SHELBY TOWNSHIP – I am the women’s ministry leader at Lakepointe Church and God put it on my heart a few years ago to build a team to help me lead the women of our church. I began praying about who God would want me to invite to be part of this team. Right away I felt Him impress on my heart that I needed Spirit-led women. In ministry, we deal with many situations and issues, and I wanted to know that the women I chose to be part of this team had a growing and thriving relationship with Jesus and could recognize His voice.
After praying over this for quite some time, God put six women on my heart to join me. God is so good at confirming where he is leading us; during this time, I was praying about who to add to this team, and as I was reading in Acts, God spoke directly to my heart.
“Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.” – Acts 6:3 (NIV)
God spoke, then He confirmed, and they all accepted the invitation! This team has helped me plan and execute events this year. They have also been given the opportunity to hold their own connection gatherings throughout the year to help connect women within our church to get to know each other better. We also pray monthly as a team for each other, the women in our church, and our church as a whole.
At our very first meeting, I told the team I wanted to take them on a retreat. As leaders in ministry, it is vital that we are poured into by God in order to pour out and minister to the women of our church. They all agreed to go and we set a date.
The word “retreat” can mean many things to different people. I am not sure if this team knew what to expect when they were first asked to attend. This was a spiritual retreat for them to get away and have time to be present with Jesus. Jesus modeled this in Mark 6, after a busy day in ministry.
“The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” – Mark 6:30-31 (NIV)
That is what we did! We got away to a quiet place and had time with our Lord. We worshiped, we prayed, we spent time alone with our Father.
It is vital that we have time with God each day, but it is also important to get away from the daily tasks and responsibilities to be fully present with Him! It is easy to get into a routine where we have our quiet time and check it off our “to do” list, but we may not always take the time to be still in His presence to hear Him speak to us. God wants us to REST in Him. I love to think of this acrostic when it comes to RESTing in Christ:
R – Resist the desire to be in control
E – Escape to a quiet place
S – Be still and listen
T – Talk to God
As we REST in Christ and allow Him to pour into us, we are filled to the brim, ready to return to ministry and pour out to others. God not only poured into us individually on this retreat, but He united our team together in a deeper way.
If you lead the women’s ministry at your church, I want to encourage you with two things.
1. Don’t lead alone.
Ask God to show you who you can invite to come alongside you to minister to the women He has entrusted to you. It is so much better to lead together! I am reminded of this verse:
“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!” – Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (NIV)
2. Pour into your leaders.
We can’t lead others well if we don’t first lead ourselves well. Take the time to meet regularly with your leaders; pray together and worship together. When we are united in Christ, the enemy can’t get a foothold and we can accomplish more for the Kingdom!
“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” – Ephesians 4:11-13 (NIV)
God clearly showed me this year was a team-building year. However, I am excited now to move forward to 2025 and Lord willing, we plan to offer a spiritual retreat churchwide for our women.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Karen is married to Scott Blanchard, pastor of Lakepointe Church, and moved from Florida to Michigan in the summer of 2009 to plant Lakepointe Church in Shelby Township. She enjoys mentoring and discipling women and also leads women’s life groups through her church. She is passionate about helping women find their purpose in who God created them to be. She is on staff at Lakepointe Church and loves being part of what God is doing in the Metro Detroit area!