Women’s Ministry Goals and Objectives

Running a thriving women’s ministry takes dedication and commitment to the overarching vision. Establishing women’s ministry goals and objectives is the first step toward leveraging excitement and establishing a purpose. You will nurture your vision for the women’s ministry as a new mother nurtures her newborn child. Women ministry leaders tend to be passionate about the ministry because it is something God calls them to do. Running a women’s ministry is a great deal of work.

It’s much like being a pastor’s wife – no one really applies for the job. Yet, women step into the role willingly because they understand the far-reaching implications of building the Kingdom of God through its women.

This makes the work essential, and vital work should be well-defined with solid goals and objectives. This article will share some tips for writing women’s ministry goals and objectives that will guide the work and make evaluating its progress easier. 

What are women’s ministry goals and objectives? Women’s ministry goals are the desired end result or outcome of what the ministry hopes to achieve. The women’s ministry objectives are the specific, time-sensitive action steps the ministry team needs to complete to satisfy the ministry goals. 

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of developing your women’s ministry goals and objectives, let’s talk about some other ministry structure elements you will want to consider. 

Women’s ministry goals and objectives prerequisites

Women’s Ministry Purpose Statement 
& Recording the intention of your women’s ministry

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When you set out to start a women’s ministry, it is vital to begin by defining its purpose. 

“I know what I want to do in my mind,” a young women’s ministry leader once told me. 

Having it in one’s mind is fine, but it is nothing until written down.

While thoughts are powerful, they are not effective until evaluated and measured.

Writing down your purpose statement and women’s ministry goals and objectives will make them “real.” After you see it, you will be able to see its weaknesses and areas that need improvement. You may even see that it needs honing and development. 

Have you ever had to make a big decision? If you did, you likely decided to weigh the pros (or good points) against the cons (bad points).

It’s challenging to do this exercise mentally. Writing it down – so you can see – it makes it so much more apparent. Writing your plan and purpose statement works the same way. Write it down. 

Take a moment to write down three potential purpose statements for your ministry. They don’t have to be perfect. You won’t share them with anyone. Just take a moment and write a few down. 

It’s a starting point. 

The Strategic Plan for Women’s Ministry 

Your ministry’s strategic plan defines what you want your ministry to be in the future and the steps you’ll take to get there. 

Do you want your women’s ministry to be a fellowship-oriented ministry that brings women together three times a year? 

What steps will you take to do that?

How will you find the venues for the meetings and events? Where will you find the women? How will you inspire them to attend? Will you have incentives like giveaways or raffles? How will you solicit them? Where will they be stored? Who will catalog them? 

PLEASE don’t allow me to make the strategic plan as simple as answering a few questions, far from it. Strategic planning processes can be complex and involve several stakeholders. Watch for my soon-coming article on writing your strategic plan. For now, suffice it to say you want to consider compiling your planning documents into one. 

Clear ministry goals and objectives are the first steps of a clear plan

As mentioned earlier, setting goals and objectives for your program is a critical part of the program design process. 

Clear, measurable goals will help you track progress and provide direction for the work you outline in your strategic plan. In this guide, I’ll explore formulating practical program goals and objectives from conception to evaluation.

Consider the types of goals that your ministry aims to achieve – such as providing educational opportunities or encouraging college women to live for Christ – and draft a mission and vision statement that reflects those values. 

I have frequently mentioned a women’s ministry vision statement on Women’s Ministry Resources.com. It is the aspirational desire you want the women’s ministry goals and objectives to accomplish. 

Sample Vision Statement: “Well-balanced, Biblically-literate Christian women who are living boldly and courageously for Jesus.” 

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Did the vision statement evoke emotion or a small degree of excitement? It should. If not, consider what would make your vision statement pique your women’s ministry passion. 

Seek Out Mentors and Resources to Help Your Ministry (and you) Grow.

So far, I’ve talked about two essential elements of your goals – a vision and a plan. Next, let’s talk about something that may not seem directly related to your ministry goals and objectives, but it can be because it will provide examples and models to follow. 

One of the most critical elements of running an effective women’s ministry is finding resources to help you grow. 

Seasoned Christian women who have experienced success with their women’s ministries could be terrific resources for you as you design your women’s ministry goals and objectives. 

Be sure to choose women who have successfully managed a ministry or nonprofit organization before and ask for their advice and experience.

Run your ideas by them and ask for honest feedback. Have your ministry goals and objectives “sketched” out and invite them to critique them. Further, ask to see their ministry goals as examples. 

The most knowledgeable and successful women are typically busy. Maybe ask for two weeks of their time to chat with you. You can meet via Zoom, communicate via email, or talk on the phone. 

You may find they will work with you for longer periods of time. Still, offer to put a time limit on the relationship to be considerate of their busy schedule.

Attend Networking Events

This, like finding a mentor, may not seem to be a necessary part of defining your women’s ministry goals and objectives, but it can be. 

Network with local entrepreneurs and businesswomen in order to get ideas and systems for your women’s ministry.

You can learn from them and discover how they process things and manage their business systems. 

