Here are some important questions. The answers, and the insights you will gain from reflecting on them, will determine the future viability your congregation's ministry with women.

• How do the women in your church who are involved in ministry with women understand their relationship to the congregation as a whole?


• Is your ministry to women seen as an integral part of the mission of the entire congregation, or an autonomous group with little accountability to the session? 


• How do church members who are not involved in women's ministry view the women's ministry?

Let's take a look at two case studies.

Church A
During the 1950s and 60s women in Church A had struggled with the male leadership of the church. The women wanted to maintain an organization that functioned as an independent group within the church body in order to financially support the mission organizations of their choice and to spend money for various women's functions without the constant need for session approval. To this end, a separate bank account was set up and the women's organization became the only organization in the church to have sole authority over how it spent its funds. Over the years, this financial separation led to a sense of missional separation. In the 1990s, Church A found itself with an aging congregation in a changing neighborhood. To come to grips with many of the changes that would need to take place if the church was going to survive into the twenty-first century, their session undertook an all-church mission evaluation and assessment of their programs and purpose. Because of the separation that had developed over the years, the women's organization was the only group within the church not required to under go this self evaluation. Today, the traditional women's organization in Church A finds its membership primarily among its older members, and its financial resources are dwindling.

Church B
In 1990 Church B underwent a season of reassessing its mission to its congregation, the surrounding community, its city and the world. As an integral part of this reassessment, each organization within the congregation asked three questions:

1. "Why does our group currently exist?"
2. How can our group fulfill the Great Commission with those we serve within the Body of Christ? 
3. What changes will we need to make to align our mission with Christ's Commission?

The women's group decided they were in a unique position to influence women for Jesus Christ: to help women grow in their faith and to encourage them to express their faith through word and deed in their homes, workplaces and beyond. The group re-evaluated each of their programs under the scrutiny of the Great Commission. Programs that met this goal were enhanced and strengthened, while programs that did not meet the goal were dropped. Several new programs were developed. Today, 20 percent of the new members coming to Church B enter the congregation through their ministry with women.

Scriptural Encouragement
The Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 says, Go therefore and make disciples of all peoples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

When Jesus gave that challenge and promise to eleven forlorn disciples standing on the mountain in Galilee that day, the prospects for the future of the Church looked grim. Yet 2000 years later the Church has grown to millions of people in almost every nation. In generation after generation, the Gospel of Christ has spread around the world. There has always been a faithful witness to Jesus Christ throughout the Church's history. Today congregations find themselves in a world hungry for the life transforming work of Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. Becoming a church that has Christ's Commission as the goal is worth the effort it will take to make it happen. Why not join those believers through the ages who were willing to let go of ministries that had become comfortable in order to obey the greater call to bring Christ to their world.