THE ORIGINAL SOURCE FOR WOMEN'S LEADERS SINCE 2001

Kickoff Ideas for Women's Ministry

Julia Bettencourt

July 15, 2007

A Kickoff is a way of launching or relaunching your women's ministry in your local church.

Kickoff events are a great way to start the new year of your women's ministry. A lot of churches dispense with regular women's meetings and activities over the summer, so fall is usually a great time to plan one as well, but it doesn't really matter what time of year it is held.

This is a great opportunity to get everyone on board with the women's ministry of your church, share ideas, give out the yearly calendar, and highlight the various ministries your women are involved in.

10 Things to do to prepare for a women's ministry Kickoff

I've got 10 things listed for you below to help you get started with your women's ministry kickoff.

1. Take a Survey

Several weeks prior to your Kickoff, pass out a women's ministry survey and give a deadline date to have the surveys returned. Go through the returned surveys and get a general idea of what the ladies in your group expect from your women's ministry and what type of projects and activities they would like to be involved in.

See Surveys to print here.

2. Hold Brainstorming Sessions

Hold several brainstorming sessions with your women's ministry team or those that are actively involved in your planning. Discuss ideas, projects, and activities and finalize your plans for Women's Ministry for your year.

3. Make it a matter of prayer

Have your women's ministry team join as prayer warriors all during the planning process.

4. Plan out the women's ministry year or quarters

You may want to only plan out 3 months of your year (quarter) or 6 months or up to an entire year. Personally, I like doing detailed planning no more than 3 months or so ahead because I like the option to re-evaluate and replan accordingly.

5. Make some broad scale plans

Tentative broad scale planning can and should be decided upon for the year. How advance you want your detailed planning is really up to you and how it fits in with your particular ladies' group. I like doing the yearly tentative planning but only handing out a women's ministry calendar of events for 3 months at a time. If there's a few events you hold only once a year, it is a good idea to get those on the calendar as soon as possible.

If you enjoy doing themed monthly meetings, there are event and party themes on the website for you to get some ideas.

Be sure to implement Bible studies into your women's ministry schedule. You don't have to hold them year-round but weave them in in some way. Bible study gives your ladies a foundation. See the Bible Resource Page for ideas regarding incorporating Bible elements into your planning.

6. Keep in contact with church leadership

Make sure you touch base with your pastor and church leadership on your basic plans and get things cleared on your church calendar. Reserve any rooms, buildings, etc. as needed for events, activities, and bible studies that will be held throughout the year.

7. Work at it

There are a lot of helps for planning on the website. Make a workbook or keep a flash drive with all of your planning information on it for your women's ministry program. Make folders for your information either offline or within your computer files. Organization will help you work easier at your planning.

8. Make planning details for your kickoff

Choose a theme or direction to go in for your Kickoff. Make it something exciting to gear the women up for service. Follow through with decorating, food ideas, etc. and make sure everything is carried out in preparation for the event. Remember decorations never need to be elaborate or you can skip them altogether, but since it is a Kickoff, be sure to just make it a welcoming and friendly event.

9. Get things done ahead of time

Have all handout materials for the event copied and ready ahead of time. If you have various church ministries or areas of service that you want to highlight, you may want each ministry to make a display for your event. Get all the jobs done ahead of time.