Subscribe to the NetworkSister Circle 101 – “Girls Ministry”
Today’s female students need to be challenged to be radicals for the cause of Christ. As more pressure and more unrealistic cultural expectations are placed on these young women, the church must step in to give these young women a godly focus that reinforces their value and worth in God’s kingdom. The hope for these young girls is ultimately found in the hands and hearts of God’s church – in the middle of your student ministry plan. Here are some suggestions from one leading out in girls’ ministry to get your ministry plan off the ground.
Harness Your Passion
Passion is often hard to find in a society that is raising a generation too apathetic to vote in the presidential race but aggressive enough to cast 63 million votes in the last American Idol contest. Our society has a skewed perspective on what really matters and the effects have trickled down to our teenagers.
Passion is the only thing to set you apart from the programmed apathy that has become so prevalent. Girls are sensitive and can sense when someone is serving out of passion rather than obligation. Take your passion to reach girls for Christ and share that with others. Passion is contagious. God has given other people the same heart, and they are looking for a leader to follow.
Outline Your Purpose
Many ministry teams fail due to lack of purpose – not lack of passion. Passion without purpose is as useless as talk without action. You can lead your team need to ask questions such as: what is our ultimate goal of our ministry and what do we want girls to gain from this ministry?
Here is an example of a purpose statement from our team after we worked through such questions: Our purpose is to reach, teach, and train young women to impact their communities and the world.
1. To reach girls (Evangelism) – We carry the hope of the world in our hearts, and it’s imperative that we reach out to others with the truth of the gospel. Girls’ ministries have to be more than just a haven for those who are already heaven-bound.
2. To teach girls (Discipleship) – Matthew 28:19-20 calls us to make disciples, not just converts. Beyond reaching girls with the gospel, we have to teach girls what it looks like to be godly.
3. To train girls (Equipping for ministry) – No one is more uniquely gifted to minister to girls than other girls. We want to seize the opportunity to show them how to leverage their spiritual gifts and abilities for the cause of Christ.
Develop a Philosophy
A purpose outlines what you hope to accomplish but is often fuzzy on how you plan to do so. This is why developing a ministry philosophy is so vital. At a planning retreat, we prayerfully poured over out philosophy. We then agreed on the following words: personal, biblical, and relevant. These three concepts became our ministry’s core values.
· Personal. Girls want people to be real. Sharing personal testimonies became a central piece of our conference. We intentionally programmed our conferences to include breakout sessions. When we were genuine and accessible, the girls were responded.
· Biblical. We realized that we had a tendency to sugarcoat the Word of God instead of speaking the truth in love. We made a fresh commitment to open the girls’ eyes to the glory of God by sharing the power of His Word.
· Relevant. Some people sacrifice biblical integrity for the sake of “being relevant,” but it’s possible for the two to coexist. Jesus was both biblical and engaging. We are committed to tackle issues such as sex, immodesty, and self-image in a candid way, and the girls respect our honesty.
Implement a Plan
Once you’ve done all the preparation, it’s time to take action. After you have harnessed your passion, outlined your purpose, and developed your philosophy, you are ready to implement your plan. Start looking at the specifics such as event calendaring and curriculum. Assemble a key group of girls who are willing to serve as your sounding board. Run your ideas by them and empower them to help you accomplish your purpose.
Passion, purpose, philosophies, and plans are meaningless without the pursuit of God and His glory. Sadly, He is often the missing link to successful ministry. Let the greatest aim of your girls’ ministry be to know God and bring Him glory.
