I am following Julie Pierce’s book review of Sheryl Sandberg’s best seller, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead with a Coffee Talk at Gifted for Leadership.
Topic: What Are We Teaching our Young Women? Why the Church needs to Lean In to the Conversations Concerning Marriage and Singleness.
Sip brew and join in here.
A SISTA'S JOURNEY 
What are We Teaching Our Young Women? Does it Matter?
This is a rich question for a lot of us today.
I am a 23 year old, recent college graduate seeking to serve God however He sees fit with all that He’s equipped me with. An issue me and some college-grad friends have found, is that in many churches there aren’t simply do-life groups for us. We’re either lumped in with the college students until we reach 29 and/or get married, or if there are groups for young professionals, they’re singles groups – like singleness is something to cope with, or, (and this usually happens in smaller churches where our age-group is virtually nonexistent) we’re roped into leading ministries without actually having any real discipleship. My main concern right now isn’t marriage nor is it being the ideal 21st-century working woman that “has it all”, it’s finding like-minded young women (with older women for mature guidance) to nurture biblical growth, so that we can discern and obey the will of the Lord in our lives.
Thank you for writing and making some hard points!
I hear you, my sister. I understand that we have a long way to go concerning the spiritual, emotional, mental and physical development of our young women. We have taken great strides to provide the community that you seek in the Women’s Mentoring Ministry at my local church. I’m hoping to clearly articulate our ministry model so women all across the country can benefit from cross-generational discipleship. I would like to engage you more in this conversation. May I ask? Have you reached out to older/mature Christian women and/or the Women’s Ministry leader(s) at your church to share your concerns? If so, what has been the response? If not, what’s hindering you from doing so? Also, I would love to hear more about some of the girlfriend conversations with your peers. Please us the “contact me” tab to send me a note. Blessings, Natasha
Personally speaking, I do have older/mature Christian women that I maintain relationships with. Also, I’ve just recently relocated to a new state and am attending a church that is blessed with ministries for all levels. I am certainly grateful and look for discipleship and maturity wherever I can find and discern it 🙂 But there are many in my peer group that aren’t fortunate and fall by the wayside. I believe one of the key things that can hinder those in my peer group is the lack of/not developing trust in older Christian women, and older Christians in general. I find that many mature Christian women like to discuss what’s wrong with young women (and certainly what we wear and how we act) behind our backs, but won’t reach out to us in gentleness and love – that kind that God uses to correct and transform. I also believe if mature Christian women sought reach out to younger women more, rather than the other way around, many young women wouldn’t feel neglected.
I look forward to continuing this rich discussion! Standby for that note 🙂
Hi Natasha. Thank you for this discussion. I agree that there aren’t enough discussions in our church communities about young adulthood, singleness and marriage. If your single readers need resources to help them and supplement what they are learning in their churches, I have a list of singles resources on my website that focus on developing all areas of life (not just marital status) for young adults and adults. My website does as well (for single Christian women). Thank you for this and I’ll be checking back on your discussions in the future.
Thank God for your ministry, Afi. Thanks for reading and sharing. Looking forward to our dialog. Blessings, Natasha