Women's Ministry in the Church
Pastor Eugene explains why we have a women's ministry in the church and how it is to be carried out. A version of this was shared at our recent Women of Grace event, where the women of the church came to spend a morning together.
“Older women likewise are to be reverent in behaviour, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” (Tit 2:3-5)
A number of women came together last weekend for a time of mutual learning and encouragement at a gathering organised by Women of Grace, GBC’s women’s ministry. The aim of the women’s ministry is to build life-giving relationships in the body among the women of GBC, by weaving the truths of the gospel into one another’s lives. In Titus 2, Paul helps us understand the reason for a women’s ministry in the church. He also instructs us concerning how a women’s ministry is to be carried out.
Why have a women’s ministry in the church?
Some say a women’s ministry is unnecessary. After all, if the aim is to make disciples of both men and women, then isn’t it enough to simply preach and teach the Bible in mixed groups comprising both genders? The goal for men and women is the same: to grow in their knowledge of the faith and to grow to maturity in Christ.
Yes, it is true that our mission as a church is to make disciples. And yes, the goal of discipleship is Christlike maturity. So, in this sense, some aspects of disciple-making are the same for male and female. But this isn’t the whole picture. Some aspects of Christian maturity are gender specific. For example, while a godly husband and a godly wife will have many qualities in common, they will also have distinct characteristics that are specific to their role as either husband or wife. A husband is called to love his wife self-sacrificially, as Christ loved the church. A wife is called to submit to her husband, as the church submits to Christ.
Why is this so? It’s because God created both male and female to be equal and complementary. Both male and female are made in the image of God. Therefore, men and women are equal in worth and dignity in God’s sight. But God has also tasked male and female with different roles with respect to the other. In God’s good and wise design, men and women are to complement one another in the way we serve God together.
(a) Women’s ministry helps women in the church to live out biblical womanhood
This is the reason why Titus is to exhort the women of the church in this way: “Older women likewise are to be reverent in behaviour, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” (Tit 2:3-5) Older women are entrusted with the responsibility of discipling younger women in the church, especially for their growth in godly womanhood. Older women are called to do spiritual good for their younger sisters by encouraging them to be faithful women, wives, and mothers. By extension, those who are unmarried will also be spurred on to follow Jesus. Age, of course, is relative. For a teenager, an older woman can be someone in her 20s who models biblical womanhood as a student or a young working adult. For a woman in her 50s, an older woman in her 70s can be an example of patient, persevering faith.
There is an urgent need for this in the church. Women face all sorts of pressure from the world. Culture, society, the media, our workplaces, as well as our friends and family all have their ideas and expectations of what a successful woman looks like. What does it mean for women to live as disciples of Christ amid the noise of these competing and conflicting voices? What does faithfulness look like as a single woman, as a wife, as a stay-at-home mum, as a working mother, as a grandmother, or as a widow? Women’s ministry helps women in the church to live out biblical womanhood.
(b) Women’s ministry helps to build up the church
The church is made up of Christians of different generations and seasons of life. In Titus 2, Paul highlights various groups in the church: older and younger men, older and younger women, as well as bondservants and masters. Titus is to “teach what accords with sound doctrine” (Tit 2:1), so that these different groups of believers live in a way that is consistent with the truths of the gospel. It's striking that Paul doesn’t command Titus to teach the young women. Instead, he is to equip and exhort the older women to do so.
Women’s ministry is a vital part of the church’s disciple-making work. The church is one body in Christ, but the members do not all have the same function because we have different ministry opportunities. As one of the elders, my responsibility is to help equip women to help other women follow Jesus. We may have different areas of service, but we are all working towards a common goal: to build up the entire church in Christlikeness. In this way, we all “adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour” (Tit 2:10) for the purpose of making disciples. This matters for the sake of Christ’s reputation and the witness of His gospel. As the church, we should be the aroma of Christ. Our transformed lives help commend the gospel to a lost and needy world.
Women’s ministry extends the elders’ ministry of the word. The elders are responsible for teaching and shepherding the church with God’s word. But there are areas where it can be more difficult for men to travel: the young women mentioned here in Titus 2 being an example of that. It would not be wise for me to personally disciple a young woman, but an older woman can. For this reason, the elders see the women’s ministry as a crucial partner in our pastoral care for the whole church, comprising older and younger men and women. By helping to build up the church, the women’s ministry is a vital part of GBC’s calling to be a display of God’s glory. Women’s ministry is for the good of the whole body of Christ.
