March 07, 2022

Women's ministry statements can help to focus a goal for your women's ministry groups. They can allow you to form a statement of what your ministry is all about. I think they can be good, but I also think sometimes we overthink vision statements for women's ministry in our local churches.

You can find an older article I have on this here.

Aligning Mission Statements Correctly

I say that because after all, if we are an arm of the local church, then our mission or purpose should be an outreach of that arm. A women's ministry shouldn't be something else or another ministry over on the side doing something contrary to the church they are under, and any mission statement should be one that enhances the overall mission/purpose of that particular local church.

I think God leads in different ways in different churches and there will always be those things associated with only that local church and the outreach of its women, but frankly, God gave us a purpose as Christians long ago. We are to love other people and spread the Gospel. I think when we make that our mission, our purpose, our vision, it's then that we can't go wrong.

Our Mission to Just Love

To me, "We are here to love people", could work as a mission statement for every women's group. If we followed that mission, then we might accomplish what we are supposed to accomplish as Christian women. Just think if we all pushed that as our mission, our purpose, our vision!

Just Because You Heard it Through the Grapevine

Please don't get involved in making a women's ministry mission (vision, purpose) statement just because you heard someone say you need to do that, no matter who they are, unless it's your pastor or church leadership and that's the direction your church wants. Anyone can put a label in front of their name and pretend they know what they are talking about. Sometimes you really have to evaluate where you get your advice.

If you are going to help make a mission statement for a local church women's ministry, do it because you feel God and the Holy Spirit is leading you and your church leaders in that direction. Don't do something just because you heard someone say it was necessary. There is a point to listening to advice, but we all know that all advice isn't good advice or may not be good advice for everyone. And please weigh my advice as you would others too.

Dig into your church mission

Another option, which I support wholeheartedly, is just to make it a priority to have your women's ministry learn and understand the mission/purpose statement of your local church, so whatever your women's ministry does under your local church supports the church mission. If it's not a statement that is official, there probably still is one located in the bylaws of your church somewhere, so search it out through some leg work. Ask your pastors, ask the deacons, ask the church leadership. Research!

The Necessity

The decision for the necessity of a mission statement for your women's ministry in the end is up to your church and it's leaders and those in charge, but just go about it prayerfully. I know I've mentioned before how important it is to make a mission statement something that can be long term and cover the whole of your women's ministry. If you want a specific short-term purpose, mission, or goal, try using a yearly theme instead.

Copyright ©2022 Julia Bettencourt

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