Women’s Ministry in the local church has seen many changes in recent decades. In this Forum, we discuss where women’s ministry has been, where women’s ministry is today, and where we see women’s ministry going in the future. This episode will is hosted by Terri Stovall, interim associate dean of the Jack D. Terry School of Educational Ministries, professor of educational ministries, and dean of women. She is joined by Laura Taylor, women’s ministry associate for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.
The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
Terri Stovall 0:00
Well, all right, I’m glad to be here with my friend Laura Taylor from the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention, as we’re going to talk about the current and maybe future state of women’s ministry. But first of all, let me tell you who we are, Laura. I’m gonna start with you. You’re from Southwestern what year did you graduate?
Laura Taylor 0:18
I graduated in ’83.
Terri Stovall 0:19
With what degree?
Laura Taylor 0:20
Master of Divinity.
Terri Stovall 0:21
Master of Divinity, that’ll work. And so what have you been doing? What are you doing now? And what have you been doing in women’s ministry? What has your journey been? And where are you today?
Laura Taylor 0:32
I am the women’s ministry associate for the Southern Baptist of Texas Convention, which basically means that I create tools and resources for women that are in ministry in their churches across the state. So that’s kind of what I do. I’ve kind of moved through that from being a pastor’s wife and being involved in women’s ministry and home schooling gave me an opportunity to work with women, and really did some women’s ministry in that realm as well. So that’s what I’ve been doing for the last 20 something years.
Terri Stovall 1:07
So, and you’re also a pastor’s wife, so yeah, that’s why that perspective, yes, as well. So I’ve been here at Southwestern now a little over 22 years before then I served as a women’s minister at what is called filter church now, but I have served in church ministry, oh my goodness, since I was 20. Probably I tell people I’ve served in just about every single position except pastor and music, which you don’t want me to do that. So I have a lot of experience as we have been journeying through as ministries have shifted and changed through the decades. And so today, as we were going to talk about what women’s ministry is like today and in the future, but sometimes it helps to look backwards, because Laura and I were having conversations. So when we were young adults, women’s ministry was what wmu women’s missionary union, missionary union. Yeah, it was great. It was because women’s missionary union auxiliary the southern bass conventions. Convention, still super active, was really focused on missions, education, missions, training, giving to missions, supporting missions, they’re in charge a lot, even Christmas offering. But that was all the women’s ministry we had. I mean, I was a GA I was an acting the whole thing. Yeah, so that was women’s ministry. And then I think probably about the mid 80s women’s Bible studies really became a thing.
Laura Taylor 2:28
Yeah, video recordings and those kinds of things. There was a lot of dependence upon that. I don’t know that there was a lot of teachers, and it was really more video driven and books and writing in the books and that kind of thing. And that really took off for a couple of years, for about probably 18 years.
Terri Stovall 2:46
Yeah I think, I think there was a move towards Discipleship Ministries. I agree, and I felt like it was a generational move, because I was telling sure, when discipleship ministry started, my mother was still very much involved in women’s mission Union, but that was my mother’s ministry. And as my generation was trying to do things a little differently, to look a little differently than the women’s Bible study, Discipleship Ministries grew, which also grew the women’s event, I have to say, event ministry. And I think that’s really when churches began to recognize the need for women leaders to teach and guide and disciple and lead women. And so churches started tapping women who are already doing that in their churches, at least that’s what I was seeing, yeah, absolutely, to step into some leadership roles for some formal, some informal. And that’s when we began to see an increase in needing to train women’s ministry leaders.
Terri Stovall 3:43
And so 1990 Boy, that seems like a long time ago, but I was, I was about to graduate from Southwestern. That’s how old I am now. Monte clindenning started the first national focus on training women’s ministry leaders here at South and it was held here at Southwestern, called the Women’s Leadership consultation. And that really the attendance was surprisingly huge. We shouldn’t have been surprised, but it was like women, like, I want to know how to lead women and how to minister to women and do that. And so that we saw there was a need to train women ministry leaders. And then we saw at life wake, when Chris Adams was there, the first women’s forum that was there, we met in a small room. There wasn’t that many of us there, but it has grown now tremendously. And now our state conventions have people like you. I think state conventions all across the country now have.
