Today’s Women’s Ministry

In this podcast, you’ll hear Rebekah share:

• How her personal experience with a panic disorder impacts her ministry to women;
• Why it’s important to have separate, specific ministries for women;
• What churches can do to incorporate women into the mission of the church; and
• Why national women leaders need to be connected to the local church.

Read a Portion of the Transcript

Leith: Most people in the world, in America and in the church are women. Women are the majority, and if we were to take a survey — not of everybody but at least in the context of those whom you know and that you speak to — what do you think … I guess there’s two sides to this: What do they want to hear, and what do you think they need to hear? What’s the message?

Lyons: Well, the message I think is: You don’t need to look like the other woman who’s doing something. There’s a lot of push back in the Church right now around the idea that calling has to be attached to a personal brand, or that you have to have a voice, or that you have to be using your gift in these specific streams — whether it’s writing or speaking or having a platform of some sort.

It actually really loses sight of the whole point. When Jesus says, “Follow me,” he calls us into his work — not our work. He’s saying, “Take my yoke upon you.” We’re co-laboring. We’re co-heirs with Christ because of the cross. It’s the sense of how do we not get ahead and run and establish our own agenda, but how do we walk behind him and with him? And just say, “Show me where to go, what to say, who to encounter or who to minister to.”

And so I think what women need to hear is: Take the pressure off yourself that we all need to look alike, or we all need to sound alike, or speak the same language, because there’s such diversity in the body. And there’s a reason for that. God’s that creative. His imagination is that vast.

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Rebekah Lyons co-founded Q Ideas, alongside her husband, Gabe. Q is a nonprofit that helps Christian leaders thoughtfully engage culture. She also founded Q Women, focused on equipping women leaders to live their unique calling. Lyons is the author of “Freefall to Fly” and “You are Free: Be Who You Already Are.” She regularly speaks around the country at church events, women’s retreats and conferences like Catalyst, IF Gathering and Q Conference. Lyons is a graduate of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Leith Anderson is president emeritus of the National Association of Evangelicals and pastor emeritus of Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. He served as NAE president from 2007–2019, after twice serving as interim president. He served as senior pastor of Wooddale Church for 35 years before retiring in 2011. He has been published in many periodicals and has written over 20 books. Anderson has a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary, and is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute, Bradley University and Denver Seminary.