Written by Laura Savage
Your challenge as a women's leader is to create an environment where each woman can discover her unique place in God's mission to reach the world. Regardless of how busy a Christian woman is or how limited she feels, she can practice her passion for reaching the lost.
Here are some practical ways to plug your ladies into missions, taken from the essential women's ministry leadership resource, Women Reaching Women:
1. Invite a peer-age, female missionary to be the special guest at a prayer time, Bible study or topical conference. Don't promote the special guest as a missionary, but allow women to discover she is a missionary. In this way, women see the special guest first as one of them, helping them connect to someone who understands the Great Commission as a personal commitment.
2. Invite a woman to observe while you work on your next missions project.
3. Take a group of women to a nearby ministry center sponsored by your association or area churches, and survey their needs - such as food, craft items, window curtains, clothes and so forth. Lead women to see how their gifts and talents could help meet those needs. They may need your leadership to organize their efforts.
4. Model ways to pray for missionaries on their birthdays.
For the woman who has limited time, provide opportunities for mini-projects, and allow flexibility :
5. Provide a package of note cards and a specific missionary's name and address. Suggest she write a note once a month.
6. Suggest she save pocket change for a designated missions offering. Challenge her to fill a jar or bowl by a certain time.
7. Inform her of items your group is collecting for a missions project and volunteer to pick up her donation.
8. Allow her to complete a simple portion of an ongoing craft missions project that she can work on at home for short periods of time. Affirm her help and contribution.
For the woman who has limited mobility, help her to feel valued and needed in responsibilities :
9. Provide your ministry project schedule and ask her to pray during the times you or your group are directly involved.
10. Help her establish a savings/giving plan and to understand how important her gifts are to the cause of missions - regardless of the size of the gift.
Your challenge as a women's leader is to create an environment where each woman can discover her unique place in God's mission to reach the world. Regardless of how busy a Christian woman is or how limited she feels, she can practice her passion for reaching the lost.
Here are some practical ways to plug your ladies into missions, taken from the essential women's ministry leadership resource, Women Reaching Women:
1. Invite a peer-age, female missionary to be the special guest at a prayer time, Bible study or topical conference. Don't promote the special guest as a missionary, but allow women to discover she is a missionary. In this way, women see the special guest first as one of them, helping them connect to someone who understands the Great Commission as a personal commitment.
2. Invite a woman to observe while you work on your next missions project.
3. Take a group of women to a nearby ministry center sponsored by your association or area churches, and survey their needs - such as food, craft items, window curtains, clothes and so forth. Lead women to see how their gifts and talents could help meet those needs. They may need your leadership to organize their efforts.
4. Model ways to pray for missionaries on their birthdays.
For the woman who has limited time, provide opportunities for mini-projects, and allow flexibility :
5. Provide a package of note cards and a specific missionary's name and address. Suggest she write a note once a month.
6. Suggest she save pocket change for a designated missions offering. Challenge her to fill a jar or bowl by a certain time.
7. Inform her of items your group is collecting for a missions project and volunteer to pick up her donation.
8. Allow her to complete a simple portion of an ongoing craft missions project that she can work on at home for short periods of time. Affirm her help and contribution.
For the woman who has limited mobility, help her to feel valued and needed in responsibilities :
9. Provide your ministry project schedule and ask her to pray during the times you or your group are directly involved.
10. Help her establish a savings/giving plan and to understand how important her gifts are to the cause of missions - regardless of the size of the gift.
Want all 26 ideas for plugging women into missions, as well as Bible study planning tips, administrative helps, and more? For the full list of tips on these topics and more, purchase Women Reaching Women: Beginning and Building a Growing Women's Enrichment Ministry, Revised today.
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