Laura Taylor 4:35
Most states do have person on staff that does women’s ministry as their concentration, and we also, as state leaders, meet together and decide things that would be helpful and useful to women. So yes, it’s, it’s, there’s a lot out there now, didn’t used to be there.
Terri Stovall 4:54
So I feel like that each new generation has kind of brought their new iteration. Know what women’s ministry? Yeah, for sure. Here at Southwestern, we used to call the main class the women’s ministry course. I actually have shifted that to ministry to women, because even just using the word women’s ministry brings all kinds of pictures, not bad, just different concepts of what that is. It’s the events, or it’s the Bible studies, and it’s, it’s so much more, so much more so. So what would you say are the essentials in any ministry to women?
Laura Taylor 5:30
I think, I think we the number one thing that we cannot ever ignore would be Bible study, having Biblically literate women that know God’s word, that know how to study God’s Word, that know how to share with someone else how to study God’s words. So I think that is, is very, very important, knowing who we are, what Christ says about us, what you know there are roles that we feel as women and that are lined out in God’s word. So I think it’s important that we know that. So I think that element definitely needs to be there. I do think missions still needs to be a part of women are actively involved in missions. So we need to have missions as part of our women’s ministry and that kind of thing.
Laura Taylor 6:12
I think we also need, I think women need to know how to navigate and work in their individual churches, in their giftedness, not necessarily because they were asked, but because that’s their gift, that’s their drive. They’re going to be more effective if they’re doing it in their spiritual giftedness. So we as women’s ministers need to encourage them and help them know what their What’s your spiritual giftedness, and how can you best use that in the church? So I think those three, you know, I still think it’s important that we train women how to go out and share the gospel beyond the walls, because I think women’s ministry, I think all ministry is now has to be past the walls of a church. We have to have a vision for how to minister to women and others outside of the church walls. Instead of just saying, Hey, I’m having a women’s event, come over and, you know, join in part of that. That’s a good option, but I still think we need to get out there and go have coffee and and build relationships one on one.
Terri Stovall 7:19
Because I think women have a unique ability to do that, because they’re in so many different venues. They’re with their kids, or they’re in the workplace, or they’re, you know, taking care of aging parents, or all the above. And they’re all different. We wear so many hats.
Laura Taylor 7:35
And finding that connection spot with someone I work with young women in my church, and it’s finding how I, as an older lady, can relate to them. What do we have in common? How can I pour into them and direct them to God’s word and also to each other? Because we are relational. Women are very relational. So how can we I think that’s a big part of women’s ministry is connecting them with each other and connecting them to a source, like a church, that they can gain friendships and gain insight from God’s word on how to live the life. Yeah, how
Terri Stovall 8:15
Yeah, how to live this life. For sure, it seems like, as I said, each generation has its own way it looks Yeah, Oh, definitely. It’s kind of crazy to think, if we even conclude the oldest generation, which now is running their age 95 to 100 but I’m telling you, the greatest prayer warriors ever are those older women. We have six adult generations in our churches now, and so it’s been a challenge to figure out how to do women’s ministry, or ministry to women with so many different generations, so many different ethnicities in our churches, like Gen Z right now, who is our younger adult generation? They are the most ethnically diverse generation ever. And so just trying to figure out how to how to do that. And then we had covid, which I feel like we mark everything by covid Now, but covid has changed what ministry looks like. So what are you seeing some of the trends today related to ministry to women?
Laura Taylor 9:14
It’s a good question. I am seeing some smaller churches going back to the gatherings, the larger gatherings, but I am seeing some churches combining men and women in community groups, and then the women will separate out and go to someone’s home and have a Bible discussion. So I’m kind of seeing both there. There are churches that are going back to the large group kind of thing. But I have noticed that the Bible studies, the large Bible studies, I don’t really see that as quite as prevalent. They seem to be smaller, smaller groups gathering and. Some of them are age, you know, joined, and then some of them are multi generational. And that’s the biggest question I get, is, how do you mesh the two? How do you do that?