Consequently, running a business is not much different from running a business. Ask questions. Raise your hand and engage. Besides, you never know who is a Christian and may be willing to help you in ways you never could have imagined! 

Get out there! 

Local Chambers of Commerce often host networking events open to the public. Also, visit the American Business Women’s Association’s (or ABWA) website and see if they host networking opportunities in your community. I’ve been to several through the years and am not a member. I typically pay whatever fee to attend and network like a pro.

Another point to consider. As you attend these events, God can also use you to bless someone else. You’re salt and light. Go out in the world where they need to see you shine bright!

Again, you can “bump” into some exciting partnerships, collaboration, and learning. 

Additionally, look into any formal mentorships, courses, websites, emails, and other online resources that can provide information about growth planning and management. 

Ask questions about their business goals and objectives. Once you build a rapport, ask someone how they created the goals and objectives for their business ventures. Always ask to see their examples. 

All they can say is “no,” and no one ever perished from a “no.”

Now, Goals and Objectives…

Let’s transition into crafting your women’s ministry goals and objectives.

An effective way to approach goal-setting is the SMART framework. I know you’ve heard of it. 

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. 

To be specific, your goals are specific when they state what needs to be accomplished as a result of your program or activity. This means you keep drilling it down until it is incredibly clear. 

The goal will answer questions like: 

• What do you expect to achieve 
• Who will be responsible for doing it?
• Detail accountability
• Use action verbs to express physical or mental action. 

Use action verbs designed for resumes or even learning objectives. Google each, and you’ll see examples. A list of action verbs I like to use for goals is on the University of Boulder website. You can find it here. See some of the examples below:

Instead of writing a goal of “plan and host women’s events,” try “Plan and organize women’s events for women to explore and develop their spiritual gifts.”

The right words contribute to specificity. 

Measurable Women’s Ministry Goals

Provide some key indicators of success (e.g., percentage of participants that use the intervention) to your goal. Quantifiable statements are easy to measure. For example, instead of writing a goal of: 

“Plan and organize women’s events for women to explore and develop their spiritual gifts.”

Try stating your ministry goal in a measurable format. Say it will: 

“Plan and host 3 women’s events each year for 100 women to explore and develop their top 3 spiritual gifts.”

Additionally, ensure that your goals are attainable based on the resources available. If you are a team of “1”, you may plan for 10 women and fewer events. The “attainable” element is determined by whether or not you can do it. Simple as that. 

As for the relevant part of the Women’s Ministry SMART goals, make sure someone cares about what you are endeavoring to provide. 

Personally, I do not believe every goal should be time-bound. However, it does help some people to have deadlines. If you opt for a time-bound goal, here is an adaptation from the sample goal we have worked with thus far. 

“By 2025, we will plan and host 3 women’s events for 100 women to explore and develop their top 3 spiritual gifts.”

We could have left the “by the end of the year” statement in the goal, but for the purpose of the SMART goal format, it is better to be clear and specific. Besides, “by the end of the year” does not give a specific array. It could be for virtually any year. SMART goals are more specific than that. 

Identify strategies to reach those goals and objectives.

Once you have identified the specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely goals for your program or activity, think about ways to reach them. To do this well, a comprehensive assessment of the resources available should be conducted. 

This includes evaluating staff members’ skills and knowledge, financial resources, community partners, and other stakeholders involved in the program or activity. 

Consider also what strategies could work best to achieve success by understanding problems from different perspectives and considering factors like existing structures and timeframe.

All this will help you to create an action plan capable of reaching your desired objectives effectively!

Women’s Ministry Objectives 

Objectives are the steps you take to meet the goals. Some call them activities. However, activities are difficult to measure for effectiveness. 

Those specific steps that lead to the successful completion of the goal are the objectives. Each women’s ministry
goal should have at least three corresponding objectives. 

Women’s ministry goals and objectives go hand in hand. Completing the objectives results in completing the goals. Similarly, the completion of the goals results from the completion of the objectives. 

Women’s Ministry Goals and Objectives usually accomplish something. Something like: 

Increasing something
Making something
Teaching something
Improving something
Reducing something
Developing someone
Encouraging someone
Equipping someone
Providing for someone
Blessing someone

Writing Women’s Ministry Goals and Objectives 

Finally, crafting women’s ministry goals and objectives is not a speedy process.

Give yourself a month and plan on at least 3-4 ministry team meetings to define them. Goals are living and may shift and change sometimes based on leadership decisions, resources, or even weather (if your program is usually outside). If you are taking over an existing women’s ministry, give yourself even more time to navigate the ministry’s past situations and existing dynamics (team, messes created before you came, etc.)

Women’s Ministry Goals will keep your ministry on target to accomplish the vision God has given you. Whether you write goals for the ministry as a whole or for an event, it will be the measuring stick to gauge whether or not you were successful in your endeavors. 

Additional Online Resources for Writing Smart Goals 

The Ultimate Guide To S.M.A.R.T. Goals
Source: Forbes.com
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/smart-goals/

Developing Program Goals
and Measurable Objectives
Source: Centers of Disease Control and Prevention

https://www.cdc.gov/std/program/pupestd/developing%20program%20goals%20and%20objectives.pdf