Have a Plan

When we began planning the model for the Women’s Ministry Council meetings, we needed to first figure out how often and when we should meet.  One thing that we recognized was that in most cases Women’s Ministry Leaders were volunteer leaders not staff members.  Many of these women had part or full time weekday jobs, they usually served in their churches, and of course they were running women’s ministry for their church.

Due to these conclusions we decided the best thing was to have a quarterly meeting, on a Saturday morning.  Quarterly meant that we didn’t tax their schedules or take more time away from their family.  It was an easier schedule to manage and prepare for on our end as well.  Knowing that quite a few ministries had set meeting dates (such as always meeting on the first Saturday of the month), we found a unique solution.  We decided the WMC would meet any month where there was a 5th Saturday.   Turns out 5th Saturdays are only four times a year, which fit our quarterly plan perfectly.  Occasionally we had to reschedule, when the 5th Saturday landed on a major holiday (Easter, Christmas).

Only planning for 4 meetings per year means that we consider those dates with great weight.  For the first several years, our team would go to annual conferences during the summer and pick up resources.  We would develop our calendar around that.  From there you can begin to ask for feedback on what other topics to cover in the future.

For the first several years we also obtained donated books on leadership or ministry that we would gift to our attendees.  We are so grateful for the support of publishing houses that stood behind the work we were doing.  Eventually we stopped the practice.  Being a steward of these gifts was important to me.  We had limited seating.  I wanted to make sure those who were coming did so for the right reasons (fellowship, equipping, supporting) and not just free resources.  We still have little gifts we give to those who attend.  We want the women to feel loved on too.

In the beginning, we had 3 topics per meeting, over a 2 hour span.  Including time to fix a plate of snacks and coffee, bathroom breaks, etc.  Eventually we changed that up as well.  We adjusted the number of topics, invited community organizations and ministries to present, etc.  Ultimately landing on the right balance.  20 Minutes of Fellowship, 15 minutes of “Welcome/Announcements/Prayer, a brief 20 minute speaker. 5-10 minute Bathroom break, then returning for a 30 minute speaker, 10 minute presentation from a community group/ministry, and 15 minutes for closing announcements, prayer.

The community groups and ministries we invite to speak are the ones who are the hands and feet of Jesus in the community even if not part of a church.  Sometimes it is a secular program, as well.  The purpose is to educate our leaders of the need/work being done in the community, and then for the organization to let us know how our ministries and churches can partner with them.   This may be money/good drives, hands on volunteering, etc.  It connects the community and the churches, which is always a good thing.

Your very first meeting can be a meet and greet, where you just share your heart for gathering together as leaders.  Get to know one another, share the vision/mission, get feedback from the attendees on things they may be interested in speaking/presenting, or what subjects could be addressed.

Outside of these quarterly training meetings, consider other options like… fellowship nights, prayer meetings, and group service projects.  Optional events that just allow those who want to get to know each other better, deeper.

We have always kept our quarterly WMC meetings FREE, but we do take an offering.  We have a drawing for prizes among those who attend.  And, we also have a facebook group where we can communicate with each other between meetings for added support.

 

What is the Point?

When we first began the Women’s Ministry Council, we didn’t want to start something that didn’t have purpose or value.  Honestly, this is how I feel about Women’s Ministry (or any ministry, organization) as a whole.    Why are we meeting?  What is the point of us gathering?  We needed a mission statement, a purpose.  We needed something that would give us direction for everything that we did, every decision we would make.

One of the first things we agreed upon was that God never intended us to do ministry on our own, that by uniting as ONE body we could accomplish more.  It was important to know what areas other ministries were helping in, so that we could identify where there was lack.  Our first point in our mission statement is to engage the leaders in fellowship.  In order to serve our community better, as a one body of different parts, we needed to know who those parts were.  What areas did their ministry serve in the community?  We had to know our fellow leaders, regardless of their denominations.

The second thing we agreed upon was that ministry leaders need encouragement.  When ministry gets hard, or frustrating, we need someone who understands.  To have other leaders who can share from their experiences on how they overcame hurdles in ministry, is a blessing.  Leaders filling in the gaps for other leaders out of their strengths, means that we all grow stronger, serve better, have deeper impact.    The second point in our mission statement is to encourage one another.  We need cheerleaders, and those who help lift us up when we struggle.  We also need to be that for others.  Spurring one another on.

