When Tara Johnson sensed
younger women were not involving themselves in missions at Clyde’s Chapel
Baptist Church in Wendell she found an inclusive bridge in the Embrace model.
Johnson, a local banker,
leads the church’s overall women’s ministry and is president of the younger
women’s group, leading them in “a year of change.”
She invited Ashley Allen,
director of the Baptist State Convention’s Embrace women’s ministry, to present
to women of the church, and said Allen was “awesome” as she explained the
Embrace model, even though it is “hard to accept change.”
The older women’s group
remains committed to missions as realized through Woman’s Missionary Union
(WMU) and feels comfortable staying with the traditional WMU program. Younger
women wanted to know what the difference was between Embrace and WMU and “why
is it a big deal” to either add an option or keep what they had.
“I tried to say to them
Embrace is not a program, it’s a model of ministry,” Johnson said. “It’s to
help churches align their women’s ministry to better serve God with areas to
focus on and also provided us an opportunity to better support our church’s
mission through the deacon-led ministry teams.”
Clyde’s Chapel younger
women’s group has adopted ministry teams for missions, evangelism, discipleship
and prayer, asking women simply to pick the area to which they feel led of God.
While Johnson appreciates
the Embrace model, “Embrace is not the only resource we use,” she said. “We’ll
use anything that will equip us to use our hands and feet for ministry.”
“We’re not WMU or Embrace, we’re just a ministry team that is
willing and able to serve,” she said. Johnson said while the two women’s groups
have adopted different approaches, they are still committed to working
together to reach outward. “This is not a competition. We’re going to
do whatever we can to reach the women of this congregation and the women
outside this congregation for the sole purpose of serving Jesus.”
Participation has more than
tripled with the renewed focus of all areas of ministry which has created a
larger impact. “Embrace has been beneficial in helping us reach goals, grow in
our personal walk and most importantly, act upon outreach opportunities.”
Johnson also added that
Ashley Allen was also a key resource during her visit in helping to identify
more definitively the role of a biblical woman. “Embrace helped me start
from ground zero,” she said.
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