Our series on women’s ministry essentials continues today. So far, we’ve covered prayer and theology. Today we’re tackling the topic of evangelism.
Are you being intentional to tell the women at your events about Jesus? Every event?
When I was the co-leader of a moms’ group in our church in the first year of our new moms ministry, we “saved” Jesus for two meeting each year. We were afraid of offending anyone. We focused on showing Jesus’ love, but not telling women how they could receive His love.
What a big mistake we’d made! The second year, we were intentional about telling our women about Jesus.
When women come to your events, they know they are coming to a church event. They expect to hear about Jesus. We want them to choose to follow Jesus, but that means we need to extend an invitation.
What is evangelism?
What is a good definition of evangelism?
Logos provided this definition: “Evangelism involves communicating the gospel message of salvation through Jesus with the goal of prompting people to repent, believe, and embrace new life in Him.”
What does God’s Word say about our responsibility to spread the gospel?
Romans 10:14–15 says, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'”
Side note: We often equate preaching with pastoring, and while pastors should and do preach, we are ALL called to preach (or share) the good news.
All believers are called to share the gospel.
How does God use women to share the good news?
Let’s look at what happened when the women went to Jesus’ tomb to anoint his dead body with spices.
Matthew 28:1-8 (ESV) Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
They didn’t hesitate – they ran with great joy to tell others!
It should be our joy to share the good news with others!
Our women need hope, healing, freedom, peace, and salvation which can only be found in Christ. God sent His son to rescue us. Women are drowning and need us to throw them a life raft! Ultimately, we can’t save them – but Jesus can!
Assumptions we might make
We sometimes assume that every woman attending our events and activities has a saving relationship with Christ – especially women who have been in the church a long time.
That’s not always true.
I grew up going to church, but I didn’t know Christ as my Lord and Savior until I was a young mom.
I knew who Jesus was and understood that He died on the cross and rose from the grave, but the church I attended didn’t talk about the importance of a relationship with Christ.
I didn’t understand that I needed more than just head knowledge. I needed to confess and repent my sins. I needed to ask Jesus to be Lord over all my life. And I had never done that until I was a young mom with two small boys attending a church that clearly shared the gospel, and it changed my life forever.
Maybe God wants you to be the one to share the good news with a woman who’s already sitting in the pews of your church.
When you know that you know that you know, you want others to know. When Jesus has transformed our lives, we want others to experience that same transformation.
There are women in your church right now who may know who Jesus is, but may not have submitted their lives to Him.
When Jesus has transformed our life, we want others to experience that same transformation.
How We Focused on Evangelism at Our Last Event
Last weekend we hosted our women’s ministry kick-off. Our church’s focus this year is on evangelism and missions.
As we brainstormed how to encourage and equip our women to share the gospel and be on mission, I remembered my Gift of No Dishes project on the Women’s Ministry Toolbox website.
We placed 6 plates, napkins, silverware, and plastic cups in gift bags with a poem on them. We also provided invitations to our next women’s ministry event.
Everyone loves a night off from doing the dishes! It is a practical, inexpensive gift that we hope will give our women opportunities to invite women they know who aren’t plugged into a church to come to a women’s event.
5 practical ways we can incorporate evangelism into our women’s ministry program
- Train your women to share the gospel. Teach them how to share the 3 circles, FCA’s the four, or tracts. Maybe you share a different method at every meeting for a year to help women find one they feel comfortable using.
I read the book,Sharing Jesus Without Freaking Out (2nd edition, affiliate link), for my winter class. It would be a great read for your women’s ministry team and your women.
The authors focus on moving people one step closer to Jesus. It takes the pressure off of feeling like sharing the gospel is the goal. We may just be one link in someone’s faith story. - Teach your women to share their testimonies in a way that makes Christ the focus.
I created a resource to help you do just that! Check out the Sharing Stories of God’s Everyday Faithfulness workshop here.
- Include the gospel message at your events. Those who don’t have a saving faith may need to hear the gospel multiple times before they accept Christ as their Savior.
Those who are saved need to be reminded of what God has done for them.
- Host outreach events – events that encourage women to bring unchurched friends, but also events in the community where women will interact with people outside of your church. We’re inviting women to attend a craft night this spring.
- Pray for and support missionaries. At our kick-off we shared a video from one of our overseas missionaries. It was great to hear an update about the work they are doing. She shared some practical ways we can be praying for them.
Our women’s ministry director challenged us to pray for one missionary, one ministry partner, and one person who needs to hear the gospel. She created bookmarks with 3 places for women to fill in and carry in their Bible to remind them to pray.
Today’s Toolbox Tasks:
- Pray for the women in your church and community who are lost.
- Make plans to share the good news regularly.
- Make plans to teach the women in your church how to share the gospel.
I remember the very first time at a women’s ministry event that I was responsible for sharing the gospel. I completely failed.
We were at a women’s ministry retreat in the mountains. I had talked to our speaker, and I had assured her that I would handle the gospel presentation that day.
When I stood up in front of that group of probably 70 women, I punted. I didn’t share the gospel. I merely told them that if they had any questions about following Jesus, they didn’t have a relationship with him, that they could talk to me, or they could talk to one of our team members or our speaker afterwards.
I went home from that retreat so embarrassed and ashamed that I had failed to do the thing that I knew I was supposed to do that day. I did not want to ever experience that feeling again.
So if you’re feeling right now like this is hard, you’re not ready, or you’re not sure how to do it, I want to assure you that God will help you. He will give you the words. He will provide the resources, but you need to seek them out.
I pray that we will all be bold to share the gospel with the women God places in our path.
You may also want to check out:
Sharing Stories of God’s Everyday Faithfulness
Sharing Jesus Without Freaking Out (affiliate)
Gift of No Dishes (Valentine’s and Mother’s Day versions)
FCA – The Four Evangelism Method
The Three Circles Evangelism Method
Women’s Ministry Essentials: How to Build and Sustain a Thriving Christian Community (affiliate)
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