161: Helping Women Connect, Grow, & Thrive In Different Stages & Seasons

Have you ever noticed that “one-size-fits-all” doesn’t really fit anyone well? The same is true in ministry. 

In this episode, we’ll explore how to build a women’s ministry that truly meets women where they are—whether they’re just starting their faith journey, deepening their walk with God, or seasoned in spiritual maturity. 

Filled with practical ideas and real-life examples, come discover how to create a space where all women feel seen, supported, and empowered to grow.

Join our free Facebook Community: www.facebook.com/groups/smallchurchministry


Rate, Review, & Follow Laurie on Apple Podcasts

"I love Laurie and The Small Church Ministry Podcast!!" << If that's like you, please consider rating and reviewing my show! This helps Small Church Ministry support and reach more people -- just like you -- in small churches! Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then, let us know what you loved most about this episode!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, follow the podcast. This is the best way to stay updated on the new episodes we release weekly. If you’re not following, there’s a good chance you’ll miss out on future episodes. Follow now!

Get the Ministry Bundles here!

Transcript

Laurie Acker: 0:01

Hey, this is Laurie Acker, welcome to the small church ministry podcast. Hey, hey. Welcome to Episode 161 of the small church ministry podcast. We are wrapping up our month long focus on women's ministry and today, little bit of a special we have a special sneak peek into our conference that we held last weekend every January, the last Saturday in January. For a few years now, we have held a free conference for women's ministry in small churches, and we have 1000s of people from all over the world grabbing tickets to this free event that we have that happens live and virtually in a really cool conference platform. So if you weren't able to join us live, here is a peek at our very first session that happened on Saturday morning, and if you were with us live, this is a great way just to share some of the excitement, some of the energy, some of the learning that we had with other people, because we definitely all had people we were wishing were there with us. So enjoy this episode. Hey, hey. Welcome to 2025 the women's ministry for small churches conference. We are so glad you're here. Hopefully you have found this stage. We know a few other people are kind of wandering in. We're going to give you a little orientation of the platform, just so you can navigate. This morning, I'm going to give some announcements this morning. We do have a main stage talk this morning. We're going to jump into conference content. But before we do all that, I have invited Charmaine to kind of open us up for the conference, set a little bit of a tone, and just get us, I don't know, like maybe quieted down in our hearts. However you're coming in is how we're coming in. So sometimes we've got stress, sometimes we're excited, sometimes we're nervous, sometimes our tech isn't working, sometimes we're frustrated, like we're all coming in to this place that we all have in common, but we're coming in differently, right? And so I just asked Charmaine just to come and open us and just bring us together. Sharmini,

Charmaine Stulp: 2:13

well, it is so wonderful to be here with all of you, and we are thrilled to have you. And I've opened conferences before with this prayer from Father Thomas Keating. And I invite you, wherever you are, to put both of your feet on the floor so that you just feel that sense of security and grounding. I invite you to hold your hands out or put them on your heart or your soul, or just whatever. Maybe your shoulders are super tense and you want to put your hands there. Maybe you have butterflies going on in your gut, or you feel that panic. Whatever it is, I actually just invite you to name it, to notice it to take a deep breath and to hear the words of this prayer. Welcome, welcome, welcome. I welcome everything that comes to me today, because I know that it's for my healing. I welcome all thoughts, feelings, emotions, persons, situations and conditions, I let go of my desire for power and control. I let go of my desire for affection, esteem, approval and pleasure. I let go of my desire for survival and security, I let go of my desire to change any situation, any condition, any person or myself, and I open to the Love and the presence of God and God's action within Amen.