The final part of our mission was probably the easiest, because we recognized that leadership material for women’s ministry was far and few between.  What was available was dated, how to plan events, or essentially a how to guide to start one from the ground up.  They didn’t address women in crisis, ministry burn out, or how to write a ministry budget.  They didn’t really go into the details of WHY we need this ministry in the first place, or what it’s purpose should be.  The third point in our mission statement is to equip the leaders toward more effective ministry.  We built a leadership team of experienced leaders, polling the women attending on what their strengths are, and putting the leg work in hunting down valuable resources/tools.  For five years we have run this ministry, between our in person meetings and content on the website.  We have yet to repeat ourselves, reuse previous trainings, or revisit old content.  There is really a LOT to be said about this ministry we call “women’s ministry”.

If you were to decide to start up a Women’s Ministry Council in your area, we would hope that you would adhere to our key values and mission already established.  However, perhaps the needs in your community differ than ours.  Maybe you need a different type of ministry, which is fine.  Just make sure that whatever you do is bathed in prayer, driven with purpose, and has a mission that you can weigh everything against.

Creating Your Team

It is entirely possible to start a Women’s Ministry Council on your own, but it always better when you have a team.   In the five years we have been meeting our team has ranged from three women to five women, and we didn’t all come from the same church.  By having women from various churches serving on your leadership team, it ensures that you not only have a variety of perspectives but also it trumpets the message of unity.

One of our greatest purposes from the beginning was to unite the leaders from within the community, so that we were all learning and serving better.  Standing on the foundations that in order to promote unity, we needed to be an example of it ourselves.  Additionally, our leadership team ranges in not only age of the women serving but also their number of years in ministry service.  We have women with formal seminary backgrounds, women with college degrees in other fields, and women who may not have formal education but do have a plethora of experience in ministry leadership.

Being intentional about the team members, means that you will be intentional about what you are offering at your meetings.  We’ll get to that in a moment.

One thing also recommended is at the end of each year, request your leadership team to pray about whether or not they will continue to serve the next year or if they need to exit the team (even if just temporarily).  Our lives change, our responsibilities will grow and wane over the years.  It is important to offer a graceful exit opportunity, sending the exiting leaders out with your prayers and blessings.

The leadership team can be structured in any way you feel fit.  Since our meetings are fairly simple, we didn’t have a lot of roles or positions.  The meetings are free to attend, so a treasurer wasn’t really necessary.   We didn’t see a need for notes to be taken, therefore a secretary wasn’t really a requirement either.   Instead, what worked for us is really a team of women who work as a sounding board and a team of hands willing to do the little work required.

A team will help decide what topics to cover over the year, or what extra events to offer.

A team will help deal with hurdles that come your way, relating to meeting spaces, dates, time.

A team provides perspective.  A team also helps carry the load when should the unexpected come up.  There are many times I went to our team to discuss a problem or obstacle we needed to address, to discuss spending to ensure we were being good stewards,  what things we should and should not offer, and major changes.  I would tell you that the team probably doesn’t feel like they do much, but I know they are and have been a blessing to me.

I would suggest finding 1-2 additional women (besides yourself) to start with.  Add if you need to add, especially if your group grows.  You can come up with a plan of who will hold what responsibilities across the board, or decide if you will rotate responsibilities from meeting to meeting.  A good group helps the leader keep a good head on her shoulders.

It Began Over Coffee

My friend Laura and I served on Women’s Ministry together for several years.  Each month our team would meet, discuss details for upcoming events, assign tasks, etc.  All very typical meeting stuff, then afterwards she and I would end up at the local McDonalds dreaming over a cup of coffee.  We had big dreams for Women’s Ministry.

I would love to say that everything we dreamt came to fruition, but it didn’t.  There were hiccups and bumps along the way.  One idea was passed over because we lacked the budget, another couldn’t get support, sometimes we knew what we wanted but we just didn’t know how to make it happen.  We would often say…

“Wouldn’t it be nice if we could meet with other Women’s Ministry leaders.”

