Plan a great women’s group activity

Learn the intricate details of a great women’s group activity that meets the needs of adult learners and meets your goals.

This blog post is about planning. If you want women’s ministry ideas, click here. Women’s ministry activities are a great way to bring women together, build relationships, and have fun too!

Planning a fun women’s group activity can be daunting. But like everything else, all you need is a goal or a plan. Your activities can range from small gatherings to large events. You can create them to be generic or tailored to the needs of a specific group.

Whether you’re looking for a fun activity for your church’s women’s ministry or for an event at your home, plenty of ideas already exist that will help execute an enjoyable experience for the ladies. Still, before you select an activity, you need to have a plan for what you want it to accomplish.

What is a women’s group activity? Women’s ministry activities are recreations that occur during a women’s ministry event. The goals for the activities range from being icebreakers to helping the ladies get acquainted or build stronger interpersonal connections. Women’s ministry activities can also aid in learning a subject or retaining information learned during the event. 

If you are looking for women’s ministry icebreakers, visit my post and get inspired.

As with anything in life, setting goals helps you stay focused and motivated. This simple process will also ensure you achieve the desired objectives of your activity. 

Let’s think about how to
plan a great women’s group activity.

1. Let’s discuss how to plan your women’s group activity. 

Planning a great women’s group activity…

Having an established goal will make post-event reflection slightly easier. Why? Because it enables you to measure the activity’s success after it happens. It reveals what actually happened during the activity. 

Goals for a women’s ministry group activity can be anything from demonstrating knowledge to the group of women working collaboratively together as a team. 

Do not be intimidated by this process. I will walk you through what I do. Feel free to edit as needed. You can do this! Get some inspiration from my blog post.

Step 1: Get to the “heart” of the woman 

Personally, I like to reach what is called the affective domain of the women attendees. God created This part of ourselves to represent our feelings and emotions. One source says this domain is the foundation of teaching and learning (Iozzi, 1989). 

The women participating in your women’s activity ideas are not robots who only come to learn. They are complex beings, and one particular element of their complexity influences other elements. 

For example, the sense of feeling safe to participate in your activity will influence how they feel about it. 

How they feel about it affects their engagement – or whether they will at all. 

Step 2: Give them a chance to open up and share

Women’s ministry requires women to bring some parts of themselves into the process. As you plan a FUN women’s group activity, allow for time to connect and experience the content.

That is the only way it works. Women who feel unsafe in their vulnerability will not share testimonies, experiences, or advice. 

No good.

If this does not occur, a massive opportunity for peer ministry is missed. Then, your event risks being nothing more than a social event. 

If that is your goal, that’s not repugnant or bad. 

However, even a social event holds the pearl of potential ministry opportunities. Why not maximize it when possible or logical? 

To reach the affective domain as you plan a FUN women’s group activity, ask yourself (or your team): 

Step 3: Consider how you want the women to feel participating in this activity.

Examples: safe, happy, silly, free, amused, excited, thankful, thrilled, cheerful, motivated, triumphant, encouraged, compelled, caring, trusting, compassionate, adventurous, creative, equipped, peaceful, serene, nostalgic, tolerant, receptive, loved, valued, wanted, hopeful

[Cool video on bringing people together]

Step 4: Set goals for women’s ministry activities

My favorite phrase to begin my ministry activity goal planning session is: “By the end of this activity, the women will …”

By setting achievable goals, women’s groups can cultivate an environment where members feel empowered and motivated to work together towards common objectives.

Next, I add a verb to align with my ambition or endeavor for the activity. 

Sample Verbs

Select a verb for your women’s activity goal. Some examples of verbs include: 

Improve

Enhance

Achieve

Improve

Adapt

Master

Obtain

Change

Create

Apply

Motivate

Modify

Form

Plan

Evaluate

Prepare

Assess

Explain

Prioritize

Illustrate

Audit

Explore

Focus

Produce

Strengthen

Form

Generate

Step 5: Determine the Ability part of the Activity

The ability is fairly self-explanatory. Think of it as acquiring knowledge, a new behavior, a newly gained desirable action, skill, competency, or learning experience. 

As you know, the options are infinite. 

You could have anything the Lord gives you to be the “ability” the women will acquire. It is also important to state I chose the word ability, but this could simply be an awareness or something less definitive. 

Examples to inspire your thinking for your women’s ministry group activity are: 

Communicate

Creativity to…

Solve problems

Manage time

Grow

Increase prayer time

Understand the value of…

Be open to…

Be led by…

Engage in…

Discontinue

Diminish (or stop doing) 

Step 6: Define the ‘So what’ or the “SW”?