Laurie Acker: 4:26

Amen. Thank you for being here, Charmaine, and everybody in the chat. I love how people have already been putting where they're from. If you haven't yet, would you please introduce yourself in the chat? And we know that a large majority of people here have never been to our conferences. I'm going to just do a little quick introduction of me and what we do here, and a little bit about our culture. Then we are going to jump into the main stage talk today, and I'll share a little bit about that. We also have some different announcements, just to get a couple of those out of the way, because people are asking, we would like to make sure that you have the absolute. Experience at the conference. If there's any way you can be on a computer or a laptop, you will have a better experience. Mobile devices are a little bit tricky for some of our features. If you do have any issues during the conference, email, hello at small church ministry.com, they literally are sitting on the email all day today just to help you. Maggie or Allie will get back to you with anything you need. So if you have issues during the conference, even if it's tech stuff, like I can't hear, feel free to email Hello at small church ministry com, sometimes those chats go by really fast. We want to see you, we want to recognize you. We want to hear you. But sometimes it goes fast that we don't see it. So please make use of that email. We do have a prayer room that's open today. The prayer room is open all the time, except during the main stages, how to find the prayer room is you'll actually click the sessions icon on the left, and then you'll see different rooms there. You may have to scroll because there's a fifth room oftentimes, and that's the prayer room at the bottom. So we'll talk to you a little bit about how to navigate this platform in a minute. We also have conference bingo happening right now. You'll watch some people like saying bingo, she'll Maggie has dropped the link in the chat. It's oftentimes pinned at the top, but if you do win bingo, cross his way anyway. And we don't need to see your card, we don't need to, like, verify anything. We just on your honor bingo, then put bingo in the event chat. And every hour, we will announce winners from our bingo game and CTA Inc Christ to all incorporated has given us all the bingo presents. They actually will mail them to you. They're a fabulous ministry partner. If you haven't heard of them, we really just kind of encourage you to check them out for sure. Last announcement, the VIP bundle is available if you are looking for replays, we will make sure to also drop that link in there as well. The VIP bundle is like over $2,000 of resources for like, 90% off. So you may want to check that out before you leave today. It's only available for a short time. Oh, and there's a network scholarship application. Totally forgot. If you do want to apply for the network scholarship, you'll hear more about that during the day, okay, but we do need applications in tonight. I know many of you have already done that, so, and I'll talk about that again at the end. So let's just take a breath and get started. And if you're if this is your first time in your conference, you're like, I don't know how to get anywhere. I will tell you that at the end. But right now, we are here, so we don't need to worry about where to go next. We don't need to worry about the schedule. We don't need to worry about what these icons mean. We don't need to worry about what's around us on the screen. We just get to be here now together. My name is Laurie Graham, and I do run the small church network and small church ministry, and we've been in existence since 2020 and we have grown like wildfire, because very early on, it became very apparent that no one really speaks to small churches, and definitely no one speaks to volunteers in small churches. There's a few people out there speaking to pastors in small churches, but mostly it's about how to grow their church. And almost no one. Well, it was no one at the time, was speaking to volunteers and ministry leaders in small churches about how amazing small churches are, about how small church is actually very much like Jesus style ministry, about how we need to kind of reframe our minds that God is already at work. You know, we say God's at work at two or three, but if our church is only 20 or 40, we say God's not at work like he can't work until we grow. That's so not true. Like God is at work all the time. And so we've been around since 2020 as an organization, we have run online conferences since October of 2020 and this is our 17th conference, and they're growing all the time, and I believe it is because God is growing his church. I believe that's why we're growing if you can picture the globe with little, tiny satellites and light, is that not a great strategy to reach the world? Like mega churches reach, you know, within an area, right? But I'm also going to say how many people don't like mega churches? How many people are done with the show of church? I have many young adults in my family, and they don't even like the showy churches with the big bands and the lights and the really cool drum sets. Well, they do like cool drum sets, but what I'm saying is that is not the church they're looking for. Did you know that what many, many, many people are looking for today is authenticity. They're looking for a place where they can be seen and loved and heard. Loneliness is an epidemic. Do you know this? The stats on loneliness are crazy. Did you know that loneliness affects your physical health? I just listened to a podcast last week, and it said the physical impact of loneliness