It was this simple sentence, on repeat, that eventually birthed itself into what is the Women’s Ministry Council.  We chose the name based on the concept of the Jerusalem Council from Acts 15, in which the all of the Apostles and Disciples who had been sent out to “go” came back together to discuss some fundamentals of their ministry.  It was a moment where they were coming back into one mindedness as ambassadors of Christ.  A reminder that even as leaders, we still need to come together in fellowship and spur one another on in our callings.

If you have ever uttered those words to another person, or had that feeling of a need to come together with other leaders for the sake of iron sharpening iron in your ministry calling… we want to help you do exactly what we have done.  To get that ball rolling.

It begins with a cup of coffee.  You will want to grab at least one, if not two, other women who feel the same way.  Begin by understanding your vision for this ministry in your area, but asking some questions.

• Why do we feel this ministry would be a blessing to our community?
• Who are we wanting to serve? Women’s Ministry Leaders, women in ministry leadership in general?  Those who are currently serving, or those who may feel they are being called into it?  Who is our target?
• What are the needs here, where we are serving? What have our own struggles in ministry leadership been, and how would a group of fellow women leaders help us through those moments?
• If just yourself, who can I invite to join me in making this happen?
• What local church leaders in the community are you already connected with that you could give you feedback on this idea?  What would they want from a ministry like this?
• What can I feasibly give to this?  How much time can I spending coordinating for this ministry?  Do I have a little bit of money to invest in getting it off the ground? (Don’t worry, we’ve learned how to minimize this!)

Pray about starting up this ministry in your city, that the Lord would make it clear to you that it is needed, and that you are the one called to get this ball in motion.

 

Your Own WMC

Not everyone who visits this site is from our local WMC group.  In fact, when we look at our analytics, we have people reading from all over the world.  You may not realize this, but one of our very first visions for this ministry was to create a reproducible model that could be started anywhere in the world.  We’ve spent 5 years fine tuning this model in the Treasure Coast, FL region.

There have been discussions on how to go about starting WMC is other areas, how it would work and function.  In the end, there is really one answer.  You start where you are, with what you have, and then the Lord will do the rest.   Our current series, and it will go on for as long as it takes will walk you through the steps we took in order to have the thriving ministry we have today.

We believe so much in the benefits of an iron sharpens iron ministry model, that we see no reason to not just give the information away.  We are not collecting data, there are no charter fees to start a group, and we are not going to micromanage how you address the needs in your specific community.  Instead, we are going to guide and instruct on the fundamentals.  The rest, will be up to you.

Installments:

• Vision Planning – Why does our area need a WMC?  What do we want to accomplish?  And, how are we going to get there?
• Your Leadership Team – Who do you need to help start a WMC in your area?
• Planning Your Year – How often, and when should you meet?  How long should your meetings be?  What details are important?
• Reaching Churches – How do you invite Women’s Ministries from your community to join your local WMC?
• Meeting Agenda – Learn from our experiences on what works, doesn’t work, and ideas we have rolling around our minds for the future.
• Budget – Who is paying for all of this anyway?
• Fellowshipping with other Leaders
• Worshipping with other Leaders
• Learning with other Leaders
• Resources for your WMC meetings and group

With 2019 just around the corner, you have plenty of time to get through these installments and launch a WMC in your community.

Let’s get started!

LeadHer Conference Update!

#LeadHer2018 is less than 1 month away!  Have you registered yet?

$99 Late Registration includes:  continental breakfast at arrival, plated lunch, all conference materials, and thanks to our sponsor ONE CHILD MATTERS all conference attendees will receive a copy of the Jesus Centered Bible.

Don’t miss out.  Seating is limited.

Big News!

Over the last five years, we rarely take a full week off.  However, exciting things have been happing in the background.  Women’s Ministry Council Co-Founder, Gena McCown, has been working steadily on this book!  The manuscript was sent to her publisher on Friday.    More details to follow!

Office is Closed this Week!

Women’s Ministry Council office is closed this week!  Subscribe to our site, so that you will be notified when new articles are posted.

Be safe.  Be kind.  Be blessed.

WMC Team