Have you ever participated in an activity or event and at the end of it wondered, “What was that about?” 

I have experienced that many times. As an analytical thinker, avoiding this confusion is my favorite part of the process of planning women’s ministry activities. 

I want to have a clearly defined result. That is why I call this portion the “So What?” element. 

To decide the relevance of the activity or the ‘why should the ladies do this’ piece of the process. 

Ask yourself (or your team): 

• Why does this women’s ministry group activity matter? 
• What problem will it solve? 
• How will it make women’s lives better?
• If the women don’t participate in this activity, what will they miss?

It is a good practice to run your “SW” by others to ensure relevancy. 

Working in a lonely silo is always risky. Something can seem relevant to you and be completely irrelevant to your target audience. Get some input and feedback from others.

Step 7. News, Pray, Plug, and Play…

You should have enough information to structure your goal now. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in placing the right words in the right spots. Don’t forget your women’s ministry theme as you craft your goal.  Get some tips from me here.

Here is an example of a simple goal for a women’s activity:

Visit my short video covering everything I discuss here as you are planning your women’s ministry group activity.

The Final Elements of Planning Women’s Ministry Activities

Once your goal is established, the rest of your activity planning is rather simple. 

I. Outcome

The outcome is the broad, desired effect of the activity. Using my above goal, the outcome is only to “read the Bible more.”

II. Feelings

Re-visiting the concept of the affective domain, how do you want the women to feel during the activity planning? Do you want them giggly, serious, pensive, or quieted? Again, using my example goal above, I want women to feel the opposite of guilty. There is enough guilt surrounding Bible study. 

Instead of feeling guilty, I want them to feel empowered to make positive changes for their future states of being. 

III. What should women experience during your women’s ministry group activity?

Think about how you want the women to interact with one another or themselves (in an introspective activity). 

I prefer women to feel part of a group and experience a small group activity as a team. 

As for atmosphere, worship music might play in the background to set the tone. 

The second part of this planning process is what will happen during each element of the women’s activity. 

Here is a sample of what women might experience for this type of activity:

1. Women will be divided into small groups. 
2. Women will introduce themselves to one another. 
3. The group will hear instructions and have opportunities to ask questions. 
4. Women will engage in the “to do” part of the activity. 
5. The groups will learn from one another during a structured debrief process in which they share their results with the larger group. 

IV. How long will the women’s group activity be? 

This is a trickier part of creating a plan for a FUN women’s group activity. 

The previous section (the experience or what the women will do) dictates how long your activity will last. Time each element with as much precision as you can. 

Next, total the timing to determine how long your women’s group activity will be. 

V. Brainstorm ideas 

Did you notice I referenced the “to do” part of the activity in section 3?

The “to do” is… well…what the women will do during the activity. 

Sadly, this is where many people begin planning for women’s activities. I contend that you need every previous step to have a well-thought-out activity. 

Will they list and discuss barriers to Bible study? 

Perhaps they will play a game to memorize scripture together. I have a list of scriptures in the link. 

Or maybe they will create a strategic plan for incorporating Bible study into their own lives. 

Will they play a game in which you will tie it to Bible study? 

You could have them do an activity that takes away elements they need to complete the task. After which, you can link it to the importance of Bible study and the failure that ensues when one neglects it in one’s life.

A women’s ministry group activity should be fun and fulfilling. Planning will ensure it is both. 

Wait! Where is the Fun? I don’t see “Fun!”

You may notice I did not include a section on making your women’s ministry group activity fun. Do you know why? 

The reason is that “fun” is very relative. What may be fun for one group of women will be sheer torture for another. As you get to know your women, you and your team will eventually know what is enjoyable for them. 

Also, if you do not rush the process during your women’s ministry group activity, the women will make their own fun. In my over 30 years of experience planning women’s ministry events, it never fails. 

If I am not stressed, they won’t be stressed. If I don’t rush the process, they will find a way to have fun. 

Don’t be hung up on a “perfect women’s ministry group activity.” Just relax and trust the process and the women will make it fun on their own. 

Grab a Sample Activity Planning Sheet

Download a free planning sheet here. 

The document will guide you as you jot down: 

Your women’s group activity goal 

The feelings you want to evoke

The outcome and everything else discussed in this blog post.

Be sure to subscribe for more tips to help you plan your women’s ministry group experiences! Thanks for visiting!

Source: Iozzi, L. (1989). What Research Says to the Educator: Part One: Environmental Education and the Affective Domain. The Journal of Environmental Education, 20(3), 3–9. https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.1989.9942782

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