Terri Stovall 10:14
Okay, let’s just, let’s just camp there a minute. How do you?
Laura Taylor 10:17
That’s a really… I think a part of it is, is connecting them with life experiences. So let’s say I have a young woman that comes and shares with me I’m really struggling with how to handle my my 16 year old. She’s got all these ideas. She’s kind of outside the box, and I don’t know how to rein her in. I don’t know I’m not supposed to be her friend. I’m supposed to be her parent, but I’m really struggling with how to do that. So I see connecting her with one that has, maybe a daughter that’s in college, and maybe making that helping them get together and just talk through some of those things. And you know, so I think, I think part of it is connecting women in areas that they have, that they share in, in a large group.
Laura Taylor 11:10
That’s a little bit more complicated. There’s some ways to do that. You can have a panel and ask questions and then later, you know, put them together. Discipleship, encouraging your older to share with your younger. I have a teammate who did a study of her church group, of her church, the older generation that it was resounding that they said we don’t feel like we are wanted or needed. We don’t feel like we have anything to share. And the younger generation resoundingly said, We want to hear their stories. We want to hear how they navigated through this and this and this, so helping those two groups realize that they need each other and want each other, and basically laying down the the preconceived ideas and just being yourself and joining together, but it’s you have to create communities that you can do that, yeah?
Terri Stovall 12:08
Be intentional with that. So talking a little about looking towards the future. You know Gen Z, who are, and I’m fascinated by Gen Z, because they’re my students. Yeah, yeah, trying to figure out how best as a 60 year old to teach these 20 year olds, which who are fabulous, fabulous students, but they’re digital natives, which means none of this generation knows any world without a phone in their hand.
Laura Taylor 12:40
When you Google everything you know?
Terri Stovall 12:51
One of the struggles I’m seeing women’s ministries doing is that balance between community, face to face, in person, but also not necessarily shunning digital engagement, because I feel like digital engagement has a significant place moving forward, because it’s here to stay, and with covid, it pushed a lot of ministries and churches faster into digital engagement than they had planned or hoped and but I don’t think we can go back off of that. But how do we how do we use that as a tool in helping us to really and I don’t know if we have that answer, and maybe somebody on our zoom will have that answer too.
Laura Taylor 13:27
I think there’s a lot of people in the older generation that have learned or are having to embrace the digital age, so that may Be a connecting factor, helping the younger, helping the older navigate the digital age. But what it takes is letting down those walls and not being prideful and asking for help, the older generation asking for help, and the younger generation being willing to be patient and give that help. So I think it’s going to take give on both parts. It’s going to take intentionality on both parts, because I think we both have something to give to each other. And I’ll be honest, I think some of the middle and older generation, we’ve become very prideful. Well, that’s not how we did it and how we did it was right? Well, I think we need to be open to different ways to do things. And then I think the the younger generation needs to be helpful to us and patient with us and and also open to different things as well. So again, it takes that give and take in the intentionality.
Terri Stovall 14:38
And I think that’s a good word, that it doesn’t have to look a certain way, right? So I feel like there, there are some things that, no matter what decade it was in, this is what women were wanting. They were wanting to have, you know, theological engagement, engagement with God’s word, learning God’s word. They’re wanting to figure out, how do I as an image bearer of God. You. Use who I am for the Kingdom. You know, not only just spiritual gifts, but what is my heart passion? What abilities and skills do I have? Right? Absolutely, even a little bit on the personality side. Am I outgoing people, person, or am I more reserved behind the scenes, person? We need both those people? Yes, we do. And then even our experiences, because God walks us through these experiences, some positive, some hard, that we can God can use those experiences. But helping women, I think women want to be used Absolutely. And I feel like I was just going back and rereading, you know, Lifeway did a state of ministry to women’s study a year ago. I’ll be reading that. And some of the common themes in there was, we just want to be part of the body of Christ. Use our gifts and wherever that works, to be affirmed as part of the body the Christ. We want to go and win this world for Christ. We want to go disciple them. We want to help people.
