Crafting a women’s ministry mission statement can seem overwhelming!
Teams often struggle with how to get started and what to include in a mission statement.
I’ve struggled and stumbled through creating a women’s ministry statement with two of my women’s ministry teams.
I’m sharing what I’ve learned in hopes that it will smooth the process for you.
Our team in Kentucky went through the process of updating our mission statement over the course of several months.
These are the steps we took to create a new women’s ministry mission statement:
- We prayed that God would guide our efforts.
- We brainstormed as a team a list of ideas we wanted to include on a dry erase board.
- We looked for repeated ideas, ideas that could be combined, and narrowed down what was most important to convey. You can do this on the dry erase board, but may wish to use a different colored marker.
- We worked to form a sentence that answered “what”, “who”, “why”, and “how”.
- We took that rough draft home and prayed and revised it at our next meeting.
- Once we had our final draft, we submitted it to our pastoral staff for approval.
Your job, as a leader, is to make sure the focus is on God and what He wants, not what we (the team, women in our church) want.
Here are some things we learned through this process.
7 Tips for crafting a women’s ministry mission statement
1. Don’t work in isolation.
Your mission statement should align closely with the mission of your specific church.
2. Your mission statement should be used as a plumb line off which to base future decisions.
All activities, ideas, and events that your ministry produces should fit within the boundaries of your mission statement. You may even need to ask your team, does “x” fit in with our mission statement?
3. Pray through every step of the process.
Spend time in prayer before that meeting and ask God to give you direction specifically about your mission statement.
4. Guide your team through questions so that they uncover the answers.
Write down the answers to these questions: What is our goal? Who are we trying to reach? How are we going to reach them? Does this encompass what we do or what we believe God wants us to do?
5. Don’t rush the process!
Give your team time to pray and meditate on the mission statement before finalizing it. It gives God a chance to speak to their heart and yours. We spent about 3 months working through our new mission statement.
6. Make it visible.
Place a copy of that mission statement in everyone’s binder. Make your women aware of your mission statement by putting it on your bulletin board, in your programs, on your website, in your Facebook group description, etc. You could even read it at some of your meetings.
7. Be specific, but not too specific in your “how”.
Be careful the list of “how” isn’t so specific that if God changes your direction your mission statement is impacted. For example, I would not say “through annual teas, retreats, and mission trips we will….”
It’s worth the hard work, I promise!
While it may be tempting to come up with a mission statement on your own (or with God) and present it to your women’s ministry team for approval, I want to discourage you from doing so. This should be a team effort.
Writing a mission statement as a team:
- Creates a shared vision
- Provides an opportunity to listen to God together.
Here are some examples of women’s ministry mission statements:
God has something specific in mind for your ministry, so please do not copy any of these verbatim.
Peace Community Church Women’s Ministry seeks to equip, connect, and MOVE women to spiritual maturity. We seek to glorify God and serve Him by teaching sound doctrine that trains and disciples women to know and apply God’s Word to all of life, all stages of life.
The purpose of the sisterhood of Canaan Baptist Church is to encourage women in every state of womanhood, to Grow in your relationship with God, Connect to supportive sisters in the faith, and provide opportunities to display God’s love as we serve one another and our community for the glory of God.
To glorify God through prayerfully planned activities and events for women in our church and community which promote spiritual growth and lead women to Christ. We seek to serve women, both locally and internationally, with love and grace.
To use our God-given influence to encourage our family, church, community, and world with the love of God and teachings of Jesus Christ
To Encourage, Equip and Connect Women into Community as they pursue the fullness of Jesus Christ in their lives and in their circles of influences.
To Love and Lead all [women] to life change in Christ.
We prayerfully seek to glorify God by offering events and activities for our church and community that are biblically focused and address the spiritual needs of women, support missions, and promote fellowship, thereby encouraging and strengthening each woman’s relationship with Jesus Christ. Through prayer, God’s word, and the power of the Holy Spirit, we desire to create a fellowship of women that serve others with compassion and love each other with a spirit of grace and forgiveness.
Praying God will speak clearly to and through your team members as you work to create a women’s ministry mission statement.
Does your Women’s Ministry have a mission statement? Would you share it with us in the comments?
This post was originally published in 2014 and has been updated. It is second in the series: What area of ministry is God asking you to renovate?
You may also want to read:
How to Start (or Rebuild) a Women’s Ministry
The Importance of an Agenda
10 Dangers to Running a Women’s Ministry Without a Team
8 Reasons to Develop a Strong Women’s Ministry Team
Is God calling your team to rethink your women’s ministry?
Thank you for the guidelines. My name is Mrs Rene My husband was called to pastor a church that has many difficult past with pain greed and many others problems. As my husband has been trying to put some group back of their feet. I feel compel to start with women ministry. I feel hesitant to start. Besides praying what others tips would you advice me to do.
Lovely, thank you for your comment. What a challenging situation! I am praying God will soften and change hearts. This post outlines what I recommend leaders do when launching a new ministry https://womensministrytoolbox.com/how-to-start-or-rebuild-a-womens-ministry/.
Hi Cindy
My husband and I were called to pastor a church here in Utah.
The church had gone through a lot of pain. We have been teaching and preaching in restoration.
I feel God is working but we still have those that are conformed to their patterns of the church.
I’ve been praying so the Lord can guide me in what to do with the women’s ministry.
Thank you for all your information in what more I need to do, but please keep me in your prayers because the struggle is real.
May the Lord continue to give you wisdom to help other women ministry.
Blessing, Linda
Oh Linda, what a difficult place to be in. Thank you for sharing… Praying the Lord will soften hearts and bring restoration and healing! <3
IM so happy I came across this I have a women’s group real talk real women with a real God and I want to keep them excited as well as staying connected I’m asking for some advice to keep them. Interested
Yonka, be sure to survey your group. Find out what it is they want from your ministry and do your best to prayerfully combine their wants with the content and focus God has given you. I hope that helps!
Hi Cyndee,
Do you have any suggestions on questions we should ask to our group as the leader?
Kathy, I think it’s helpful to ask the group: 1. What is our goal? 2. Who are we trying to reach? 3. How are we going to reach them? 4. Does this encompass what we do or what we believe God wants us to do? Comparing it to the church’s mission or purpose statement also ensures that you’re in line with the church’s focus.
I hope that helps! May God bless your team as they create (or revisit) their mission statement.
Finding this resource page is like finding my new favorite pair of Cowgirl boots….. Thank You Cyndee. You are appreciated. My Favorite sentence on this page is……God has something specific in mind for your ministry, so please do not copy any of these verbatim.
Mission Statements are so important, Again Thank You
Taefa, you are so sweet! Thank you! <3
Cyndee, thank you so much for this valuable resource. I am a young mother living in NC. A group of young mothers at the church are trying to assemble a group for moms. Defining a mission statement is the definition of the group. It can seem overwhelming but you really help make such sense of it all with a great frame of what questions to ask to figure out what God wants the group’s mission to be. Thank you so much. Well Wishes, Megan
Megan, my heart beats hard for moms groups! It’s where God got me started in women’s ministry. So glad this was helpful for you. Praying God will direct your steps and bring many mamas to your doorstep. Please let me know if I can be of any help!
Cindy McKenzie
January 29, 2018
I believe we need to encourage one another as women, because of all our daily chores we tends to forget about ourselves. God has granted us the ability to be multitaskers, but we gives all and don’t save any for reserve.
Yes, Cindy, we can all use some encouragement!