Welcome to part 2 of our series on women’s ministry essentials. If you haven’t read part 1 on cultivating a culture of prayer, please be sure to do so.

In this post, our focus will be on the women’s ministry essential of theology.

What is theology?

Simply put, theology is the study of God. By that definition, all followers of Christ are theologians. We are studying God.

Biblical Example

When I think about examples in the Bible that reflect God’s heart for women (not just men) to be theologians, one name comes quickly to mind. Priscilla.

We find the account of Priscilla in Acts 18. According to the Bible and Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible*, Priscilla and her husband, Aquila, were tent makers and lived with the apostle Paul in Corinth. They were loyal friends and trusted co-workers.

Acts 18:24-26 says, ^“Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.” 

Priscilla and her husband had a solid knowledge of God’s law and Jesus’ life. They were able to explain the way of God to Apollos so that he could teach it to others.

Theology isn’t just for pastors and seminary students. We are all to be students of the Word of God.

Where do we get our information about God?

Before I share some specific ideas, we need to consider where we get our information about God.

There are a lot of places we can find information about God: sermons, podcasts, books, TV shows, movies, YouTube videos, reels on Instagram, TikTok, and even AI.

But where do we find the most accurate and true information about God? The Bible.

A great Bible teacher or pastor is going to do their very best to present God’s Word accurately and without error, but they are fallible. (And I am too!)

Our women should not rely on others to study God and spoon-feed them. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Women are meant to study God’s Word, too. Titus 2:3-5 commands older women in the church to teach younger women what is good. How do we know what is good? The Bible tells us.

The mission of every women’s ministry program should be to develop women who know what God’s Word says and apply it to their lives.

Spiritual Inconsistency

However, if you look at the statistics, we’re failing. According to the 2025 American Worldview Inventory, “spiritual inconsistency is especially evident among Christians.”

Among individuals who” profess belief in salvation through Jesus Christ and claim certainty about their eternal destiny, the study found that:

• 55% of born-again Christians say they worship the God of the Bible, while 25% admit to not worshipping Jesus at all.
• 31% of born-again Christians say they worship Jesus but not God.
• 7% report worshipping both Christian deities and spiritual figures from non-Christian traditions.
• 21% either worship spiritual entities beyond God and Jesus or claim not to worship any deity at all.”

Christians are confused about the very faith they proclaim. Far too many do not know or do not believe what the Bible says.

I’d encourage you to take a look at the complete findings. They should motivate all of us to do better.

5 Ways We Can Incorporate the Study of God in Our Women’s Ministry Program:

1.The most obvious and easy way to help our women study God’s Word is by offering Bible studies.

Bible studies are not the same as Bible study books. Some Bible study books will guide your women through the study of a book of the Bible or a specific passage, but it’s not the same as studying Scripture verse by verse.

While studying God in community is beneficial, our women need to be able to study God’s Word on their own, without a pastor or author as their guide.

If you’re looking for a resource for yourself or to help you teach your women how to study scripture on their own, be sure to check out my READ Bible Study resources.

2. We have a responsibility to present sound theology in the books, resources, teachers, and speakers we use.

If they align with what our church teaches, even better! We don’t want to cause confusion or division.

I’ve heard people say we should chew the meat and spit out the bones as a reason for using a book or resource that has parts in it they don’t agree with. There are a few problems with that phrase.

First, it’s not biblical. Do a quick search on false teaching, the New Testament is packed with passages on that topic, and you’ll see we are to flee from false teaching. We are also warned in 2 Corinthians 11:14 that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. We will be tricked into believing a false teaching is truth.

The second problem is that it assumes the audience is spiritually mature with perfect discernment. None of us is incapable of being led astray. Our audience includes women of all levels of spiritual maturity who are counting on you and your team to review the materials you use.

Before you copy and paste a devotional from the internet or share a video with your women, please take the time to watch it and think critically and carefully about everything that is said or shared. Consider using gifted teachers in your church instead.

I get this is a heavy burden and you may be thinking, I can’t police everything. Maybe you’re a fairly new Christian and know you don’t have the right skill set for this task. Ask women you know who are mature, solid, and gifted in discernment to help review resources.

Let’s aim to use the best resources, not just those that are good or okay.

3. Embrace opportunities to point women to God’s Word.

• We often display a short scripture verse or part of a verse as part of our table décor. Purchase a set of frames and create a pretty scripture print in Canva with a script font.
• Incorporate God’s Word in your door prizes. Help your women build a library of Bible study resources by giving away great resource books. Before you draw the winner, give a brief commercial for the book. What is it about and how would it benefit your women?
• Get creative with your event favors – create and purchase stickers with scripture verses that tie into your event focus. Invite your women to make a bracelet with a keyword from the passage.

4. Don’t be afraid to go deep.

Mature Christians feast on meat, not the milk of the Word. Find or train great teachers who rightly handle the Word of God and can take women from the shallow end to the deep end.

When you bring in a speaker for an event, look for Bible teachers, not inspirational messages. Avoid speakers who use emotion to manipulate a response.

Think about opportunities you can provide to help women be students of the Word, not just passive listeners. Schedule time after teaching sessions for women to chew on God’s Word with others as they discuss what was taught.

Plan your calendar year around a specific scriptural concept, command, or doctrine.  

5. Sing theologically accurate and rich worship songs.

Did you know you can learn about God when you sing about Him? There are some great worship songs that remind us of God’s character and His faithfulness.

In my theology classes for school, we had to create a detailed service including the worship songs. I contextualized the project for women’s ministry. Once we determined which doctrine of God we were going to focus the teaching on, we needed to select worship songs that reinforced that teaching. We had to include the lyrics for each song in our papers. 

For example, let’s say you’re having a teaching on Jesus as the living water anchored in the passage about the women at the well. What worship songs could you sing that would reinforce your teaching?

It’s easy to select popular worship songs, but not all popular songs our theologically sound. This will probably step on some toes, but Reckless Love is a good example. God is not reckless. That’s not His character.

I want to encourage all of us to be picky about the songs we choose. We don’t need to promote bad theology or problematic worship leaders or groups.

Find songs that reinforce the teaching of God’s Word at your event.

Today’s Toolbox Tasks:

1. Discuss with your team ways you can encourage women to be theologians.
2. Make a plan to implement at least one idea.
3. Spend some time praying for God to develop your women into theologians who read and reflect God’s Word.

Women our women are grounded in Truth they won’t be so easily swayed by false or twisted teaching.

* Source: Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, “Priscilla and Aquila,” in Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 1765.

Additional resources:
Women’s Ministry Essentials: Cultivating a Culture of Prayer
Women’s Ministry Essentials: How to Build and Sustain a Thriving Christian Community
How to Select Your Women’s Ministry Theme or Scripture Focus
READ Bible Study Materials