Laura Taylor 15:56
So how can we empower both generations to feel confidence in Christ, to do that.
Terri Stovall 16:04
Yeah, and I think it’s going to be, it’s not a one size fits all, yeah, because we’re going to have to have diverse programs. There’s not, I want your ministry of women has to look this way. Because I don’t think that works anymore, because we have, like, again, a very ethnically diverse churches are different sizes. We’re in different places. We have different things going on, different resources. And so I really feel like we have to go back to okay, what are the non negotiables we want to do? We want to reach women for Christ. We want them to nurture them in their faith. We want them to, I say, get off their seat and on their feet and serving and doing. But what that looks like something different in every church.
Laura Taylor 16:43
Depending on what what your congregation is, what your women are. And I also think we need to engage the younger by asking them and involving them and accepting their ideas and their maybe the different way to do things.
Terri Stovall 17:03
So if you have a leadership team, yeah, oh, does your leadership team reflect the women that you’re ministering to? Or are they all one particular age or one particular look or one particular thing, does your leadership team so I was talking about the Wu and the disciples. There was a time that those two groups kind of struggled with, what did that look like for them both to be together? One of the best things I saw churches do was invite the two groups on the same team together. Like, okay, together, we’re going to plan for that. And so we it’s not that we do one or the other. We do it all. Because we discipleship, evangelism, missions..
Laura Taylor 17:41
And you can do that. I think you can do women’s ministry like we know it today, and w mu like we knew it. Then you need a missions element in the things that you do. And I will say, I think that in the in the early 80s and 90s, when we did went to the Bible study emphasis. I think we kind of begin to push missions out, and that’s sad, and I think they need to all do.
Terri Stovall 18:11
I can’t tell you how many testimonies I’ve heard of God calling people to service in ministry through those women’s mission. Absolutely, WMU missions, training and and just seeing like I can use what God’s given me to reach a world absolutely alright, do a little transition here, and we might come back and do some more talking, but I want us to give it an opportunity for those who are on our zoom to ask questions or to chime in. We did have one question, and we’ll just start here, just to kind of break the ice on the question asking whatever we want to call that so Meredith Archer, actually, who was mace 2024 recent mace grad, asked about finding speakers without breaking the bank, which honestly is a great question, because there are, as Women, speakers grew over the last 20 years. Yeah, there are, if some of the speakers that do that as their vocation, there is an expense. But not every speaker is that way. No. And so especially if you’re a smaller church, you don’t have the budget, there are a lot of great speakers out there who are not, quote, famous or doing or they’re professional. That’s what I’m gonna say there. So Laura and I were talking about so Meredith actually asked if we had a list here at swipe. It’s I don’t have an official list, but I know I have a list, my informal list, of women who are great speakers and teachers. And I think Laura, you have the same right?
Laura Taylor 19:38
I have 17 women all across the state who are top notch that volunteer on my women’s ministry team to help us do ministry in the state. And so all of them are exceptional. So I have that list, and then there’s people, women that I’ve run into over the course of the years that I’ve been at. A convention. So I have a running list with their what their emphasis is, and so yeah, I’ll be glad to share that with anybody that is interested.
Terri Stovall 20:12
I think there’s gonna be an email follow up with some of the resources we talked about attached to that part of that’s gonna have my email in Laura’s email. So what I like to do is ask, okay, what are you looking for? What type of event is it? And then usually I can give you some names on that. I think Laura can do the same thing. So we will follow up with the zoom. I think Becca sends out an email. And with that information, feel free to reach out to either or both of us, and we’ll be happy to connect absolutely so I want to throw it out there and see if there’s any other questions or comments related to anything we’ve been talking about so far?
