New name, new resources created “for every woman”
Arlene Allen
By Darla Knoth
Women’s Ministries has a new name. Instead of being known as the national Women’s Ministries Department, the official title for ministry to women now is national Women’s Department.
By dropping the word Ministries from the department name, national Director Arlene Allen says, “we are emphasizing that we are here to help districts and local churches to minister to each woman in their congregation and community, according to her needs and interests.” Allen states that the national department is aligning itself with the mission and core values of the General Council.
Author Beverly White Hislop, in her book, Shepherding a Woman’s Heart, says, “Women are in new places and new roles and they’re experiencing new pressures. Increased emotional pain has come with these societal privileges for women. Our fast-paced and troubled world can leave women emotionally needy without adequate resources on which to call.”
Hislop further explains, “There are clearly areas [where] women are best equipped to minister to women, while men bring complementary aspects. The challenge is to identify these differences and give women the tools and permission needed to respond with confidence to the biblical injunctions for shepherding women!”
In 2003, the national department realized that not even one-fourth of the women attending AG churches saw themselves as being part of Women’s Ministries. The Women’s Ministries — Unlimited! campaign was launched in 2003 to help women and churches understand that the number of ministries they could offer for women and by women was truly unlimited.
In the fall of 2007, the national department issued a first-ever full color, 56-page magalog, Ministering to Women in 2008, followed by a similar release in 2008, for ministry to women in 2009. As a result, many churches began to look seriously at what the national department had to offer their women leaders.
The Executive Leadership Team approved the name national Women’s Department in October 2008, which was confirmed by the Executive Presbyters in November 2008 and ratified by the General Presbytery here in Orlando. Allen states, “Of course, it will be the decision of each district and local church if they wish to change the name of their ministry to women.”
Plans are underway for the national Women’s Department to launch a completely new Web design, For Every Woman, at www.women.ag.org. This new design will offer three layers, all of which will help equip women to minister. Within the new Web site design, the third layer will be a membership-based site, with skill-building leadership units, podcasts, webinars, networking and more.
For more information and announcements concerning the launch of this site, visit www.women.ag.org, and sign up for the For Every Woman e-newsletter.