This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission from purchased products at no additional cost to you. See my full disclosure here.
If you’ve ever wondered how to successfully pull off an interdenominational event, keep reading! We’ll share how sending out 4 cold emails to 4 different churches led to a 10-year tradition of an interdenominational event series involving over 40 churches throughout an entire county. You will learn:
- Why sharing the ministry is more effective than sponsoring an event
- Why this is the perfect addition to your ongoing ministries
- How rotating churches for meeting space is a key element in breaking down barriers
- The beauty of ending each gathering with the Lord’s Prayer
Prioritize Rest And Balance
Putting on an interdenominational event is exciting and it can be so easy to get swept up in it all. However, before you know it, you’re burnt out and left with nothing to give. I want to encourage you that it doesn’t have to be this way! To combat this, we need to learn how to better balance and prioritize the things in our lives.
Remember That There Are Seasons
I’ve learned that the best way to keep my priorities in line and balance out my life is by remembering that seasons exist. Seasons are just shifts in our lives that can be easily tracked and followed. They serve as a break or shift in time that we can use to learn how to adapt and shift. As one season ends and another begins, we learn to adapt and change how we live out our everyday lives.
This can be hard to do if you’re constantly trying to push your way through it without allowing time to rest and breathe. While you go through the many seasons of life, I encourage you to recenter Sabbath in your life. Put your relationship with God first, and every other part of your life will begin to fall into place with a little more ease.
The Women Of The Way Series
One of my friends, Amy Satterfield, has led this ministry for 10 years straight. She led a multi-church, interdenominational gathering, and made it into a whole series. This series led to unity among churches in their community, and focused on building relationships. This series is called the Women of the Way series.
The original idea of this series was centered around the goal of simply getting women together. The focus was on building unity. Too often, we hear people saying, “I would never go to that church because they believe this” or “I’m not bringing my kids to that church event because they do this.” This isn’t the heart of God!
This is what sparked Amy’s passion for this series. The goal was to bring women together to learn more from each other and focus on what we have in common, rather than what is dividing us.
What Is This Interdenominational Event?
This event, created with the focus of unity, is an interdenominational event that involves multiple churches. It is a women’s event where women of all ages, and from all different walks of life, can come together and celebrate their commonalities. The attendees of this event get the chance to worship, pray, and have fellowship with women all across their city.
The focus of this event is to bring women together and remind them of the things they have in common. Just because you are a part of a different church or denomination doesn’t mean that you can’t be unified.
Where To Start
If you’re looking for a unique way to build your own interdenominational series in your city or town, communication is the best place to start. Write up an email explaining who you are and the church you attend. Ask if they’d be interested in trying this women’s gathering. Send this email to a few different churches and see what happens. You might be surprised by how many people want to gather together. Once you have a group together, start planning the event. It can be a four-week series or an annual event, whatever works best for your churches.
Once you and your church partners plan this event, start posting about it on social media to get the word out. Let people know where this event is going to take place and invite them to be a part of these faith communities.
Involving Different Churches In Every Aspect Of These Great Events
In order to ensure that there isn’t just one church that takes over on the day of the event, I encourage you to make this a multi-week series. By doing this once a week for a certain amount of time, you are able to rotate the location and responsibilities. This allows each church to be involved in multiple different ways.
Each week, a different local church could host the event, different churches could bring the food, new people could lead worship, and everyone shared the load! This is also a great way to highlight the variety of perspectives and passions.
I great way to keep track of this is, if one church is hosting, try to make sure that the speaker is from another church. Try having a new worship leader at each event, and ask different local congregations to help decorate! The more people you involve, the more people you can actually do ministry with and learn from. It is so beautiful.
A Great Way To End This Interdenominational Event
If you are planning these church events that involve people with different beliefs, it’s important to be intentional. We don’t ever want to offend anyone or do anything that would make others uncomfortable. Because of this, I have found that concluding the event by saying the Lord’s Prayer together is the perfect way to bring everyone together.
The Lord’s Prayer is a prayer that every denomination prays. We all know it. We all pray it, and we don’t even need it to be written down. So, at the end of each session, encourage your women to hold hands and pray the Lord’s Prayer, out loud, all together. This truly is a powerful experience.
Focus On Who Unites Us Rather Than What Divides Us
It can be so easy to focus on everyone’s differences. We can get lost in the small details that divide us. However, I want to encourage you to focus your attention on the One who unites us all. We are all unified through Jesus Christ. Having this faith community is so important.
If you’re a volunteer or someone who wants to get this event started, share this post with your ministry leaders and senior pastors. Let them know that this is absolutely possible. Try out this interdenominational event, and get connected with the women around you! This event is the perfect way to build relationships and deepen our faith, while being surrounded by great women who are doing the same.
Read More:
An Easy Plan To Host An Interdenominational Women’s Event In Your Community
