New Ministry to Women established at state Convention
by Amanda L. Thompson, SCBC communications strategist
Hundreds of churches across the state hold small groups, dinners, mother’s mornings out and countless other activities geared especially towards women. A new SC Baptist Convention ministry has commenced to meet the unique needs of women.
As a part of the SC Baptist Convention’s Evangelism and Missions team, the Ministry to Women has been actively seeking to engage women in various ministry areas. The vision of Ministry to Women is based on three cornerstones: requesting by prayer, rejoicing in praise, reproducing by producing fruit.
“We all need assistance to grow spiritually and this ministry is designed to teach women what the Bible says about prayer, praise and producing fruit and help them to apply those truths,” said Laslene Glymph, women’s ministry associate.
Though officially established in 2006, Ministry to Women has spent the past year formulating vision and collecting a general feel for women’s ministry work around the state.
Glymph, who is originally from Jamaica, graduated from Columbia Biblical Seminary and School of Missions and previously served as a missionary in Guatemala. Glymph also worked in domestic and international public health before going into ministry full time. She is also fluent in Spanish.
“I am amazed at what God has done over the past year and full of anticipation for what He is going to do in the years ahead to fulfill this vision, working in collaboration and cooperation with the associations and sister organizations like the Woman’s Missionary Union,” continued Glymph.
Glymph has spent the past year traveling to churches around the state listening to ministry leaders, teaching and training on prayer, evangelism and women’s small group Bible studies. Glymph plans to establish regional women’s ministry leaders throughout the state and is praying for God to identify these leaders.
“They will be a resource to women’s leaders in the churches in their regions through teaching, coaching and training in evangelism and discipleship,” Glymph says.
Perhaps the largest undertaking this year has been to develop a questionnaire to gather data on the spiritual condition of women in South Carolina.
“As a new ministry, it is necessary to establish a baseline understanding of where women across the state are in their spiritual walk and what they perceive their needs to be. How can we serve women if we do not know their needs?” said Glymph.
Women eighteen years or older are encouraged to complete the questionnaire, available online at
www.scbaptist.org/womenarehungry or by contacting the Convention.
Glymph says her goals for the coming year are to complete the regional leadership team and launch the ministry statewide so women’s leaders in the state know that the “role of the [ministry] is to serve them and be a resource for them as they minister to women.”
“By becoming more like the women God wants us to be, we can do better what He wants us to do,” she said.
For more information on the Ministry to Women, log on to
www.scbaptist.org/women or call the SC Baptist Convention’s Lifestyle Evangelism group at (800) 723-7242 ext. 5300.
