One of the most challenging areas in ministry, and I suspect in life, has to be good communication. It is vital for a leader in WM to communicate their vision, goals and expectations to their pastors, the women on their WM leadership team or council, and the people in their church body.

When people know where you are going and how you expect to get there, it does two things for your ministry. First, it builds trust and secondly it helps to create a common enthusiasm for the ministry.

Let's face it, we like to know what is going on. A leader likes to know what their ministry leaders are working on and how they are progressing in meeting the needs of those they serve. Many churches have staff meetings and quarterly reports that help to communicate information, but just as many churches do not. Here are some ideas for building good communication.

1. Plan your calendar as far in advance as you can and get it on the church calendar. Take into account local school calendars and community events that will affect people in your church. One pastor I know jokes that his WM team gets their info to the church calendar so far ahead of everyone else that the church plans around the WM. Now, he IS just joking, but the WM at their church has a solid reputation for communicating what they are doing in a timely manner.

2. Publicly publish your WM goals. Many WM do this with a yearly theme and key verse. Others tie it into a catch phrase. If you have a mission/vision statement - use it on everything.

3. Provide monthly updates. Meet with your WM leaders and talk about the ministry. If they are responsible for specific areas, have them share about what is happening in that area. Talk to Bible study leaders and see how their studies are going. Take all the information you gather and type up a brief update to pass on to your pastor.

If you are in a small church you will probably be able to gather and assimilate all this information for yourself. If you are in a large church, let your leaders know what you are looking for and what you plan to do with the information. Have them get an update from their leaders and then pass it on to you.

Then - this is important - pass the feedback back to your leaders. When the pastor says "Hey this is great, I appreciate what you are doing." or "This all looks to be on track, but I have a question about...," pass this back to your leaders.

4. Advertise well. Be sure that events are published in bulletins and church brochures well before they start to allow women time to plan to attend. Retreat dates should be advertised at least nine month before the event while a monthly Ladies Night Out would only need a few weeks notice. Have top quality handouts, flyers, and posters around church for people to see and have extra handouts for people to take and share with others.

Post special event advertisements at Christian book stores and other businesses that will allow them. You never want to hear someone say they did not attend because the "did not know" about a study, event or activity.

These four things will help you to begin building better communication in ministry. Many of you may already have a good handle on these and may just want to evaluate the quality of how you handle them. The key here is to think about how we communicate and find ways to do it better. Stay out of those ruts! :)

In Him... Robyne Beaubien, Editor

This week's question.
I live in an area where all the women seem to be super-achievers. It makes me feel completely inadequate. Why can't I be one of them too?

View Jennifer's Video Answer

Last week's question.
I want to block out all my painful memories and focus on my good ones. Is this a wise thing to do?

View Jennifer's Video Answer.

The best information we receive about the nuts and bolts of Women's Ministry is when we hear what you all are doing "in the trenches." Our weekly poll is your opportunity to share your expertise and knowledge with all of our subscribers!

Each week we ask a question, and share a link for you to post your answers. The following week we provide a link where you can see the results of the question, along with a new question. It takes just a minute, and your input is immediately added.

This week's question is:

If you host an regularly scheduled special or signature event, how often does it take place?

Answer the question HERE.

Here are the results from recent polls.

Last week we asked you: How do you determine which Bible studies you will offer at a given time? You're feedback is always so insightful. Here's what you said in response.

• Bible study leaders propose what they would like to lead 44%
• The women's ministry leader decides 31%
• A team reviews and makes selections 22%
• The pastor makes the decision 3%

Interesting Finding: Looks like the Bible study leaders are doing what leaders do, casting a vision and then doing what it takes to carry out that vision by taking an integral role in evaluating and selecting studies that will best serve their group of women. In your comments, we saw two recurring and refreshing themes. Prayer and teamwork. Both are essential to developing a strong Bible study ministry that focuses on God's leadership in the places He's given you to serve. Keep praying, keep leading and keep up the good work.

Which of the following do you feel the greatest need for in your ministry right now?

 

• Greater involvement of the women to whom I minister 54%
• Other women to partner with me 38%
• Opportunities to learn how to be a stronger leader 24%
• Knowing how to balance time along with other commitments (family, career, etc.) 24%
• Support of church leadership 18%

Interesting Findings: Women who have been involved in leading women's ministry for less than 10 years identified their greatest need as "greater involvement of the women to whom they minister." Women who have been in leadership for 10 years or more say their greatest need is "other women to partner with them."

Another recent poll question focused on you, as a leader. Take a look and see how other leaders responded. Looks like we all share similar concerns.

Which of the following would you most like to improve in personally?

• Helping others share the vision for ministry 62%
• Understanding the needs of the women in my ministry 55%
• Knowing how to reach out to different generations 51%
• Finding capable leaders 43%
• Being able to motivate my team 36%
• Staying current with our culture 20%

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This idea was originally published in April 2005 and was sent in by Tina Duckett.

Garden Party: A Season of Renewal

Description: We are inviting a Master Gardener (a gardening expert) to come and speak to our ladies. We have a beautiful prayer garden at church and we will be offering tours of that as the plants should be in full bloom. (Gardening experts can often be found through local plant nurseries or programs at local colleges and universities.)

We will have lunch with a gardening theme, serving beverages in watering cans and a fun "plant" dessert, which looks like a potted plant but is really a pot full of chocolate pudding covered with crushed Oreos for dirt and gummy worms poking their heads of the "dirt" topped off with a silk flower.

Here's what I think is most unique about this fellowship, we are asking each participant to bring some plants/cuttings from their own gardens to share. We will each go home with a plant from someone else's garden that we can put into our own gardens that will remind us of our special friends at church.

Java with Jennifer is an informal monthly ministry update specifically for friends who want to keep up-to-date on what is happening with Jennifer Rothschild's ministry of writing, speaking, and singing.

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This icebreaker is a "classic." But we also have a couple of fun twists!

Objectives: To make introducing newcomers fun and to get people moving around

Materials: Note cards, safety pins or tape

Procedure: Begin by writing the name of a famous person on each note card. Any name will do, but it can be fun to have a theme such as "people from the Bible" or "Christian music artists." Use something that most people will be familiar with.

Tape or pin a card onto each person's back. When you call time, everyone must begin asking each other questions to try and figure out the name of the person on his or her back.

Try setting limitations such as only allowing two questions per person or only yes or no questions. This requires everyone to talk to several people in the group instead of just one or two.

Fun Twists:

If you have a large group, use this activity to group women into small groups by giving them either the same name or group them by similar characters. Use television shows or cartoons or books. I.E. Fred- Wilma-Betty-Barney-Dino from the Flinstones; Mr. Darcy-Elizabeth-Jane-Mr. Bennett from Pride and Prejudice.

Instead of names use Bible verses, ingredients in a recipe, flowers, candy or furniture in a specific room.

Instead of putting names on the piece of paper, provide clues to the identity. (Even the participants don't know who they are!) Give women list of attendees names and have them write the answer to the clues beside that person's name. The one who identifies the most women, is the winner.

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From one tool to another, I thank you from the very depths of my heart for your wonderful article, "Tool Talk." It was amazing timing on God's part as I am sitting in a hotel room right this very minute. This weekend, I am one of two speakers at a conference in North Carolina. By the way, they found me through womensministry.net and flew me in from California. May God continue to use and bless your fabulous ministry! ~ Dori Drabek

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