Many times we are asked the question,
“What is Women’s Ministries and what does it do for the women of the church?”
If I were to answer this question in three words, I would say, “Nurture,
Empower, Outreach.” These three words express what Women’s Ministries is about
and what we do.
Our aim is to nurture our sisters in the areas of spiritual and personal development. Having a daily relationship with Jesus is vital to our growth as daughters of God. To this end, we have created a number of Bible study lessons and seminars that emphasize the importance of prayer, Bible study, and personal devotions. The women’s devotional books are an important component of this as well.
We seek to empower women through training programs, such as the Leadership Certification Training seminars and health education seminars. Ellen White tells us that each woman “should develop and cultivate her powers, for God can employ them in the great work of saving souls from eternal ruin” (4Testimonies, p. 642). We also help women through abuse prevention, economic and literacy empowerment, and health ministries.
Finally, we train, encourage, and motivate women to be involved in outreach through friendship evangelism, plant a seed ministry, public evangelism, small group ministry, and much more. We believe that our name, Women’s Ministries, indicates clearly what we are about: women involved in service to others. Each woman using the gifts that God has given her to draw others to Jesus by first experiencing the love of Jesus through us.
One of the new ministry ideas that God has given us is Homes of Hope and Healing. This type of small group ministry focuses primarily on outreach. In these groups, we invite our neighbors to join with us for a time of healing and hope. We begin with what we call “bridge” lessons that focus on areas of health and personal development, such as self-esteem. Then gradually we move on to non-doctrinal Bible lessons and finally into Bible doctrines. This is a process and takes time, but during this process friendships are built that will last a lifetime.
God has called each woman to serve Him and others. Can we ignore the call? I pray your answer is “No!”
Heather-Dawn Small, Director, GC Women’s Ministries
Leaders Visit India
Recently, Heather-Dawn Small, GCWM director and Raquel Arrais, WM associate director, visited India. “Heather-Dawn reports, “We met with 60 of our sister-leaders at the union and conference level from around the country for a WM Advisory (which is held once every five years). We spent much of that time teaching our sisters about Nurture, Empower, and Outreach, and teaching them how to use the many new resources and ministry ideas we brought for them. Our leaders were excited and could not wait to return to their fields to begin using the material.”