Laura Taylor 20:43
Oh, great question, and that’s probably more what I do than than what Terri does. But at SBtexas.com we have a women’s section, and there are many, many resources that can help you to begin any ministry or whatever, but I would say the best place to start is with small group Bible study. I just think that that is the place that any ministry should begin. And you know that’s you can start it with a team. And we talk about all of this I can. I’d be glad to talk with you, or visit with you, or I have a team member that would be glad to visit with you about the steps to start one. We have a ministry model that we have written. It talks about five components that would be important to have in your Bibles, in your women’s ministry, as you begin. But you know, there’s you start with prayer, and then you start with a small group of women, you can build a team, and then from there, begin to build your ministry. So I think that would be the most important would be a small group Bible study.
Terri Stovall 21:54
Yeah. And one thing I would just add to that is to have a conversation with your pastor or with the minister that you would most relate to on this, depending on the size of your church, to just share your just the vision that God’s given you, and how that works to help support the mission of the church. One of the things we don’t want to do is start starting ministries where the pastor, the staff’s going, okay, they’re just doing they’re gonna win their own thing. But to show how the ministry that you’re you have a passion for is actually going to help him and the staff accomplish the mission that God’s given that church. That’s a great word. So Sojin is asked a question of, What did Wu do? Korean churches still have the union. I guess it was from America’s Wu. So wmu stands for women’s missionary union. And it is actually, I said it’s an auxiliary of the Southern Baptist Convention. It was started way back in the 1800s as a way to support the missions endeavors of the Southern Baptist Convention. Just before this cooperative program really did a lot more of that they’re also responsible for supporting. We have two offerings. One is a lot even Christmas offering for international missions, and the Annie Armstrong Easter offering for North American missions. So they support and promote that as well, but they also responsible for missions education from preschoolers all the way up to adults. And so we had RAs and GA, sunbeams and missions. Sun beams for preschoolers and then, all right, Royal ambassadors and girls in action for the boys and girls and in Act teens, for teenagers in it so, but it really was bringing people together to learn about missions, to know how to give and support to missions, but then also to be involved in missions, because that was their thing, pray, give and go. And that was when I, as a as a teenager, realized I, too, can be a missionary in 1000 different places in the Dallas in different ways. And so that’s how God used to call me into ministry.
Laura Taylor 23:54
Yeah, me, probably me as well. That’s pretty much where my start was, yeah.
Terri Stovall 23:59
So my friend Diane nicks, who’s online, Hi, Diane says, for not breaking the bank. For speakers, perhaps join with other churches in your area for an event next year. Expenses. That is a great idea. Great idea. I just spoke at an event in Glen Rose, Texas, is not far from here, and that’s what they did. There was, I think there was 20 churches. They were all small churches. Who are, you know, then I say small, 50 members or less. I think the largest church here has 75 maybe 100 members who really don’t have the resources to do but if it still felt local, it still felt like they could put their own spin on it.
Laura Taylor 24:35
I did that this weekend as well in Groesbeck, Texas, other small churches came together, and yeah, that’s a great way to share the cost and the experience.
Terri Stovall 24:49
That’s also a good way for small churches, because sometimes, if you’re looking at starting a women’s Bible study, sometimes the teacher guides and the curriculum is a little bit expensive, so but you. Guarantee you, a lot of the larger churches around town have Bible studies they’ve used that are not using now.
Laura Taylor 25:06
And we have a whole library that you can borrow. You just email me and we’ll send you whatever we’ve got shelves and shelves of life, wave material and others that you are welcome to use, and just send back.