on your health is the same as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. I'm not kidding. That is literally statistical, that the effects of loneliness on your physical health. Health, heart, heart issues, blood pressure, all that kind of stuff. It's the same as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Is that crazy? So why don't we stand up against the epidemic of loneliness? And you know that you can be lonely in a crowd. Small churches are a beautiful place to feel seen, to be heard, to be listened to, to be loved. That is what Jesus did. Jesus. Jesus did not get bummed out. If there was not a large crowd. He did speak to large crowds. But quite honestly, I can see his eyes light up a lot more when he said, Hey, Zacchaeus, come on down. I'm going to your house today. Hey, woman who's about to get stoned, looking around the crowd, whoever's without sin, you go ahead and throw a rock. I'm not gonna These are small situations. You can absolutely bet, when the little boy walked up with a couple fish and loaves that Jesus did not say, I got this crowd here. Get out of my way. He stopped. He bent down. He looked at that little boy, and he knew the potential of what that little boy brought. Have you ever thought about that? Who changed the world that day? What changed the world that day? Yes, Jesus spoke. What changed the world that day, the little boy who we do not know his name and we will never know his name, participated in God's huge work so if we can come and bring ourselves, which is harder than it looks, and we're going to talk about that, we can change the whole world. We are changing the whole world. Somebody yesterday at the kickoffs, and if you weren't able to come to the kickoffs. I'm sorry you missed it, but at the next conference, would you please come to the kickoffs? Like, even if you're not involved in kids and youth ministry, come anyway. You're gonna get a lot out of it. The kickoffs are so cool because they're intimate. We get to know people we we're sharing our screens more, and they're just really kind of chill and casual. But at the kickoff at the end, somebody said there were four of us on the screen at the time. Somebody said, are you all in small churches? And I'm gonna, I don't know the motivation of that person who asked the question, but I will tell you the motivation of many people when they ask that question. It's there's a thought that the best, most amazing people are in large churches. Have you ever seen that like, do we really think, really knowing our God, that God puts the most talented people in big, mega churches? That would be so mean. It would just be so mean. Do you know where God's most amazing, talented, willing, giving people are they're everywhere. We don't raise up in the ranks in in church size, some of the most amazing pastors I know are in a rural area in Illinois, because God knows, those people in rural Illinois need a great pastor. Some of those almost amazing volunteers in women's ministry are in the tiniest churches, because you know what? God cares about those five people, those 20 people, those 100 people in the radius of that tiny church, as much as he cares about everybody else. Another motivated to ask the question, how many people are in your church? Are you really in a small church? Is to know that we're not alone, that we get it. You may be here in a church of five or 20 or 200 or 500 or 10 or a church plant. Your church may be declining. Your church may be older, where you are terrified that the church is going to shut down, you are not alone. I promise you, we all get it. We have been there, and we love small churches, and God is at work in that church that's over age 60, where you're terrified it's going to shut down. God is at work right now in that church, he is at work in your women's ministry. And may I say in your heart, even if nobody showed up to your event, we're going to talk. Talk about that you are with people who get it right here, and speaking of being with people who get it, if you have ever been frustrated because you bought a book on women's ministry, anybody like, if we were in a live audience, I'd be like Porter and up. If you bought a book or a curriculum in women's ministry and you're reading it, going, this doesn't apply to going, this doesn't apply to my church. Or better yet, if you have paid a bunch of money to go to a conference on women's ministry or a ministry conference, and you walked away deflated, like I can't do anything. They taught you are also not alone. Small church ministry is not less, but it is really, really different. Let me say that again, small church ministry is not less, but it is really, really, really different. And I've never, like thrown this out as a quote, but I think in a lot of ways, and please don't quote me. Don't tell anybody I said this, because it makes people feel bad and like little stepped on. I think small church ministry can be better than large church ministry can be God is at work in every size church, but small church ministry, I really believe that's as close to the heart of Jesus as you can get. Jesus was the King of Rejection. Like think of that today. If Jesus was on the planet doing exactly what he did, exactly what he did. If he was on the planet today doing what he did when he was walking around, he would be considered a failed ministry leader at 100% he had 5000 on a hillside. He could not figure out how to get them back on Sunday. Okay, I'm telling you, there's coaches out there who coach pastors, and they'd have, like, five tips for Jesus, probably 15 tips for Jesus. They'd be like, Hey, you're not doing this. This, this, this, at the end of Jesus life, he didn't have a church. Did he change the world? Did he live in impact? Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, Cindy, I see you. I just saw Cindy's comment come by that said the the two churches previously to this one closed. It's very painful experiences. I get that when I talk about God being at work everywhere, no matter what you're facing, no matter how you're feeling. I want to acknowledge that God is at work in our pain and in our fear and in our anxiety and in our stress and in our church hurt and in our rejection, and when we feel like we're coming with this open heart to serve and somebody squashes us or it feels like they do, whether that's leadership or your best friend, this is one of those things that also says in Scripture that that Jesus is not able to not empathize with us because he lived a human life. You are not alone. I'm telling you right now. You are not alone in anything you are facing. If someone close to you just got diagnosed with somebody, if you are experiencing an incredible loss broken relationships, if you are on the verge of some of these things, if you're in the middle of it, if you're recovering from it, you're not alone. We're all here together, and we've all been there. And I think part of our job is to start sharing that a little more, to get rid of the shiny, happy life and showing up like this. Did you know that vulnerability actually builds trust with people. We talk about building trust with people. If we build trust, if we show up and we do what we're gonna say. Do you know that being vulnerable with people is hands down, one of the top things when people will trust you? This is very interesting. This is a scientific study. You guys. I don't keep track of where all these studies are. You can totally look them up and stuff and stuff and feel free to challenge me, but I listen a lot, I read a lot, but I'm not going to go cite things for you, because I don't care enough about that, because I've seen all this stuff work. But it's actually scientific, that when we are vulnerable, that other people trust us more. It's so interesting. It's so interesting to see. It's interesting to watch people, once you have shared something, your friendship changes. And I think one of the things we've messed up in our organized churches today is we put ourselves up as leaders, which we are, many of you are, many of you are called to lead, even if you're allergic to word leadership. But we put ourselves on a different level, and we think, Oh, we cannot be vulnerable, or we don't want to, because we're just terrified of it. Okay? I want to say a huge, huge mistake, huge mistake, huge, huge mistake. We need to be vulnerable. We need to be vulnerable. All right, as I was preparing my talk for today, every. Conference. If you've been in multiple conferences, you know they're all different. They all take out different flavors. It's kind of like at the end of the day, and you guys have probably seen this happen in church worship sometimes, where everything just came together, and the pastor had no idea what the worship leader was going to say or sing, and then the announcement person came up, and at the end of the day, you're like, how did that all work out? We had no idea. That's God. That's God, and we see that happen here so much. So I'm going to tell you something that was very different than happened to me yesterday and even how I'm feeling today, because I believe it will flow into the conference as a whole. Oftentimes, I have a certain degree of excitement or anxiousness, obviously, leading a conference where 1000s of people are coming in, and our organization depends on the income from the VIP bundles that are sold and like, there's a lot right and a lot of stuff. Those of you who know me, you know I talk fast. You know I talk fast, and sometimes it's even more fast when I feel anxious. And I want to tell you the scripture that I ran into yesterday, and I will say I ran into it, and it's out of Psalm 91 this was a scripture that was super near and dear to my heart through a bunch of last year, but I want to read it to you right now, As we are getting just starting our day today, hopefully together, Psalm 91 says, Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Dwells and rests, I will say of the Lord. He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust, surely he will save you from the Fowler snare. Sometimes a psalm can be read in so much angst and ancient Surely he's going to save me from the Fowler's snare. That's not my feeling from this, yesterday or today. Surely, sure, yeah. Surely he's going to do it. Surely he'll save you from the Fowler's snare, from the deadly pestilence, from the negative people in your church, from the the leadership who feels like maybe they don't appreciate you, right? He will cover you with his feathers and under his wings. You will find refuge. Cover you with his feathers under his wings, you will find refuge. You don't fight under wings and feathers, do you? It's like those new snuggle blankets where you can kind of cocoon yourself. We don't need to fight, we don't need to be upset, we don't need to be anxious. He will cover you with his feathers and under his wings, you will find refuge. His faithfulness is your shield and rampart, not your talent, not your team, not the acceptance of other people. His faithfulness is His faithfulness, not not even your faithfulness. His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence and stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. 