Where to Begin
Here we are! Posting on this website has been a long time in coming. And to be honest, I'm a little nervous. I want it to be great and posting my personal thoughts for the world is intimidating. But I'm also excited. God's called me to write and after ignoring it (for too long) I'm following through. So here goes! I've circled this endeavor in prayer and I'm anticipating all that God will teach me and do with this little blog.
In thinking through where to start, I've decided to start at the beginning. Or sort of the beginning. I officially got into girls ministry 6 years ago in May. And at the time I remember feeling very alone, very unsure of what it is that I'm doing. So what does anyone do when they start something new or don't know anything about? They Google. I Googled girls ministry. What came up was a few ministries that put on girls retreats and a lot of books on purity. So I prayed a lot and wrote some thoughts down. My dad has been super helpful in dreaming about what girls ministry looks like, although I'm sure he'd rather me move faster at what I'm doing than I have. My boss has been super supportive and helpful in dreaming about what our girls ministry looks like. But basically, I threw some thoughts down, jumped into the student ministry that was already established, and have just tried and failed and tried and succeeded at several things when it comes to being in girls ministry. And it's been a blast!
Because my first few years in girls ministry felt so isolated and challenging, I have always had a heart to equip others. I volunteered for a couple of years as a student ministry intern while in college, which led to being hired as the student associate. They wanted a girl to take that position so that the guys would have someone to relate to and the girls would as well. So I know what it's like to be on all spectrums of the scale. You may be somewhere on that spectrum: from the volunteer who has a heart for teenage/college girls to the admin who takes on girls ministry roles, to the full time girls minister. It's all good. And what you're doing is so valid and important. But it's hard. It's hard to know what other people are doing, what girls ministry looks like, and the significance of girls ministry.
So my hope is for this to be a place where we can talk about girls ministry, ministry in general, and life in general. I don't have a set agenda for any of this. I just know that i felt pretty alone for a few years, and have learned so much over the past nine years of doing vocational ministry. I really do hope this is helpful.
If you're a new girls minister or new to ministry in general, welcome! It's absolutely the best place to be. It's also a crazy place. I've found that my friends not in ministry often don't understand, and I've probably lost touch with several friends because of the upside shift my life has taken compared to the cultural norms. I've found that being the only girl on staff is a blast but sometimes emotional and challenging. I've found that it seems like we're the only ones doing what we're doing because sometimes we get tunnel visioned doing our day-to-day tasks within our ministry. I can tell you for a fact you're not alone. There is a tribe of men and women diving into student ministry. There is a village of women rising up to disciple a generation of girls, and I'm thrilled to see what happens when the women of God start doing the work of God. In the past two or so years, Lifeway and a few others have done a great job of recognizing the women championing girls ministry. There have been a great number of relevant books and Bible studies published, people are now talking about girls ministry - not just girls' purity and modesty. Student ministry in general has come along and stepped up its leadership game.
Again, you're not alone in this journey! So don't even believe the lies that you are.
It's a good place to be, so let's link arms together and walk through the world of girls ministry. Let's walk through life together. It's going to be so good.
-BG