Women Connect Through Cooking

Written by Rev. Tracie Bullis First Presbyterian Church Philipsburg, PA

When the two women I brought to NPWL's Women's Ministries Forum experienced Appreciative Inquiry led by Meri MacLeod, we immediately saw the benefit of the process. In the same way children learn to ask their parents for favors when their parents are in a good mood, we realized working with change among our women's ministry would start better from a positive outlook.

So, we invited the women's group to meet with the three of us to talk about some possibilities for ministry. We didn't tell them exactly what we wanted to talk about, so that human curiosity would urge them to come to the meeting. Once there, we asked them to tell the story of what brought them to our church, and what has been nurturing to them ever since. Most of them found themselves in a joyful memory and settled in to share. The common elements were fairly easy to see - strong friendships, companions in the Christian journey, commitment to them in times of crisis - all relational aspects. Not one of them mentioned a program.

This opened the door to approach ministry from a relationship-building and nurturing point of view. We described the idea of an intergenerational cooking night, where the signature recipes of the older generation could be passed along, and where each generation could learn the wisdom, struggle and story of the other.

Hot off the positive memory of their own relationship experiences at church, the women embraced and improved on the idea. Our cooks are booked into next year. Our first cooking night is in a couple of weeks. No one is talking about joining their particular group anymore; we're talking about learning and sharing together, in community.