Where Women's Ministry Meets Youth Ministry
by Sarah Flashing, Sept 2008
I've been reading The Good Girl
Revolution over the weekend and will be posting a review of it
in the coming days. Wendy Shalit does a thorough job highlighting
many of the influences facing young women in today's culture. Due to
all these issues that young people face, having to contend with an
overly sexualized society and made to feel bad about being good,
it's no wonder there is so much depression and despair among our
youth. But I can't help but to probe a bit deeper into the
disconnect between those who should be our role models and those who
actually are--if this is a core issue with regard to this dilemma.
In fact, the problem is not just within pop culture where young
people admire the the Paris Hilton's and Brittany Spears' for their
trendy clothes and rebellious spirit, the problem may also exist
within the church. In what I'm about to say in no way suggests that
the evangelical community is perpetuating the problem of
sexualization, it's a different problem but is at its foundation
fundamentally the same...a lack of appropriate role models.
Let me first begin by saying that I understand and value the
existence of powerful youth ministries, and I'm familiar with many
leaders in this area who are doing marvelous work. But....yes,
there's a but. I can't help but wonder if the existence of youth
ministry is in some way preventing the older women from having a
Titus 2 influence on the younger women in the church. And this is a
2 way street...maybe the older women just aren't interested in
influencing the younger generation. That's a problem.
I've attended a lot of women's ministry events over the years, and
only a few have had a focus on the older women relating to the much
younger women. We spend a lot of time talking about how we need to
bridge the generational gaps, but often we end up not pursuing
anything with the much younger women not involved in women's
ministry. The excuse is that they
are involved in youth ministry. It's not our job. They don't think
we're cool. We're too old. We do things differently. Change how we
do women's ministry? I think not. These are some of that
attitudes, conscious or unconscious, that impact our inability to
reach the younger women in the church.
For the biblically instituted ministry between women to occur,
access needs to be granted and coordinated within the local church.
Younger women (teens, high school, college) should not be viewed as
aliens to the women's ministry, as too immature to be involved. No,
the women's ministry should view their role as equipping young women
for successful, godly living in all areas and spheres of life. From
dating to homemaking, cultural issues to biblical studies, older
women need to be actively influencing other women, cultivating an
environment where positive and significant role models are readily
found.
With this view of ministry in mind, women's ministry had to change.
No longer can it be exclusively about the social activities and
daytime bible studies. Engaging the young women means engaging their
world, knowing everything about it and being ready to give an answer
to them for the hope we have in Christ. It's about knowing theology
and engaging cultural understandings of God and spirituality. It's
about knowing the self...the sinful nature and our need for a
savior, and how man seeks continuously to be autonomous from God's
sovereign hand. In other words, women's ministry has to broaden her
understanding in order to broaded her audience. Leadership teams
need to invite younger, godly women to help bridge the generational
gaps (intellectually/functionally) and youth ministry needs to
encourage the development of young women in the context of women's
ministry. Some churches might even consider a youth women's leader
who is also a part of the women's leadership team. The bottom line
is, if women's ministry wants to continue having a real impact on
the lives of women into the future, it must consider new avenues of
action.
This is a topic I often speak about. Should you have any interest in
this message being communicated to your women's ministry, please
contact me to arrange for a time. E-mail