1000 may fall at your side. 10,000 at your right hand. It won't come near you. You'll just observe it. You'll just observe it. If you say the Lord is my refuge and you make the most higher dwelling, no harm will overtake you. Please hear that word overtake you. Doesn't mean we're not going to go through hard stuff. No harm will overtake you. He will command his angels over you to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. What happens when we strike our foot against a stone? We fall for me, it's like face first, right? You won't strike your foot on a stone. You're not going to fall. You'll tread on the lion in the Cobra, because he loves me. I will rescue him. I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer to him. I will be with him in trouble. Please hear that. I will be with him in trouble. He doesn't say you're not going to have any trouble. He's going to be with you in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him with long life. I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. For those of you who've been at other conferences, you've probably never seen me read scripture, and definitely not that long, and what was on my heart through that entire scripture was the peace and the welcome and the calm that we can all be experiencing today as we come in thinking and saying, how do I start a women's ministry? How do I restart it? How do I change it? How do I get those women who are holding on so tight to go where I know God is calling us to go? How do I get women to be more excited about Scripture I how do I restart? How do I save my church from falling? How do I help my pastor, because our church needs help. How do I reach people in the community because they're dying without Jesus? Sometimes? That anxiety and that pressure we need to release that. It is such a different posture to come in and say, God, what do you have for me? Maybe I need to take that whole weight off that says my job to change everybody else and fix everything, and dwell in the presence of the Most High and find shelter and be under his wings. Because we are that I'm going to give you a little bit of psychology, because I, I, if you, if you, if you're anti psychology, you're not going to like me at all. Just so you know, because I really believe in understanding how God created us, biologically, psychologically, emotionally, relationally, I think it's so important to understand who we are, because we tend to like, separate everything and say, Okay, if we love Jesus, we do this, and we forget that we're like human. God made us human. He made us this way. And I want to tell you when we are in anxiety, in stress mode, in reactive mode, in fear. Do you know that physically and mentally, our brains do not work well? Do you know that creative solutions, the ones that we need, will not pop to mind when we are stressed out and anxious and fearful. Pay attention to what you hear in the shower, in your own mind, in your heart. Do you know that the shower is one of the places where we think the most creatively, where I personally hear from God the most, because in the shower, everything's drowned out, and water is also just a miracle from God itself. I don't know if you've ever cried in the shower. It's the best place to cry and wail, but it is also a place where our brain can release the strength and anxiety and stress, because if you think you hear from God, when you are bound up in your mind and your heart, you will hear from God so differently with such a different perspective, when you are calm and resting under his wings, even in the same circumstance, nothing has to change around you for you to find reference, refuge and safety and that cuddle feeling of being covered by the wing and the feathers. Nothing has to change around us. That's where we are. That's where we can be today and right now, my talk today on the main stage. If you're new with us, we have four main stage presentations in between, we have breakouts with amazing speakers and amazing topics. My talk is called helping women connect, grow and thrive in different stages and different seasons. The description of my talk, which is going to unfold on four different main stages. Is, have you ever noticed that one size fits all doesn't fit anyone? Well, the same is true in ministry. In this four part series, we'll explore how to build a women's ministry that truly meets women where they are, whether they're just starting their faith journey, deepening their walk, or season in spiritual maturity. Do you want to know this? Because I do, it's going to be filled with practical ideas and real life examples. Come discover how to create a space where women feel seen, supported and empowered to grow. That's what I'm talking about. And you may be like, Wow, she just stopped for half an hour. I didn't get that at all. This is why. So why it's beautiful that it's spread over four sessions for me, because it starts with us. It starts with our heart. We cannot build a women's ministry that meets women where they are unless we're meeting us where we are. This is not just theoretical. It's really, really practical. You cannot give anyone empathy if you don't give it to yourself. Do you ever find yourself frustrated with people who who come in late or don't show up, or they're committed to something, but then they don't show up, or people who abandon us, we have no empathy for them because we've never given ourselves empathy. Because 90% of the people who found us and are here today, you are the people who show up and do your thing. You are committed. You come on time. Can we give ourselves some empathy and care? Cuz if we don't, if we don't address our anxiety, our fear, our stress, our. Desire to control things around us, which most of us have. If you start a sentence with, how do I get them to that's control

