Embracing Change

What do women need to get from their church women's ministry? The answer to that will vary from church to church, but as younger women are entering into the community of believers, I exhort you as leaders to embrace change. This is not to say that we change everything, do away with anything that is old, and reject the older women in your circles. May it never be! What I am saying, however, is that if you remain set in your ways in the overall focus of how you do ministry, you will continue to get the same results you have always gotten and you may not have the opportunity to engage new women of many age groups. I'm not an advocate for embracing the philosophies of any given era because they might be popular, and anyone who knows me will vouch for me when I say I'm not a pragmatist. But as times change we must have a knowledge of what women are hearing and speaking, what they believe and what they want out of life. I also challenge you to look around your congregation: it isn't just singles, married, and widows. It's all those, but it's also the functionally single (the women with husbands at home), the divorced, the teen mothers, even the single women who have never been married but have elected through reproductive technologies to have children without a spouse.

This isn't a call to embrace unhealthy and unbiblical choices, this is for you to accept the fact that changes are occurring in our world in ways you could never imagine. Know that traditional women's ministries made primarily of fellowships and bible studies will not cut it without educating on matters related to todays culture. Embrace the changes you need to work on in your area of ministry so that you can embrace the women who need to be reached and discipled.