It was a real pleasure to hear
about the women’s ministry at Charlotte Chapel in Edinburgh during a recent
FIEC Pastors’ Network Conference. Part of that ministry involves a rich
training course I’d love to see adapted and imitated in many more churches. I
asked the Women’s Ministry Coordinator, Rachel Sloan to explain how the course
started, what it looks like and what resources she makes use of:
The Women's Ministry Training
Group arose out of seeing the need to train and equip women to grow and develop
the gifts and abilities God has given them for service. Christian women
have a vital role to play in the local church. When we are welcomed into
God's family he gives his gifts to us to point others to Jesus. But,
sometimes, it can feel hard to use those gifts. We don't always feel
equipped to tell others about Jesus or to encourage one other to keep going in
our faith. The aim of this group was to give confidence to those
considering how to serve for the first time and to encourage and further equip those
already serving.
We started back in June 2014 and
have completed 10 sessions over the past year. The group initially
included younger women who showed leadership potential and a few who were
serving but would benefit from being better equipped. One thing that has
stood out from the group is that in church life we can often give roles to individuals
who are keen and show leadership gifts without ensuring they have
the necessary skills to lead. One real benefit of the group has been to equip
these women with skills they need to lead with confidence.
Outline of the Women in
Ministry Training Course (adapted from the Women's
Ministry Course)
1. Women’s Ministry: What is women’s
ministry and why do we need it?
2. Understanding the Bible: How do we
understanding the Bible? What basics should we all know about the Bible?
3. Sharing the Bible: What are the different
ways we can share the Bible with others? How do you prep a Bible talk? How do
you lead a bible study?
4. One-to-one discipleship: What is
one-to-one discipleship? Why should we do it? What are the essential elements?
5. Women and evangelism: How do I share the
gospel? How do I create opportunities?
6. Pastoral Care: What is Pastoral care?
What are the tools for pastoral care?
7. Pastoral Care - Mental Health: Different
conditions. How to support those with depression, self-harm and eating
disorders
8. Pastoral Care - Sexuality: Why do we need
to talk about this? What does the Bible say about sexuality? What are the
struggles women can face?
9. Supporting those who are married: What is
God’s pattern for marriage? What are the challenges of marriage?
10. Supporting singles: What does the Bible
teach about singleness? How can we celebrate singleness? The challenges of
singleness. Godly dating, welcoming the divorced, valuing widows.
Further Resources
• How to Read the Bible for all it’s Worth -
Gordon Fee & Douglas Stuart
• Dig Deeper: Tools to unearth the Bible's
treasure - Nigel Beynon & Andrew Sach
• Everything you want to know about the
Bible - Peter Downey and Ben Shaw
• God’s Big Picture - Vaughan Roberts
• Jesus Storybook Bible - Sally Lloyd-Jones
• www.thegoodbook.co.uk/commentaries
• Leading better Bible Studies: Karen and
Rod Morris
• Iron Sharpens Iron: Orlando Saer
• Expositional Preaching: David Helm
• One-to-one: Sophie De Witt
• One-to-one Bible Reading: David Helm
• How People Change: Timothy S Lane and Paul
David Tripp
• Everyday Church - Tim Chester
• Questioning Evangelism - Randy Newman
• Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands - Paul
Tripp
• Relationships: A mess worth making -
Timothy Lane and Paul Tripp
• CCEF books in general -
http://www.ccef.org/resources
• Walking with God through pain and
suffering - Timothy Keller
• Depression: Looking up from the stubborn
darkness - Edward Welch
• I’m not supposed to feel like this - Chris
Williams
• A Thorn in my Mind - Cathy Wield
• Shame Interrupted - Edward Welch
• A New Name - Emma Scrivener
• http://www.mind.org.uk/
• Helping women escape the fantasy trap -
Helen Throne
• Is God anti-gay? - Sam Allberry
• The Plausibility Problem - Ed Shaw
• Captured by a Better Vision - Tim Chester
• Sex is not the problem (lust is) - Joshua
Harris
• Pure - Linda Marshall
• livingout.org
• Loving my (LBGT) neighbour - Glenn Stanton
• Marriage Matters: Extraordinary Change -
Winston Smith
• The Meaning of Marriage - Timothy Keller
• When your husband is addicted to porn -
Vicki Tiede
• Sexual Detox: A guide for guys who are
sick of porn - Tim Challies
• What did you expect - Paul David Tripp
• “God’s Design For Women” by Sharon James
has chapters on singleness, marriage & motherhood.
• “Just The Two Of Us” by Eleanor Margesson
& Sue McGowan – a Christian take on infertility from two couples who have
experienced it in different ways.
• “I’ll Hold You In Heaven” by Jack Halford
– a book for people who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth or abortion.
• The Miscarriage Association
http://www.miscarriageassociation.org.uk/ has excellent resources for those who
have experienced a miscarriage.
•
http://www.christianpost.com/news/miscarriages-hope-amid-darkness-63488/ - An excellent
article in the Christian Post about miscarriages and hope.
• “God’s Design For Women” by Sharon James
• Disciplines of a Godly Woman - Barbara
Hughes
• The Heart of Singleness - Andrea Trevenna
• Redeeming Singleness - Barry Danylak
For more information and ideas you can check out their website
and blog dedicated to the ministry among women at the church: http://womenatcharlotte.blogspot.co.uk/