Women and Ministry: A Heart That Carries the Glory

Women and Ministry: A Heart That Carries God's Glory

Roundtable from Women's Camp 2026, the "Matin'elles" show (Day 4) on ICC TV Montreal. Three women serving at different stages of ministry, Benedicta, a young leader within the Prodigy Youth Church in Montreal; Jenneviève, a shepherd sent out almost five years ago to ICC Sherbrooke; and Pastor Yao's wife, sent a little over a year ago to La Vallée, sat down together to share, heart to heart, what the Lord is teaching them on the ground.

Introduction

You may think ministry is reserved for those with a title, a pulpit, an established church. This show brings you back to something simpler and truer: the mandate to go and make disciples was given to everyone, at all times. We are all called to be shepherds in one way or another, to carry the load, to take care of souls. To be a shepherd, you do not need to be established over a church. Even as a big sister in your congregation, you are already carrying a load.

This conversation invites you to look honestly at what it costs, what it transforms, and above all what God does through a woman who simply agrees to say: "Lord, I am here, available."

Outline of the Show

1. The call often begins with faithfulness, not a spectacular vision

Benedicta tells it plainly. In 2023, she feels a desire to serve. She asks the Lord for a specific place, a clear word. He stays silent. Then he speaks through "an auntie" who tells her: "Serve somewhere already, and step by step he will position you where you need to be." She joins the youth worship service planning committee. She starts relieving her leaders. And each time she relieves someone, she is entrusted with a new mission: events coordinator, family impact team leader, shepherd, then board member of the youth church, then leader when her predecessor moves on.

What she describes is a principle: faithfulness and right motives open doors that strategy does not. Those who chase responsibility out of ambition eventually receive it, but it does not bless them. Those who simply want to relieve, love, and serve are gradually positioned by God himself.

2. Obedience takes you where you would not go on your own

Jenneviève finds herself sent to Sherbrooke as a leader. Sent as a young woman, without her husband settled there at the start. She had not planned for this. What carries her is a principle she saw lived out by her spiritual parents: "Parents inspire, sons perspire." She saw Pastor Célestin announce, at a pastoral retreat, that within ten years there would be churches planted; she told herself, "Then I will go on mission."

Pastor Yao's wife tells a similar story. She is on maternity leave, her baby is one month old, and she comes to the New Year's Eve crossing night service. A few weeks later, her husband comes back from church: "The parents said we are the ones going to La Vallée." She feels dizzy. There is not even time to think it over. What reassures her is having watched, for years, her spiritual fathers obey in the same way, make the sacrifices, leave. She says: "It's as if that indirectly prepared me to accept this kind of obedience." Role models make obedience possible.

And both of them say it: at the start, they called to say "let me leave." They wanted to take a break. But something deeper than emotion told them they could not run away. As in the life of Samuel, God calls, but you do not first hear his voice directly; you hear the voice of your spiritual father, and it is by obeying that voice that God opens his mouth to speak to you.

3. Own your calling by admitting how fragile it feels

The first trap of ministry, they say, is the feeling of illegitimacy. "I ended up here by accident. Who am I? What do I have?" Benedicta puts it this way: "That's exactly why God chose you, precisely because you have nothing, so he can equip you."

The image they return to is a beautiful one: you are like a mother who has just had her first baby. You do not yet know how to recognize the cries, you do not know how to get the baby to sleep. That is normal. Except here, you are entrusted with "babies" who talk, who watch, who have opinions, who know what they want. The temptation to slip into performance to prove you are up to the task is enormous. It is a trap. "You must never fall into performing to please people."

The real standard is to come before God as a vessel, a vessel that simply wants to be filled, a vessel that recognizes its limits. Sit down, learn from those who came before you, accept that you can make mistakes. It is not you who builds the work, it is the Lord who builds you and who builds his work through you.

4. Prayer, the specific capacity of women

When Pastor Yao's wife arrives in Sherbrooke, she wants to do things the way they were done in Montreal. A year and a half goes by with no fruit. People come and leave: "Is there no pastor here? Is there no man? We want a pastor." That is when she realizes it is a spiritual work. "You have to let go. You have to depend entirely on God." The breaking begins, and it is the good side of it, because without it, no fruit could ever come out.

The remedy they put in place in Sherbrooke is daily prayer, morning, noon, and evening. "I have never prayed as much in my life as I have since coming to Sherbrooke." A school, a transformation.

And Marie adds this: we women have a capacity, an endurance in prayer that really needs to be put to use. It does not require any special skill, it requires being ready to invest your time. This is probably the most practical piece of advice in the whole conversation for someone just starting out: build a life of prayer first, even before thinking about strategy.

5. Ezer: you are the help God has sent

For a long time, the reading of Genesis reduced women to "their husband's helper." The revelation that turned Jenneviève's world around was discovering that she is Ezer, a helper like God himself, sent as help for the whole community. She recalls: "I said, wow, Lord, I am actually the help you sent to this city to meet the needs of the people you are sending into this church. There is no other solution today, it's me."

A woman growing up in her church tells her one day: "I grew up without my mother, I want you to be my mother." That day, she understands that if she had only acted as a "leader," she would have missed the appointment. A woman in ministry wears several hats: leader, shepherd, mother. And the Lord has already given her the graces needed to operate in each one.

Christ broke the curse of domination so that woman could once again operate with God as a helper, as a collaborator, first and foremost as the bride of Christ.