Charmaine Stulp: 30:41

we need to be able to meet ourselves if we're going to meet other people.

Laurie Acker: 30:49

How does that feel for you today? How is this sitting with you to open a conference like this? I don't think I've ever been to a conference where somebody has said, Hey, you're not going to get all the answers today. I'm gonna say you're not. You're not. You're gonna get some you're gonna get connected to some amazing people. But I can say, if you clear out enough space and you breathe and you receive, you will meet God today, and I believe 99.9% it will be different than what you thought you came

Charmaine Stulp: 31:30

for, because God has a way of surprising us, of knocking our socks off. He just does

Laurie Acker: 31:40

so whatever you came in with, saying, I want to get this out of the conference today. Put it a little to the side. Hang on to it, because you'll find it. You'll find pieces of it. But kind of close your eyes a little bit. And as we do this, I'm going to ask Charmaine to come meet me back on the stage. Close your eyes just for a minute. No matter where you are. I don't care if your kids are screaming or your dog is next to you, just close your eyes for a minute and just say, God, what might you have for me today that I didn't even know I needed. What might you have for me if I really could put myself under your wing? I Let's welcome Charmaine. Stalk back to the screen. Charmaine, before we have a little bit of a conversation, would you just introduce yourself to people? I know we didn't really do that at the beginning. We did during the pre show, but people probably are like, Who is this Charmaine? Stop, Where is she from and why is she here?

Charmaine Stulp: 32:57

Well, hello, everybody. My name is Charmaine. Stop. I am coming to you from welland is my city near Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada. Shout out to all the Canadians who are out there. Why am I here? I'm here because I love women, I love people, I love ministry. I love I love the real, authentic space that small church ministry conferences provide. Model, allow, because I can't stand the show and I I'm here to hear from God and to be poured into, and hopefully pour out and pour into others too. Yeah,

Laurie Acker: 33:51

so often, one of the fun things about our team as we've developed over the years, and if you missed the kickoff event or the pre show today, I will just say I don't think anyone involved in this conference, other than my sister and obviously my niece and my daughter. I haven't I didn't know anybody before five years ago, and many of the women that you're going to hear from today have become very good friends of mine, and also some who are just speaking for the first time. I just know we're going to be friends like when we've met, and there's a connection, and there's a real, beautiful community that happens here. But another thing that happens is we're not all the same. One of the things we're going to kind of break into today in women's ministry is that women's ministry isn't doesn't have to look the same at all. In fact, we like to talk about ministry to women doesn't even need to look like a women's ministry. And one of the things Charmaine had said to me early on, she spoke at one of our very first women's ministry conferences, she said, You don't understand. I don't like women's ministry. I'm not involved in women's history. I feel like an imposter because I am not the leader of the women's ministry. And can you just talk about that just a little bit? Because people in the audience right now, some of them love women's ministry. We love tea parties, we love this, or we do great outreach, or we do that. And others of you here, maybe here saying, I have, like, a repulsion for women's ministry. Because maybe I have, I have, I've never resonated with women or the chatty side, or the gossip side, or so, can you just talk a little bit about about that, and then what you'll be speaking on later today as well?