Terri Stovall 25:25
Okay, so there’s curriculum out there for that, but also sometimes there’s some activities learning. Learning activities you can do is helping people like, Okay, how would you explain the sound doctrine to somebody you’re trying to talk to? This helps them put that into their words. Maybe it’s trying to find ways to teach that to their children, because I think it’s very important to begin teaching as you’re young, anything you can do to help people begin to put into their own words what they believe, and then how to express that helps them, not only to know what they believe, but then they also helps them to have dialog and conversation out in the world when they’re encountering people with so many different beliefs. And so as I tell my students here, I want you to know what you believe, why you believe it, and be able to articulate that. And so if you can think of ways, so it’s not just studying it, but how do I actually how do I truly believe that and be able to articulate that back to a world that needs to know what truth is? So that’s just one idea. We can also, again, in the email, I’ll do some follow up with that, with some other things.
Laura Taylor 26:33
And, you know, maybe have a lab, if you will, or do for the summer, have a time when you all get together and use different tools and do a different topical study, and do it together with conversation with how to you know how to use the different digital and hard copies of different Bible study methods or different Commentaries or whatever, to help you learn how to study the Bible on your own and develop your doctrine. And so that might be a good thing to you know for the summer, it’s kind of a lab, is what I would call it, like a Bible lab.
Terri Stovall 27:15
Anything lab wise and practical is my thing. So Karen wagon asked, how are you addressing the gender issues, the gender generations are facing, which is huge right now, huge. It is huge. And a lot of it, Ha is reflective of a change in philosophy and world view of our culture, anything goes, kind of thing. Sometimes it’s walking with leaders on that to navigate that in their churches. Why? A really good resource right now that I would just recommend by another one of our alum, who is Katie McCoy, who is the counterpart of women’s ministry leader at the Texas Baptist Convention, wrote a book this past year to be a woman, which I felt is really, really helpful in understanding me. I as a leader, had to understand the situation first and then to be able to have open and honest dialog with the women. Sometimes it’s working with moms who have daughters that are her who are struggling. There’s a lot of resources out there to help with that, but I would recommend Katie McCoy’s book to be a woman as a starting place, but I this is just one of those things we’re just going to have to it’s a little bit like mentoring, just walking through with moms and others to speak truth of what God’s Word says, and to be able to proclaim the truth of the gender is God given, and it’s clear that it is man and woman, and those are determined by God Himself.
Laura Taylor 28:46
And to teach that to your children when they’re younger, you know, to plant those seeds of what God’s Word says. And then for those that are teens and they’re just a lot of them are undergoing peer pressure. Well, you know, you like to crochet, so maybe you’re supposed to be a girl and not a guy, or whatever. It’s instilling in them. You know that God made them as they are. And I think we should. We can’t be afraid of the conversations the Gen Z want to talk about stuff, you know, they want to, to have interaction, and and it’s not telling them, but it’s having that conversation with them, and keeping that door open to that conversation, and going back to the standard, which is God’s word.
Terri Stovall 29:31
Yeah, and that kind of going back to the previous question about doctrine, yeah. It really, really, really, really comes down to do you know what you believe? What does scripture say about it, and can you truly articulate and embrace that?
Laura Taylor 29:44
And how does it play out in my life?
Terri Stovall 29:45
Yes, the practical outworking of things. We have some very black and white things in scripture. But then there’s other places. It’s like conversation I don’t have I’m married, but don’t have children. Does that make me any less of a woman? Or my colleagues at a single never married? You’re a mom and a grandmom, and so it all looks different in the practical outworking but there’s still those principles of what it looks like to be a woman.
Terri Stovall 30:08
And I have a girl on my team whose child has made some different choices, and so she’s doing some breakouts in our at our conferences on how to love your kids and love them through this kind of thing. So there’s some resources out there that we will be glad to give you, to share with you.
Laura Taylor 30:32
I will say, though, Terry, we need to keep the door open to the conversation. And I think a lot of ministry, a lot of ministries don’t know how to handle the gender situation, so they just ignore it. And we can’t do that. We have to know what God’s Word says about it, and then we have to be willing to have a conversation.
Terri Stovall 30:53
And I think that goes with any any topic. I agree to be able to have those open conversations, right? I want to tell I tell my students in my classes here, they can ask any question they want to, because I would rather them wrestle with those hard things here in a safer place, a place where somebody cares for them, who wants the best for them, who wants to speak truth to them, because people are going to try to find the answers, and if we’re not willing to Talk about it, they’re gonna go find it elsewhere.
Laura Taylor 31:24
And like you, I think that’s important. You said, because we care about them and we love them, and that’s what Christ did. You know he wasn’t judgmental toward those that he was in. Navigated with. He had conversation with them. He talked to them. He was playing. He didn’t sugarcoat it, but he I don’t think there was a judgment, you know, air about it. So I think we need to do the same thing. Not run but have that conversation. Be honest about it, tell them the truth, but still not be judgmental in that respect.
Terri Stovall 32:03
Well, that’s a great question, so I would suggest just bringing us a variety of levels. I would probably suggest, if this next, if they felt this overwhelmed with this study, make your next study a little longer. I don’t know if it had a lot of homework or if it required a lot of in depth work on their part, but maybe do something a little bit different feel to it is something that has a little bit, I won’t say, easier, but maybe it doesn’t have as much, it doesn’t be as challenging, so that you can help bring them along in order to be able to to do the deeper Bible studies. I had a friend once who was a spirit Catholic not used to doing Bible studies. Was a believer, and the women our church invited to join in the Bible study. So she’d never, ever, ever done a Bible study right in her Catholic upbringing, and and one of the Bible studies we were doing was when it was going to take 45 minutes a day of homework, and the author is all over the place in Scripture. And I was like, Are you sure you want to do this Bible study? And she’s like, Yeah, they’re going to help me. And then it was, like, two or three weeks later that she came back and says, I can’t do this. And so she and I took a step back, and I just had to help her first how to find scripture and where is because, you know, on the table of contents, it’s not alphabet board, and so you so bringing in things and scratch where people are, to take them where you want to be. That’s what Jesus did a lot. Yeah, he started with where they were, and you take them to where you want to be. And to say that would be every study. But if everyone with this one bump back a little bit for the next one, and then go back.
Laura Taylor 33:47
And you want them to be successful. You want anyone that’s in there to be successful and not be overwhelmed and want to do it again. One thing that I’ve done recently, and this has been very helpful, is we have the the illuminated Bible. It is smaller books of the scriptures on one side, and then there’s a journal play a place to journal on the other side. So I found, for multiple generations it’s been really helpful to okay, you just read this chapter one, you read chapter one every single day, and then write down your comments and what you’re learning, and then we come together and share that the teacher may give some specifics that are that need to be pointed out in that passage, but then they can share their questions. They can share their observations. So it teaches those that aren’t as familiar with Bible study maybe questions that they could have asked, or maybe insights that they didn’t see, but they’ll be looking for next time. And it helps the older to not be so you know, those that are more studied in the world not to be bored because they are going to dive in. You can dive in at every level, every whatever level you are in, you can, you know, put that much effort toward it, but again, just reading, just reading every day, if you’ll commit to read every day, and then have some lesson time, and then have question time and interaction.
Terri Stovall 35:16
Yeah, it’s okay just to send the Bible. Yes, and a little shameless plug here, if you would like to see what the Illinois Bible looks like, and you’re going to be the SB, because sometimes convention Indianapolis, yeah, come by the southwestern book booth and the Women’s Expo, we’ll have one on our table because we’re giving one away.
Laura Taylor 35:37
It’s the best I’m telling you. It’s been a great tool for us.
Laura Taylor 35:53
I will say too that talking about Bible studies and an evangelical tool as well. I’m going to do a little bit of plug for SBTC. On our website, we have two studies. Tea talk is one of them, and coffee conversations is one of them. You can use. These are little studies, little short Devo studies about women of the Bible. It was designed originally to be an evangelical tool. So let’s say I invite Terry over as my neighbor, and we sit down and have a cup of tea, and then we discuss this woman in the Bible. And then there are a few questions, but it also would be a good tool for a small group Bible study of new learners to generate the conversation and to teach them about other women in the Bible that they might can relate to. So those of those studies are good for evangelical tools, and they’re also good for starting, especially those that are young in the word.
Terri Stovall 36:53
So absolutely, absolutely anything you do to get them in the word anything, because I just am. So one thing, I do believe all my heart that God’s word is alive and active and every generation, whether you’re 100 or whether you’re a baby baby, that God’s word will transform lives. We just have to get women in it, because I feel like this desire for the spiritual things is still there, and they’re looking in 1000 different places. And we have the truth. We know the truth. So why not get them into the truth? Because regardless of the generations of years they’ve wanted, we’ve seen churches, women have been in the forefront of wanting to be in God’s Word, to be know what it says. Know what it means. What does it mean for my life? They want to be able to use their gifts. They want to be able to use for the kingdom, and they want to invest in something that matters, and nothing else matters more than the gospel. Absolutely,
Laura Taylor 37:54
Absolutely, and it trains new Leaders.
Terri Stovall 37:58
Discovered new leaders, somebody who may not even realize they like teaching, right? And but once you were given the opportunity to maybe somebody might have discovered, yeah.
Speaker 1 38:09
Great idea. All right, I’ve enjoyed talking to you people. Oh, yeah, absolutely I am convinced that ministry to women. Why? It may look different. Every generation may look a little different. Moving forward, Titus two is so specifically commanding older women to teach to younger women. It also says older men to teach younger men. But we’ll let the Men’s Ministry handle that part, we tend to skip over that verse, but that is such a command, yes, and whatever it looks like, we need to propel women into biblically appropriate places of leadership, places of influence, places where they can use your giftings in order to teach the next Generation. Because I feel like we are at a pivotal place with this young generation who need to know the truth of the gospel and the truth of God’s Word and who Jesus is, what Jesus did, and what Jesus will do in their lives.
Laura Taylor 39:14
And you know, Terry, it’s personal too. It is personal. All of us are somebody’s watching you. All of us have someone watching us. All of us have someone in our sphere of influence that we can be that Titus two woman to. And all of us have that come in and that challenge. So whether it’s you know, and that may be where your women’s ministry starts, it’s with just you and one other person. So, but I think we need to take responsibility personally for that challenge as well as leading others. And that means setting the example being the older woman who is is wise and in studies and not addicted to other things, and, you know, living that life and then also share. That life with others. And I think sometimes we have to, we’re challenged to take the initiative. Yeah, and again, it may just start with the two of you, and then blossom from there. So we’re all leaders in some respect.
Terri Stovall 40:13
Yes, because, and I always have to say this, because I know there’s some younger women on here that don’t think they’re older women, but if you looked at that passage in Titus, older in the Greek the older can mean either biologically older in age, or it can mean spiritually older. So I know everybody on this zoom call knows somebody who is younger than them in age, and they also know somebody who’s spiritually younger. So everybody on here is an older woman, right? Yeah, exactly. But the flip side is true too. All of us are also younger women. Praise the Lord, because we all know people who are either older than us in age or older than us spiritually. And so I also want to keep learning.
Laura Taylor 40:55
Yeah, absolutely. And I think as younger women, it’s okay for you to take the initiative if you see someone. When I was in seminary, there was a lady who just a godly woman in my church, and I approached her and asked her if she would be willing to pour into me once a week. And I think sometimes you know we need to be willing to do that as well, to ask someone else to pour into you. And so if the street goes both ways.
Terri Stovall 41:26
The street goes both ways, absolutely, well, it’s been good conversation today. Iknow Becca is going to follow up with some email and we’ll have our contact. Please feel free to reach out if, if if Laura or I can be a resource for you. We may not have all the answers, but we know people, right? Yeah, that’s it. We know people, and we, I think we’re both really good at connecting people with people. So please reach out to us. Please let us know how we can help you and serve you. And if you are at the […] convention in Indianapolis, please come by the table the women’s expo and say hello to me. I’d love to put, I know some who are on the screen, but I love to put some faces and names together. So please come by and say hi.
