Ministry to women impacts churches, communities
The ministry to women at Trinity Church (Cedar Hill, Texas)
involves
women from the church as well as the community.
Life Center (Tacoma, Washington) women host an event to
honor and serve
military wives.
By Kalene Baker
Women all over the country are ministering to other women, both inside and outside their churches. Over the past year, women are offering ministry to reach other women — whether single, divorced, widowed or college aged — in new and unique ways.
The ministry to women at Trinity Church in Cedar Hill, Texas, has been especially successful in reaching the women of the church. Typically, 800-1,200 women attend the ministry’s Girlfriend Nights, according to Becky Hennessy, Women’s director at the church. The event is also open to women in the community.
“Over half of the women who attend a Girlfriends event are not from Trinity Church,” Hennessy said.
The church’s other specific ministry to women include Esther Enterprises, which ministers to single moms and widows, and Captured, which reaches young women in their 20s. Also, various small groups meet around similar interests such as book clubs, exercise, scrapbooking and healthy eating.
Life Center in Tacoma, Washington, is another church with creative ministry to single moms. Tiffany Ziesemer, director of Evangelism and Influence Ministries at Life Center, explained the church’s “Single Mom’s Makeover” held every Valentine’s Day. It involves activities like free facials by a local salon academy, hair styling by beauticians, a stress management seminar and free gifts. “It was an unforgettable day to minister to broken women,” Ziesemer said.
Life Center’s women hold a similar event to honor military wives. “Our church is located very close to a military base, and we wanted our women to reach out, so we crafted a night of dessert, free gifts and vendors where the women attending could shop for free,” Ziesemer said. A donation from a woman in the church also allowed for each woman who attended to receive $25 to spend.
Both Life Center and Trinity Church offer various programs that minister to women outside of the church. Life Center provides an outreach for mothers of pre-schoolers (MOPS), for women who work in the sex industry and for women who have had or are considering abortion.
In the past three years, Trinity Church has sent women on missions teams to Scotland, Belize and Vietnam. The women also prepare monthly meals for the Ronald McDonald House and for Hillcrest House, a home for AIDS patients.
Hennessy and Ziesemer pointed to Titus 2 as the scriptural mandate for women to minister to other women in the church. Based on this biblical model, Hennessy described her ministry as “a group of women empowered by the Spirit of God to bring Christ’s love and power to a hurting world.”
Ziesemer further explained the importance of ministering to women within her church: “Women, whether young or old, are called to follow Jesus, and by having a ministry for women, we are able to address issues that can only be done in the context of a women’s ministry.”
Through their ministries, Hennessy and Ziesemer have seen passionate women become empowered and equipped to minister to other women. The active ministries of these women and others across the nation have left a lasting impact in the church and in women’s lives.