• Recognize that women are not all the same. It’s not an easy job to minister to such a diverse group of people. But anyone who wants to appeal to women in general must recognize that women are a diverse group. Worship leaders must create programs that appeal to more than one type of woman. This is the same for any demographic group in the church, but perhaps most of all for women. Women’s lifestyles, circumstances, and preferences are so diverse. Not everything has to appeal to every woman—but if NOTHING about the worship service appeals to a particular woman, she'll quickly get the message that she's not OK and not wanted.



• Respect women’s intellectual capacities. Too often, we seem to buy into the world’s lie that women are purely emotional beings, at the whim of fantasy and hormones, and not smart enough or concerned with critical thinking and the difficult issues of the day. God created women to feel and to think. Women’s souls hunger not only for the presence of God, but also for knowledge of God’s truth. Music and other worship elements that focus only on women’s emotional needs or that stay on a shallow intellectual level are doing a disservice to women and to the entire body of Christ.



• Recognize that not all women are wives and mothers. Women are not required to fill these roles in order to see God’s purpose for their lives. We cannot overlook the importance of these roles in the lives of many women, but we must acknowledge that women are unmarried, childless, divorced, struggling with infertility, focused on their careers, and everything in between. For many, being unmarried, childless, single, for example, are by choice; these are not poor, unfortunate souls to be pitied! They’re all important to God, and none of them should have the impression that God’s plans do not include them. In worship, use language that is inclusive of all that women present.



• Make it safe for women to deal with real life. Many churches have a systemic problem: keeping important topics off the “approved” list at women’s ministry gatherings. If a women’s ministry program were able to make it safe to talk honestly about our experiences with spiritual doubt, depression, injustice, loneliness, temptation, abuse, regrets, sex, career success, insecurities, the need to achieve, perfection, financial worries, sexual harassment, boredom, anxiety, exhaustion, great books, eating, addictions, and things that keep us awake at night, that ministry would produce powerful changes in women’s lives. This year, do not be afraid to include the topics that are important to women throughout your celebration.



• Affirm women. Women should not walk out of worship feeling worse about their potential in Christ than they did when they walked in. Many women feel torn down and devalued by the Church—simply because they are the type of women God made them to be. While the commitment of some women to Christ and to the church is intact and independent of what they experience in women’s ministry or a church, there are women who have written off the church, and by association Christ, because of what they have heard the church telling them about their own worth. Any women’s ministry program must make everyday women feel that they belong.

“In Her Shoes” Women’s Tea

“Shoe” Reception (Meet, Greet, & Shop)
Opening Prayer
The Occasion
Meal
Small Group Discussions (during meal)
Guest Speaker (devotional or motivational)
Testimonies
Presentation of Gifts
Closing Prayer

• Include a “Test Your Knowledge of Women’s History” column in your church bulletin. http://www.nwhp.org/whm/test.php



• Purchase copies of the 2011 Women’s History Gazette newspaper. The articles and images in the new Gazette both validate and reinforce the Our History Is Our Strength theme. The 2011 Gazette will publicize the groundbreaking work that is being done to honor the contributions women have made to the nation. Hopefully it will also inspire others to take action in their own lives. You can purchase enough copies for every member of your congregation, the women only, or as part of an appreciation gift for selected women in your congregation.



• Develop your own church replica of the 2011 Women’s History Gazette with articles, pictures, etc. of women from your own church and/or community.



• PSAs—Women’s History (Written or on CD). During the month of March, begin your Sabbath or Sunday school classes, or include as a short PSA during the worship service, a short, upbeat biography about famous American women. Have members of your congregation research women to include in the PSAs throughout the month, or purchase the “Women’s History” CD from NWHP which includes short biographical sketches on 31 women prominent in U.S. history. The CD includes both 30-second and 60-second biographical sketches.

• Invite a woman performer to portray African American women of history at your celebration program. See the NWHP listings of Women’s History Performers (http://www.nwhp.org/whm/performers.php). There may be a performer in your community with whom you can plan a special program, or one of the listed State or National Performers can travel across the country to be at your event. State or national performers include: Wanda Schell, Joy Jones, Joanna Maddox, Susan Victoria Blair, Susie Butler, and Winifred Elam. See their contact information in the Cites section below.



• Invite a special speaker to make history come alive with her intellect and enthusiastic presentation about a specific area of women’s history. See the NWHP listings of “Authors and Presenters” or “Our Distinguished Speakers Bureau” (http://www.nwhp.org/resourcecenter/speakersbureau.php).



• Plan a reception, luncheon, or event that honors women in your church and/or community who are pioneering roles models whose lives need to be part of the historic record.



• Our History Is Our Strength Speech. The speech discusses the theme with particular focus on the inspiration and strength that comes to our lives because of women’s leadership in the Labor Movement, the Suffrage Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Movement, and the Environmental Movement. Written for the NWHP, this celebration speech is yours to use or adapt for keynote addresses, club meetings, workplace or school presentations, or other events. Approximate speech length is 15 minutes.

