Women aren’t going to church. But they’re still searching for God. 

It was my third year at UC Berkeley, and the thought of going to church—let alone leading one —could not have been further from my mind. But then a few other students and a neighbor invited me to a women’s event called Girls’ Night Out. I was not religious and did not know what to expect, but that night would change my life. I heard women talk openly about things that I had experienced myself, and I learned from the Bible how everything in my life could make a difference for someone else. All of this gave me hope. It made me believe that maybe I could live with the same kind of faith and purpose I saw in these women. Maybe God could use everything I had been through, and sharing my story could help change someone else’s life.

A year and a half later, Sam (my boyfriend then and my husband now) and I were asked to start leading in the full time ministry. I said yes and never looked back.

As a kid, I had always had “big dreams” of becoming famous using my acting and vocal talents and training. But those dreams were for me, for my own ambition. They were about what I could do on my own. For the last 26 years, since that night I was first introduced to a women’s ministry, God has taken those dreams and expanded them in ways I never could have imagined.

 Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us … 

Ephesians 3:20 AMP

Every human heart carries this divine sense of purpose (Ecclesiastes 3:11), and God wants to help us live it out. For generations, women have lived out their sense of purpose by being the steady spiritual center of church life. They brought children to church. They prayed. They served. They built relationships. They often carried the emotional and spiritual weight of families, friendships, and ministries. But something has shifted. Fewer and fewer women are finding satisfying answers to their sense of purpose in the church.

Men are significantly outpacing women in church attendance, creating the largest gender gap in spiritual participation recorded so far. While I am happy about the increased numbers of men coming to church, I also think this trend sheds light on the spiritual lives of women, which we would be remiss to overlook.

Women are less likely than ever to attend church, but they are still far more likely than men to say they believe in a higher power and to participate in spiritual activities like prayer, acts of service, and studying religious texts. Here is what I learn from this: Women aren’t going to church as much, but they are still searching for God. They are still feeling the pull of their spiritual purpose. A strong women’s ministry is how they discover it. 

Life has changed drastically for women in recent decades, and these changes have affected our spiritual lives. Our educational attainment has thrived, and leadership representation in the workplace is growing. This progress has brought incredible opportunities, but it has also brought new sets of challenges for us to juggle and new roads that are largely unpaved. We need spiritual communities where we help each other walk with God through these new frontiers. We need women mentors who support our spiritual formation. We need to know that God values us and our voices matter; we are not side characters in his plans. 

This is what the women’s ministry at the Bay Area Christian Church provides—a place for women to discover the God who can do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think through our personal lives because of his power that is at work within us.

Women’s ministry is a place to find God’s vision.

The Bible is filled with women who led with courage and played a vital role in God’s plan because of their walk with him. One of my favorite examples is Deborah, a female leader in a male-dominated time who inspired the Israelites to rise up and fight:

Villagers in Israel would not fight; they held back until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose, a mother in Israel.

Judges 5:7 NIV

Deborah was a powerful leader, and she is one of many such women in the Bible: 

• Esther was a young woman who saved her people from annihilation (Esther 4).  
• Priscilla was an insightful teacher in the early church (Acts 18).
• Lydia was a successful businesswoman and the founder of the church in Philippi (Acts 16). 
• Women played an essential role in Jesus’s ministry (Mark 15:41), which would have been extraordinary in their day. 

At the Bay Area Christian Church, we view women’s ministry as essential because we believe that God sees women as essential. We create opportunities for women to discover the purpose, destiny, and connection with God that they long for, and we foster a culture of mentorship and spiritual formation so that women can grow into the vision God designed for them. We build a culture where women’s voices and contributions are represented and celebrated alongside their male counterparts, and a spiritual community where both men and women can grow and live purposeful lives, together.

We host leadership training programs every summer for young women (in high school, college, as well as young working single professionals). We create small groups for women to meet regularly and help each other live lives of purpose at every stage—from middle schoolers to moms to mature adults. We also host Girls’ Night Out events every year like the one I first attended where women throughout the Bay Area can hear women speak and teach. 

All of these efforts build a culture where we learn from the Scriptures and from present-day examples about the vision God has for us to live lives of spiritual and social impact.  

Women’s ministry is a place to find mentorship.

Our goal must be to empower others to do what is right and good for them, and to bring them into spiritual maturity.

Romans 15:2 TPT

God guides and forms us through mentorship, bringing us to maturity and helping us become the person he destined us to be. Mentorship builds confidence and helps women see themselves the way God sees them—with purpose, value, and the ability to change lives. But most women say they have never had a mentor. 

Female mentorship has shaped my desire and ability to lead. In high school and college, I held different types of leadership roles, often rooted in my desire to be the best at everything I did. Having spiritual mentors over the last 25 years who have walked with me side-by-side has taught me that real, impactful leadership is not about myself. These women have shown me how to connect as a best friend, love as a wife, and nurture as a mother. They have taught me that lasting leadership is about inspiring others to lead, creating a culture of collaboration and teamwork that lasts generations.

Spiritual mentorship is a key component of our women’s ministry. We create opportunities for women to mentor and be mentored, helping each other grow and be transformed by God to become who he destined us to be. 

Women’s ministry builds a culture where our voices are heard.

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. [31] Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

Proverbs 31:30-31 NIV

Perhaps one of the most important things we do when we build a women’s ministry is create a culture that values and celebrates women’s contributions to the church and the world. Having a women’s ministry isn’t only for the women; it makes the entire church stronger.

Women leaders bring great benefits to every organization they are part of. Collaboration increases, and so does devotion and inspiration. Women often bring the empathy, emotional insight, and relational strength that help people feel understood enough to be honest, receive truth, and believe God can change their lives. Yes, it helps women to see other women represented in leadership. But it helps the men too. When women are involved in leadership, everyone wins. 

According to Lifeway research, most churches have an organized women’s ministry, but nearly all (83%) of women’s ministry leaders are unpaid volunteers. Only 5% of these women’s ministry leaders are involved in planning alongside ministry staff. Those who are leading this valuable ministry are largely left to do it alone, with most of them trained by books and articles rather than other leaders. If we want to reach women and inspire women, we need to invest in them and include them in the direction of the church. 

At BACC, women’s ministry leaders make up half of our leadership team—a reflection of the fact that women’s perspectives, talents, and wisdom have always played an essential role in the history of the church and are vital to its future. Every ministry that is led by a male has a female co-leader. Our women’s ministry leaders actively help shape the direction of the church, mentor other women in leadership, and speak and teach at events where women of all ages are inspired to pursue lives of purpose, impact, and service.

When we invest in women’s ministry—with vision, mentorship, and a culture that values their voices—we don’t only reach women. We strengthen the whole church and send a generation of daughters, sisters, and mothers into the world ready to live for God and do good. 

At BACC, we believe women are central to what God is doing now and what he will do next. When women are strengthened, mentored, and given vision to lead, the whole church becomes stronger and more lives are changed. If you are a woman searching for purpose, for community, for spiritual answers to the longing you feel inside—there is a place for you here. Come and see what God can do through you.