6. The covering of spiritual fathers protects you from pride and rebellion

One point is repeated several times: a woman must not rise up independently. "Those who rise up independently are like being exposed, out in the open. They become prey: the enemy can attack them at any moment." The covering of spiritual fathers, the practice of making decisions in council, is not a chain, it is a protection.

A woman carries an immense potential. Precisely because of that potential, the enemy will constantly try to lead her into rebellion. You will feel an intuition coming, a good idea, you will propose it, and you will be told, "no, this is not the time." That is where real submission is at stake: not because you are lesser, but because you carry much, and what you carry will only bear fruit if you learn to submit in the small things. Then God gives you the bigger things, and he propels you forward.

Submission is never a denial of your influence. "Our influence flows through the submission we display."

7. Faith like a child: seeing bigger than your own height

The woman who placed her ministry "in God's hands" shares her initial prayer: "Lord, I know I am not capable. But since you say I can, well, I have no problem with that. You give me what I need and I will do it." Since that day, she no longer measures the mountain by her own height: she knows God sees it from above, and for him, it is not a mountain.

She calls this "keeping innocence, faith like a child," a mindset she treasures because it keeps her from taking the glory for herself. If she says "we," it is the Holy Spirit who did it. See big, do not put a ceiling on it, never say "it's small, it's normal," because "it starts small but it grows." If there are millions of people in the city, it means there is something we have not yet grasped. We must empty out hell. It is not possible for us not to get there.

8. The real standard: watch over your heart

The closing word is this one. With all the graces the Lord has placed in women, with the immense mission he has entrusted to them, one thing is non negotiable: watch over your heart. The devil knows that God works through hearts. A woman who learns to guard her heart becomes formidable: the devil no longer has access, he can no longer twist what God has placed there.

Mary, the Lord's mother, was not chosen for her skills. She was chosen because she was a servant, because her heart was ready to carry the Lord. That is still true today: the quality of your heart qualifies you to be a shepherd of a great flock. And as soon as the heart is good, God automatically sends the sheep.

Key Takeaways

• Ministry begins with faithfulness in small things, not a visible position. Relieve others first, God will position you next.
• Obedience to your spiritual authorities is the path through which God confirms his own calling, as in the life of Samuel.
• Refuse performance. Come before God as a vessel that recognizes its limits: that is where he equips you.
• Daily prayer, morning, noon, and evening, is the true specific skill of women in ministry.
• You are Ezer, a help sent for the Church and for society, not just a helper standing next to a husband.
• Stay under the covering of your spiritual fathers: that is what protects you from the rebellion the enemy will try to provoke in you.
• Watch over your heart. That is your deepest qualification. Wherever the heart is good, God sends the sheep.

Personal Application

• In what concrete area of your church is the Lord inviting you, this week, to simply relieve someone, without strategy, without ulterior motive?
• Is there a recent act of obedience you are still trying to negotiate with God? What is stopping you from saying "let's go"?
• What image of yourself are you trying to project in order to look "up to the task"? What would happen if you came before God as an empty vessel?
• What does your prayer life look like today? Are you ready to invest your time there before anything else?
• Are you walking under a clear spiritual covering, or are you operating independently? What call do you need to make this week to get into the right position?

Verses Cited and References

• Matthew 28:18-20 - The mandate to go and make disciples of all nations, given to everyone.
• 1 Samuel 3 - The call of Samuel: hearing God through the words of a spiritual father.
• Genesis 2:18 - Woman as Ezer, a helper like God himself.
• Proverbs 3:5-6 - "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding."
• John 15:16 - "You did not choose me, but I chose you."
• 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 - The often misread passage about women in the assembly, put back into context.
• Luke 1:38 - Mary, the servant of the Lord, whose heart was ready to carry Christ.
• Proverbs 4:23 - "Guard your heart above all else, for everything you do flows from it."
• Isaiah 60:22 - "The smallest shall become a thousand."

FAQ

Does the Bible really allow women to serve in a leadership or shepherding ministry?
Yes. The mandate to make disciples (Matthew 28) is given to everyone. The passage in 1 Corinthians 14 about women being silent in the assembly concerned, in its context, women disorderly interrupting to ask their husbands questions out loud during teaching. Paul is not condemning a woman who teaches or who carries the load of shepherding, he is simply calling for order. Biblical history shows women who were prophetesses, judges, apostles, and deacons. What remains central is the spiritual covering under which each woman operates.

How can I tell whether my feeling of illegitimacy comes from the flesh or from a real missed calling?
The feeling of illegitimacy is almost always present at the start of ministry, even among those God has clearly positioned. The question is not to silence it. The question is: what do I do with it? If you run toward performance to prove you deserve to be there, that is the flesh. If you come before God as an empty vessel, willing to learn from those who came before you, that is the humility that will propel you forward. The fact that you have nothing is not a disqualification: it is precisely the reason God can equip you.

Practically speaking, where do I start if I feel a desire to serve but nothing is moving around me?
Start by relieving someone. Look around you: which leader, which department, which big sister needs relief in your church? Go serve there, simply, without seeking a title. Build, at the same time, a daily prayer life, morning, noon, and evening if you can. These two hidden disciplines, faithfulness in service and constant prayer, are what, over time, position a woman according to God's heart. As Benedicta experienced, the more you relieve, the more the Lord will entrust to you.