How is women’s ministry to be carried out in the church?
We’ve seen how the goal of women’s ministry is to help grow the church in Christ. What does this look like in practice? We can glean from Titus 2 that women’s ministry involves: Women speaking God’s truth and being examples of God’s truth to one another, in the context of loving relationships, enabled by the gospel’s transforming power.
Let’s unpack this. (a) Speaking God’s truth. Paul charges Titus to “teach what accords with sound doctrine” (Tit 2:1). The older women, in turn, are to build on this ministry of the word by “teaching what is good” to young women. Therefore, women are responsible for speaking God’s truth to one another. Scripture must be at the heart of women’s ministry. Without this clear focus, our activities, events, and relationships will be spiritually weak, because they are not being sustained by God’s truth.
(b) Being examples of God’s truth. Reflect on your own Christian life: How much of who you are and how you live as a Christian has been influenced by other believers?
We learn how to follow Jesus by hearing and seeing. Scripture calls us to follow godly examples, and to be godly examples for others to follow. Paul exhorts Christians to imitate faithful believers and to “keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us” (Phil 3:17). Women are to train other women in godliness through their words, as well as through the witness of their lives.
(c) In the context of loving relationships. The church is a spiritual family in Christ. As fellow members of GBC, we’ve committed ourselves to love and serve one another. Discipling entails more than merely the transfer of knowledge. We are called to do life together in the local church. Not only do we share God’s word, but we also share our lives with one another. A part of our members’ covenant says, “We will rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep, bearing each other’s burdens with tenderness and compassion. We will be devoted to one another in brotherly love; to watch over, pray for, patiently bear with, forgive, encourage, and admonish one another with love, humility and gentleness.”
Thus, the aim of the women’s ministry is not simply to organise events and activities for their own sake. Rather the focus is on fostering inter-generational, spiritual friendships among the women of GBC, so that through such loving relationships, women can build one another up in Christ. Biblical discipleship is deeply relational; apart from the context of compassionate relationships the accumulation of mere Bible knowledge can lead to pride, self-righteousness, or legalism.
In her helpful book, Women’s Ministry in the Local Church, Susan Hunt wrote, “Biblical discipleship is not simply imparting facts or inculcating personal habits of Bible study, prayer, and evangelism, as helpful as those disciplines are. It is transmitting a way of thinking and living that unites all the parts into the glorious whole of glorifying God.”
What does this look like? It involves formal as well as informal ministry. It involves building organic webs of discipling relationships and spiritual friendships among the women in the church, transcending age, culture, nationality, etc. For example: younger women caring for elderly women; women encouraging and counselling one another through trials; women coming together for prayer; women organising hospitality for others in the church; women studying Scripture in small groups; women reading the Bible one-on-one with one another; mothers meeting through Mums Connect; women caring for new brides, new mums, and discipling children. These are just some examples of how women can minister to one another.
How are we able to love and serve one another? (d) Enabled by the gospel’s transforming power. Notice the all-important word “for” in v11. Older women are to be reverent in behaviour, to teach what is good, and to train the young women. Why? It’s because “the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people” (Tit 2:11). God’s grace has come to us in the person of His Son. Jesus “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Tit 2:14).
Jesus died in our place, bearing God’s judgment for us, so that our sins can be forgiven. Jesus rose from the dead to give us new life. Because of what Christ has done for us through His perfect life, His death, and His resurrection, we have all the spiritual resources we need to disciple one another. We can love and serve one another because Jesus has first loved and served us. And we can grow in Christlikeness through the transforming power of the gospel, which trains us for godliness. In Christ, we can live holy lives as we await His return.
Christ is our confidence and hope. His gospel empowers and motivates us to love and serve one another. Therefore, lean into Christ. Draw near to Him in daily dependence on His grace. My sisters-in-Christ, be encouraged. You can do spiritual good for one another through the women’s ministry because Jesus has saved you, for His glory and the good of His church.
You can also listen here: