Connect with the PCA Women's Ministry:
FacebookInstagramEmail

Cultivating Community on Your Leadership Team

SHEA PATRICK|CONTRIBUTOR I’ve noticed a recurring theme in the phone calls I have received during my five years as a Regional Advisor on the PCA’s national women’s ministry team: the women’s ministry team at a particular church is unable to accomplish any of their goals because someone is trying to take over the team, or strife and conflict have caused relationships to completely break down. How can our leadership teams work together while loving and serving the church and each other well? I believe the answer is by working on the relationships between the women on the team. Even more, the relationships on our team can help our women’s ministry to support the mission and vision of the church or it can hinder these same things. We can take steps toward cultivating community on our team by doing two things: 1) remembering God’s design and 2) intentionally pursuing community...

Cultivating Community on Your Leadership Team2023-08-15T13:47:15+00:00

The Church Can Do Better

LEAH FARISH|GUEST On Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, many churches call us to contemplate the issue of unwanted pregnancy.  As Christians, we must be conscious of the importance of tiny creations who are weak, dependent, still developing, yet loved by God and full of potential.  But more than just babies in the womb, I am also describing their mothers and fathers, social workers, judges, politicians, abortionists, and pastors—all mere humans who may grapple with what some may view as “problem” pregnancies. It’s doubtful that sin is the only problem with our ineffectiveness; our limitations also hamper us.  It may seem there aren’t enough hours in the day to minister to everyone.  We can lack imagination to believe that someone in our midst may be agonizing over an unplanned pregnancy.  Or we may not know how to empathize in that situation.  Perhaps some are immobilized by the fact that they themselves chose abortion in the past, or secretly cling to that option for the future.  Maybe we aren’t equipped with a biblical basis to engage with someone on the issue. It is with our own limitations that we all encounter the anguish of abortion, and now that the subject is legally in the hands of the 50 states, it is helpful to acknowledge that the decision-makers, doctors, and families involved are also frail and incomplete images of God.  Covenant College professor Kelly Kapic makes this point in You’re Only Human—my favorite Christian book in 2022.  He taught me that limitations are something different from sin and that if we try to handle problems without allowing for limitation, the solutions we find won’t be durable.  With the empowering of the Holy Spirit, the church can do better for women who are deciding about abortion.  God’s Word is the sure foundation for addressing all problems.  Let’s look at some statistics on the needs, and a passage from Psalm 103 addressing each one...

The Church Can Do Better2023-03-24T17:23:10+00:00

Supporting Your Pastor’s Wife

LEAH JONES|GUEST I watched as a green inchworm crawled up the arm of the preacher’s suit during the middle of his sermon. I could hear the whispers in the pews around me as people speculated as to how the situation might end. But before the worm could make its way inside his suit and wreak even more havoc, I calmly walked up to the pulpit, brushed the small disruptive insect off the pastor’s sleeve, and returned to my seat. Anyone could have done what I did. We all knew he wouldn’t mind a momentary disruption to avoid disaster. But not everyone felt it was their job to help. I knew the job was mine alone. I was the pastor’s wife. A Unique Role A pastor’s wife faces tricky situations, most of which don’t involve inchworms. She has unspoken expectations placed upon her and few people with whom she can have transparent conversation. The women who serve in this vital role don’t have the typical avenues of care or companionship other women may take for granted, not because they don’t have friends or parishioners who love them; rather, because the calling to the role of “pastor’s wife” is layered with relational complexity...

Supporting Your Pastor’s Wife2023-03-24T17:44:45+00:00

How the Church Can Pray for Military Chaplains and Their Families

REBEKAH COCHELL|GUEST The young soldier sitting across the desk from my husband was around 20 years old. He was tall and thin with a foreboding look on his face. He was a little uncomfortable as he had never talked to a counselor before and had never been to church. He was an atheist. Yet, there he was, sitting across from a Christian chaplain, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church of America.  He had recently run into some trouble and his commander sent him to speak to the chaplain. By the time the counseling session ended, the young man had a relaxed smile on his face. He came back regularly for counseling. Curious about Christianity, he asked many questions, and they had some deep theological conversations. He became the type of soldier who noticed when other soldiers were struggling or in any type of trouble and encouraged them to go to “Chap” for counseling. This is a typical experience in my husband’s ministry as a military chaplain...

How the Church Can Pray for Military Chaplains and Their Families2023-03-24T17:46:05+00:00
Go to Top