• Ask that God will use you as initiators of change in the community.
• Map out the streets close to your church that you plan to walk and have a picture in your mind of the buildings, houses, or other objects that are along these streets.
• Plan the walk for ½ hour to 1 hour, or 1 block to several blocks, for each team.
• Organize the women in teams of 2–4 persons.
• Provide each team with: (1) map or list of streets the team should cover; (2) literature from your church; and, (3) literature on your church’s Women’s Ministry resources and/or other women’s information resources. Leave the materials in doors, mail boxes, and places where it can easily be seen.

• Wanda Schell (Available in MD, DC, VA)
  Phone: 240-329-7322
  E-mail: samiluvs2write@aol.com
  Website: www.dramaislife.com http://www2.ljworld.com/videos/2008/jun/15/19026/
  Performance Description: “For Ever Zora.” Come along on a fascinating journey with a member of The “Talented Tenth” of the Harlem Renaissance. Meet Zora Neale Huston, novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist. Travel with Zora from her hometown in Eatonville as she tries to outwit “Nanny.” Follow her down South on Folklore expeditions. Laugh yourself silly as you meet “Big Sweet” and hear some prize-winning folktales. Explore her brush with “Hoodoo” with the grand nephew of Marie Leveau. Meet “Charlotte Osgood Mason,” (Godmother) as Zora and Langston write their controversial play “Mule Bone.” This 60-minute play is told with songs, music, folktales, tears, and laughter.
  
  
• Joy Jones (Available Nationally)
  Phone: 202-832-2368
  Website: www.JoyJonesonline.com
  E-mail: joyjones100@cs.com
  Performance Description: She’s Not in Your History Book —A lecture on accomplished African and African American women from antiquity to contemporary times. This lecture focuses on historically noteworthy women who are seldom acknowledged for their achievements. Performance poetry is a key feature of this presentation. Among the women featured are: Queen Hatshepsut, Egyptian pharaoh; Dorothy Dandridge, actress; and Ellen Craft, who along with her husband, William Craft, staged a stunning escape out of slavery. Is There a Griot in the House?—A story hour for grown-ups. Listen to storytelling based on family histories of life “down-home” and in the big city. Also included is a short talk on how to develop an oral or written record of your own family’s history.
  
  
• Joanna Maddox (Available in GA)
  Phone: 678-522-5915
  Website: www.joannamaddox.com
  E-mail: joanna@joanamaddox.com
  Performance Description: Joanna Maddox is known for her dramatic one-woman portrayals of black American women in history. Travel to Freedom on the Underground Railroad with Harriet Tubman. Meet Rosa Parks—Mother of the Civil Rights Movement; Madam CJ Walker, first black female millionaire; Marian Anderson, first black opera singer to sing with the Metropolitan Opera; Dr. Mae Jemison, first black female astronaut; Bessie Coleman, first black pilot; Wilma Rudolph, Olympic Gold Medalist. Joanna is a teller of African folktales, African American and multicultural tales and original stories.
  
  
• Susan Victoria Blair (Available in Northern CA)
  Phone: 707-539-4352
  E-mail: bitofsilk@sbcglobal.net
  Performance Description: Women of Grace. This presentation uses the imagery in quilts and the music of slave work songs and spirituals, as well as African American women’s words to discuss the evolution of the African American woman in American history and society. The first quilt represents symbols of African heritage used to embellish textiles and bedcovers. A second quilt is presented to illustrate the importance of the Underground Railroad and the women who made the escape to freedom possible for hundreds of enslaved people. The last quilt was created to show an evolution from slave to First Lady. The quilts are a backdrop honoring the dignity and grace of African American women.
  
  
• Susie Butler (Available in CA)
  Phone: 510-860-0998
  E-mail: susiebutler2001@yahoo.com
  Website: www.sassysusiebutler.com
  Performance Description: Sarah Vaughan—The Divine One! Sarah Vaughan (1924–1990) comes to life in a one-hour play. An evening of entertainment incorporates a DVD telling the story of Sarah Vaughan’s life in jazz music. Susie Butler is on the road just as Sarah Vaughan was in the 1950s. The show utilizes unique costumes, props and set pieces. Brochure available upon request.
  
  
• Winifred Elam (Available Nationally) Phone: 213-489-1686
  E-mail: winifredelam@gmail.com
  Performance Description: Winifred Elam enters the stage as the Narrator character from the year 1851. The Narrator introduces the audience to the time and place in history of Sojourner Truth. The Narrator exits and returns immediately as Truth. As Truth, Elam re-enacts a particular day in Akron, Ohio, a day in May 150 years ago, when Truth delivered a short speech, the content of which is still relevant, dynamic, and powerful in thought and vision. The speech, titled “Ain’t I a Woman” holds a place in the golden moments of American history.