September 19, 2016

I've been asked a lot over the years about what makes a good women's ministry leader. Sometimes ladies want to know what they should look for in the women they place on their women's ministry teams. There is no simple answer. I think what makes a good leader varies on a lot of things. The type of leader needed for one situation may not be the leadership style needed for another.

There are all types of leader characteristics that we desire our leaders to have. There are organizational and business skills we want thrown in the mix. Then when it comes to our churches, we want our women's leaders to have certain spiritual characteristics as well.

All those things are well and good and great to consider, but here are some traits that I've noticed that women seem to crave in their women's leaders and team members.

We are going to spell c-u-p-c-a-k-e with these so if you are considering a new leader or a new team member, you'll remember what some women crave.

C is for Capable

We love having capable people in charge. It is one of the reasons we want them in charge. When our leaders are capable, they are up to the task.

U is for Unstoppable

We like our leaders to be like the Energizer Bunny. We want them to actually do the job they are entrusted with. We like knowing that things are going to get done.

P is for Personable

We crave a people person for the job, especially if we don't consider ourselves to be people persons. We want someone who gets along with others and knows how to deal with people. We want someone with a pleasing personality.

C is for Charitable

Charitable ladies make good women's leaders because they are able to give freely to others. They give to physical needs. They give their time. They give their talents. We appreciate someone like that in charge.

A is for Accountable

As a whole, I think we all crave accountability. We want leaders that are ready to answer for their actions and for what they have in their charge. I think we want this in our women's ministries because when we have accountable people in leadership positions, it keeps us from worrying so much.

K is for Knowledgeable

Face it, we want our leaders to have some stuffing in their heads. I don't think we necessarily think they should have some college or schooling but we rely better on people who are knowledgeable. We want our women's leaders to know the basics of Scripture. We want them to be good speakers and be able to run our meetings. We count on them to be knowledgeable.

E is for Enjoyable

A leader can have all the best traits in the world but if they are not pleasant to be around, then it doesn't matter what they know or what skills they have. We crave our women's leaders to be gracious, agreeable, and enjoyable to be around.

Conclusion

I think sometimes when we are looking for new leaders or team members to help us, we get caught up in overthinking it. Should we make it a matter of prayer and carefully consider our choices? Yes, but we have to remember that the ladies we put in leadership positions are not always going to be the model of leadership that we have in our heads.

Some of the traits in our c-u-p-c-a-k-e are simple ones but when we think about it, we have to start somewhere. I think after you've dealt with the spiritual end of it, making sure your leadership choices know Christ and are in agreement with your church doctrine and all those details, that you have to stand back and evaluate some of the simpler things. Do they pass the c-u-p-c-a-k-e challenge?

People learn by doing. Leadership is a growing thing. We have to allow our women to grow in leadership by baby steps. Leadership is learned. People have to have some responsibilities before they can learn to take on more.

Women's ministry can be a great learning ground for our women to acquire leadership skills by being put into small roles of service. We have to help them to make the transition to manage and be in charge of more demanding roles as time goes on and as they grow in ability and also in spiritual maturity.

As always, it all goes back to that teaching other women thing that we find in Titus 2. I know I refer to that frequently but teaching each other is what it is all about.

Copyright ©2016 Julia Bettencourt

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