ELIZABETH TURNAGE | CONTRIBUTOR

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10)

When I began leading a women’s ministry at my church at the ripe old age of 31, I had no intention of doing so. Pregnant with my third child in four years and slightly panicked, I had asked the pastor’s wife to lead a short series for mothers of young children. She agreed on the condition that I would help her. When she was called to other duties, and the young moms wanted to continue, I became the leader by default.

Seven years later, I published my first Bible study and began walking alongside women in difficult stories as a coach. My ministry, Living Story, was officially born.

Five years into this writing, teaching, and coaching ministry, I found myself burned out and lonely. Raised to be an independent woman by a single mother who had to fight her way through a male-dominated business world, I began to realize such independence had no place in ministry. I sensed the truth that “two are better than one” and a “threefold cord is not easily broken” (Eccles. 4:9-12).

PCA Connect Women’s Ministry

Around this time, I heard about the PCA Connect Women’s Ministry. Although I had never met Karen Hodge, I reached out to ask her to consider endorsing a new devotional I had written. Karen kindly invited me to meet with her at General Assembly and later agreed to endorse my book.

A Christ Connection

The next thing I knew, I was “connected.” And in the best possible way. If you’ve ever met Karen, you know it’s a little like stepping into the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie books: if you meet Karen, she will learn about your gifts and passions, and she will connect you to like-minded women. Not to mention, if you meet Karen, she will connect you to Kathy Wargo, who will make sure you get your glass of milk, straw, napkin, and anything else you need to go with that cookie!

While Karen and Kathy are amazing connectors, they would be the first to say that the strongest connection flows from our union with Christ. In Him, we are united to women both like us and unlike us—women with similar gifts and passions, and women whose gifts complement our own. At its best, the PCA Connect Women’s Ministry offers a living, breathing photograph of the apostle Paul’s words, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ” (1 Cor. 12:12).

Word-based

The true connection of PCA Connect Women’s Ministry not only flows out of our union with Christ, but it is also deeply rooted in the firm soil of a shared passion for Scripture. Through the enCourage blog and podcast, the Leadership Trainings, and the various Bible studies written by the women in the ministry, we have abundant and rich resources to help us know and love God’s Word.

I have had the joy and privilege of teaching several of these Bible studies, including the Ephesians Hinged study and What’s SHE Doing Here? I happened to be teaching Hinged over Zoom during the fraught days of the Covid crisis. I will never forget how the lesson on the unity in diversity that flows out of our union with Christ both convicted and encouraged us in that divisive season.

In What’s SHE Doing Here?,  women found comfort in realizing that God works His redemption in and through our “messy” stories, stories like Rahab’s, Bathsheba’s, Tamar’s, and more. They also discovered the hope at the heart of covenant theology: God faithfully keeps His covenant promises, even when His people prove unfaithful.

The enCourage blog and podcast have also become trusted resources supporting my ministry. Last year, when I was teaching Bible study at our church on Philippians 3, I recommended a podcast episode in which Susan Tyner and Karen Hodge discussed the struggle for perfectionism among Christian women. I shared “Entrusting Your College Student to the Lord” with a mother whose first child was headed to college and  “Lessons I Learned in Caregiving”  with a woman caring for aging parents.

Relationally Driven

The other key tenet of the PCA Connect Women’s Ministry is “relationally-driven.” When I walked into the Atlanta Marriott hotel for my first LT in 2019, I witnessed a stunning visual of that belief: the Starbucks line snaked around the corner as women chatted happily; the ballroom was filled with women mingling voices in prayer and worship.

Leadership Training fulfills the promise of its name—offering excellent biblically-based teaching on subjects such as starting a women’s ministry, comforting those in pain, and teaching Christ-centered Bible studies.

LT also facilitates beautiful relational connections across generations and stages of ministry. For several years, my daughter was invited to attend while working as an intern at First Presbyterian-Jackson and finishing her counseling degree at RTS. Learning and worshipping alongside her gave me a particularly sweet picture of LT’s intergenerational vision. Over the years, I have formed many dear friendships there; we are always eager to return and reconnect with one another.

Better Together

How grateful I am that I am no longer trying to go it alone in women’s ministry! The women in PCA Connect Women’s Ministry have lived out the words of Ecclesiastes, lifting me when I have struggled through painful seasons, praying for me when I have been wearied, encouraging me when I felt burned out. Through this ministry, Christ has reminded me that because I belong to Him, I also belong to His body.

Dear friends, women’s ministry can be lonely. I invite and encourage you to join other women in ministry, to pray, learn, and labor side-by-side. In your connection to others, may you more deeply know and enjoy your connection to Christ.

Editor’s Note: Registration is open for LT! Join us in Atlanta this February 25-27. Learn more here.

Photo by Rosie Sun on Unsplash