This post contains affiliate links.

Below you’ll find the transcript for episode 111, Women’s Ministry Essentials: Prayer is the Foundation, of the Women’s Ministry Toolbox Podcast.

Women’s Ministry Essentials: Prayer is the Foundation

I’m excited to launch a new series with you today. You may have heard that I have a new book releasing this spring. Women’s Ministry Essentials: How to Build and Sustain a Thriving Christian Community will be released on March 17, 2026.

This series of blog posts will focus on 5 women’s ministry essentials.

Think for a moment: what do you consider essential in women’s ministry? Maybe it’s Bible study or always using name tags? Maybe its annual retreats or teas?

While those things may be essential in your church, I want to focus our discussion on what God’s Word reveals is essential.

In my book, I talk about creating a ministry menu with key ingredients that will encourage your women to taste and see that the Lord is good.

While no two churches are the same because their women are different, every ministry program should include these essential ingredients.

The first essential ingredient in women’s ministry is prayer.

Prayer Warriors in the Bible

God provides several examples in Scripture of women who are mighty prayer warriors.

For just a moment, I want to focus on Hannah. We find the story of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1. Samuel has two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

1 Samuel 1:6-7 (ESV) says, “Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat.”

One day after eating, Hannah went to the Lord’s house. In deep anguish, weeping bitterly, Hannah pleaded with the Lord to give her a son, promising she would give her son to the Lord.

Eli, the priest, saw Hannah praying, but no words were coming out of her mouth. Eli thought she was drunk, but she was only crying out to the Lord.

“But Hannah answered, ‘No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.’” (vs 15-16)

There will be moments when your prayers for other women in your church or on your team may look like Hannah’s—deep, pleading prayers asking the Lord to move.

We need prayer warriors like Hannah to seek the Lord’s will and bring requests before the Lord.

5 Ways to Incorporate Prayer into Your Women’s Ministry Program

1. We should be prayer warriors who saturate every decision we make with prayer.

We typically do a great job of asking the Lord to bless our plans, but do we spend time in prayer asking God what we should do?

Just because it was on the calendar last year, doesn’t mean it’s the Lord’s will for your ministry calendar this year. Prayer is the tool we use to request the Holy Spirit’s guidance.

2. We should be prayer warriors who lift the needs of the women in our church and small group.

When’s the last time your team stopped to pray for the women in your church? If you’re a Bible study or small group leader, are you praying each week for the needs of your small group or Bible study members?

If you’re looking for some specific things to pray for the women in your church or small group, I have a free resource for you called 21 Ways to Pray for the Women in Your Church or Small Group.

3. We should be prayer warriors for every women’s event we offer.

If it’s a big event such as a conference or retreat, you may even want to recruit a special prayer team to pray over the specific details of your event. For example, you may want to pray for the speaker, the worship team, and the women who will be attending.

You’ll find a free resource for this too. It’s called 30 Days of Prayer for Your Retreat. It’s easily adaptable to other types of events.

4. We should train our women to be prayer warriors.

How many of you know women who aren’t comfortable praying out loud? Maybe you’re one of those women. I was one once, too. We can host prayer workshops to teach women how to pray out loud.

Check out my ACTS Prayer Workshop if you need a resource.

We also need to provide opportunities for our women to pray and receive prayer. Are you including time for our discussion groups or Bible study groups to share prayer requests? It doesn’t have to be complicated. It could be as simple as writing down requests on a card and passing them to the person on your right.

Maybe God is leading your team to start a weekly ladies’ prayer group. Maybe this reminder is to model prayer by offering to pray for women when you are meeting with them.

5. Last but not least, we should bookend our meetings, fellowships, and events with prayer.

I’m not talking about holding hands and having a time of group prayer that can get awkward fast. I’m talking about a brief prayer for your time together and a brief prayer of thanks at the end and for safe travels home.

I used to be so excited to get going that I would often forget to open in prayer. I learned to write “pray” in bold letters across the top of my agenda so I wouldn’t forget. Taking that time to pause and pray to God will be noticed by the women in attendance, and it will encourage them to make prayer a regular part of their lives, too.

To summarize, the five ways to incorporate the essential ingredient of prayer are:

1. Saturate every decision with prayer.
2. Pray for the needs of women on our team, in our groups, and in our church.
3. Pray over the details of our events.
4. Train our women to be prayer warriors and give them opportunities to pray with others.
5. Open and close our events with prayer.

When things go sideways in women’s ministry, and they will, prayer should be our first response.

Philippians 4:6 ESV, reminds us, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Prayer is powerful. It’s the primary way we communicate with God. It’s how we invite the Holy Spirit to lead us and give us direction.

Prayer is essential for women’s ministry.

Here are today’s Toolbox Tasks:

1. Spend some time in prayer for your women’s ministry program, your team, and the women in your church.
2. Ask the Lord to reveal any places you need to add prayer to.
3. Take any action necessary to make prayer an essential ingredient of your women’s ministry program.

Lord, thank you for the privilege of prayer. Thank you for listening to our requests. Help us be women who pray and leaders who develop mighty prayer warriors in our church. Amen.

Want to learn more about the essentials of women’s ministry? Pre-order my book from Amazon or grab the pre-order special at Baker Books here (the best deal!).

Be sure to sign up for my email list here, so you don’t miss the second essential ingredient for women’s ministry.