped into my role as Women’s Ministry Director, I was afraid to ask for help from anyone. I feared becoming a burden to others and wanted to maintain control. There are other women in your church who care deeply about this work, are gifted to do it well, and are called to serve Christ in this way. Lock arms with those sisters and do it together. This is God’s work you have been given to steward, so trust Him enough to let others into it.  

• Lead with relationships, not programming. Women’s ministry is not about creating an events calendar. It is about making disciples of Christ who make disciples of Christ.  

• Seek out other women who are leading in similar contexts and learn from them. This can be challenging, depending on your ministry context, but it is a gift to learn from women who have gone before you in this endeavor.   

• While staying aligned with your church’s mission, vision, and values, answer the question, “What are our top priorities for this women’s ministry?” Be clear about what these are and committed to them. This helps you avoid mission creep.

Our women’s ministry at my church is defined as Word-driven and prayer-focused, which aligns with our church as a whole. Under that umbrella, we have specific goals, based on the needs of the women in our church: increasing biblical literacy, providing opportunities for Christ-centered community, and equipping women to engage our city with the gospel. How does this look practically?  

Every time we gather, we spend time in Scripture and pray together, including praying specifically for lost people around us. The extent and focus may vary by setting, but those fundamentals always hold. As the ministry area grows and more ideas arise, our priorities and goals help determine what fits our ministry strategy.  

Women’s discipleship and the work of starting a new ministry area in your church are weighty tasks, but praise God, we are not alone in it. This is Great Commission work, and in Matthew 28:20, Jesus promises, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Trust that promise. Pray consistently for women to surrender their lives to Christ. Faithfully teach the Word of God, and truly love the women entrusted to your care. Serve joyfully alongside other brothers and sisters in Christ. Trust the faithfulness of our great God, and you will see Him work in incredible ways.