Charmaine Stulp: 35:21

Yeah, so pretty early on, I Yes, I would notice that I almost had a physical reaction when somebody said that there was a women's event, a. Women's ministry, I was like, because the traditional or typical, you know, maybe where our brains go unintentionally, even when we say those words. For me, it was just like, not the space I wanted to be in. I you know, when you have a work day, like, for example, at a church and like, women end up, like, in the kitchen serving lunch, I want to be with the guys, like with the hammer. So it I always felt a little like, okay, like I'm not, I'm not into women's ministry. And here I am, so a little later today, what I'm talking on, and Laurie was the one who helped to reframe that for me, because she said, Charmaine, you maybe don't take part in women's ministry traditionally, but she said, you do have a ministry to women. And that was so life giving for me, because I was like, Oh yeah, I do. And she sees me, and she sees that I do. And so what I'm talking about today is authentic. I was going to say authentic. No organic, organic mentoring. Yeah. How do you have a ministry to women in a way that makes a

Laurie Acker: 36:46

difference? Yeah? And I also want to say, for those of you in the chat right now, people are saying, I'm with you. I get that char maid like, look how many people. And there's some of you who it works really well for, and you've had a great, positive experience with women in your life, with women's ministries, you you love the decor aspect. You love this. We are all different, and yet our core is the same, and what we want to do is make space for all of it. Because when my talk talks about meeting women in different stages, in different different seasons, it's also the differences we all have and being able to allow for that. Charmaine and I talked about a quote that I saw on a Facebook reel, or maybe it was a social media post that came out this week by somebody else. It talked about the fact that fitting in is different than belonging. You remember that Charmaine,

Charmaine Stulp: 37:33

yes, I'm trying. I can't remember what

Laurie Acker: 37:36

it was, either, but it basically said, the goal isn't to fit in. Fitting in means we're all the same. The goal is to belong.

Charmaine Stulp: 37:44

Yeah, and how you want to you want to surround your yourself with people who who actually don't want you to fit in. They they almost demand that you bring your true self, who you really are, that that's who you want to be with.

Laurie Acker: 37:58

And when that quote came up, I just thought of women's ministries. And if we could be a place that didn't expect or desire or think it was the best thing to have everybody fitting in together, but we understood their uniquenesses and their seasons and all that kind of like belonging is so different. And if you're here with us today, you belong, no matter what age, no matter what stage, no matter what interest, no matter what church, no matter what denomination. Um, I forgot to mention that at beginning, with so many new people, we are an interdenominal denominational place. If you have not read like our statement of faith or our beliefs or our you know, like some of our core values, I will just tell you right now, we focus on the main things. We totally believe. We can believe different things, and it gets closer and closer as we get to know Jesus and when we get to heaven, it's not going to matter. We're not going to be discussing infant baptism, speaking in tongues, outreach, social justice, politics, nothing, none of that. And we don't discuss it here either. We are going to focus on the main thing that is the main thing. And we love you, and we do belong together. And I know it because we're here, and that is how God works. Well, there you have it. That was a little bit of a peak at least into the start of our day at our free conference we had last weekend. One thing we always say at conferences is we are just not a one and done conference. We support small churches all year long, in tons of ways, with a free website, a free podcast, we have episodes and blog posts coming out every single week, an incredibly active and positive Facebook community called creative solutions for small churches all sorts of levels of learning and sharing, including the small church network. So make sure to share this episode with somebody that you know could also use the hope and the encouragement that we are shouting from the rooftops here at small church ministry, the links to how to stay connected with us and all these different avenues are listed in the show notes. But before you go, if you have been changed by our ministry, with added hope, encouragement, learning, new systems, new tools, strategies that actually work in small churches. Would you please do me a favor and just leave a review of this podcast? There's also an easy link in the show notes. To leave a review, you can leave some stars, or, better yet, give a shout out to what's made a difference in your life. Leaving reviews on the podcast actually helped more people find the hope that you found too. Have a great week. Be a light you.