Please note: This post contains affiliate links.
As we prepare to move into a new ministry year, I want to encourage you and your team to take some time to look back before moving forward.
Today we’re going to talk about taking time to pause, ponder, and pray.
I have a shelf full of scrapbooks in our home and many that need to be created. There’s something powerful about looking back and seeing how God was at work in our family. We can see His faithfulness through difficult seasons.
Looking back over your ministry year can have those same benefits.
We often miss what God is doing in the moment, but can see it more clearly when we take the time to pause and ponder.
I’ve found that specific reflection questions encourage specific recollections. Details are more helpful than generalizations as we seek to move our ministry forward.
I’ve got some specific reflection questions you may want to use with your team.
As you begin the process of looking back, I want to encourage you to take out your ministry calendar from this last year. Pull out those post-event evaluation forms if you have them too. Write down some of the highlights from this past ministry year.
Invite your team to look at the last year through the lens of your mission statement.
Don’t have a mission statement, now’s a great time to create one! Check out this post for help in crafting a great mission statement.
Consider asking some of these reflection questions:
- Did your events and activities support your mission statement?
- Were there any gaps you need to fill next year?
- How did you see God’s faithfulness throughout your ministry plans?
- Did any of your women or Bible study groups experience growth – in size and spiritually?
- Did you start a new ministry initiative? If so, how did it go?
- What do you want to make sure you don’t forget?
Need some help creating a survey? Be sure you check out this post. Your team may want to adapt some of the questions from that post for your time of reflection or use the ones below.
Here are three you may want to use:
- In the last year, what did our women’s ministry team do that we should keep doing?
- In the last year, what did our women’s ministry team do that we should stop doing?
- In the next year, what does our women’s ministry team need to start doing?
If you haven’t surveyed your women lately, consider creating an online survey for their input too. You might be surprised at the things that matter most to them.
As you consider what went well in the last year, I want to encourage you to move forward with purpose. Sit down with your team and plan out your ministry year.
Our women’s ministry team will be going on a team retreat at the end of January. It’s a time for us to plan and pray about what God wants next for our women and our ministry. Perhaps before your team starts placing ideas on your ministry calendar, you want to take the time to pause and pray too.
It doesn’t take much to fill our women’s ministry calendars with ideas – you’ll find hundreds of them shared in the Women’s Ministry Toolbox Facebook group, on the Women’s Ministry Toolbox website, in my book Rethinking Fellowship, and on Pinterest.
While God can and will use the plans we’ve made, I’ve experienced the difference it makes when we take the time to prayerfully seek what God wants us to do.
When I’ve spent time praying and in the Word asking God to give our team a specific verse to guide our plans, it’s made a BIG difference. Our plans weren’t random but intentional as each one was connected by the thread of a focus verse. Our ministry efforts and team operated in unity with the same objective. Our women benefited as we followed the Lord’s leading.
If selecting a focus verse or theme is a new idea to you, I want to encourage you to check out this post where I share my process in greater detail.
If you’d like to lead with greater purpose this next year, the Women’s Ministry Makeover is just what you need. Over 8 lessons we’ll take a look at how God might want to makeover your ministry with an addition, a minor renovation, or maybe a little demolition.
Scroll to the bottom of the post for a video that contains a sneak peek of what I’ll be sharing in the Women’s Ministry Makeover.
Our planning process doesn’t need to look like throwing spaghetti at a wall, instead, we can be throwing well-aimed darts at a target.
Whether your ministry is new or established, expect God to reveal how you and your team can make your ministry more effective.
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Seeking and following the Lord’s direction in our ministries is the best way we can move forward.
Today’s Toolbox Tasks
- Plan some time with your team to celebrate last year and make notes for this next year.
- Prayerfully consider what new things or changes God may be asking your team to make in the new year.
- Consider posting some of your ministry highlights on social media so your women can celebrate with you.
- Register for the Women’s Ministry Makeover training today!
God has great plans for your ministry for this next year. Take the time to pause, ponder, and pray so you can follow in His steps.
You may also want to explore:
Crafting a Solid Mission Statement
Post Event Evaluation Forms (Free Printable)
Everything You Need to Know About Women’s Ministry Surveys
How to Select Your Women’s Ministry Theme
Women’s Ministry Makeover Training
+ view comments . . .