Women's Ministry Archives

@RTSCharlotte Launches Women in Ministry Scholarship

May 22, 2019

One of the most exciting developments over the last few years at RTS Charlotte is the increasing number of female students in our various degree programs. There is a vibrant community of women on campus led by our Community Life Coordinator, Mallie Taylor.

And these women are some of our best and brightest. Every semester we give awards for the best student papers, and this past year a large percentage of the winners were female students.

And this is good news for the church. Women contribute to and enrich so many different ministries in the church. Examples include: missions, counseling, evangelism, discipleship, women’s ministry, mercy ministry, youth ministry, children’s ministry, administration, college ministry, and more. For more, see my article, “Five Reasons to Include Women on Your Church Staff.”

But, here is the challenge. There tends to be fewer scholarship opportunities available for female seminary students. It’s hard to come to seminary if there are not the resources to pay for it.

For these reasons, I am pleased to announce that RTS Charlotte is launching a new scholarship just for female seminary students. Starting in Fall, 2019, the Charlotte campus will offer the Women in Ministry Scholarship, providing at least a 50% tuition discount to female students.

Nancy Guthrie, speaker and best-selling author of the Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament series, commented on the new scholarship: [Read more…]

Why the Church Needs More Female Theologians: A Lunch Conversation at the TGC Women’s Conference

May 29, 2018

My wife Melissa and I will both be speaking at the upcoming TGC Women’s Conference in Indianapolis, June 14-16.

During that event, we have a special lunch-time event that I want to share with you. If you are attending the conference, you are invited to come. Here are the details:

Why the Church Needs More Female Theologians: A Lunch Conversation with Mike & Melissa Kruger (FREE)

Friday, June 15 I 12:00pm I 209 Workshop Room

Reformed Theological Seminary invites you to join Mike and Melissa Kruger for lunch and a conversation about women in the church, seminary, and ministry. In addition to serving as the President of RTS-Charlotte, Mike is a pastor, author and professor. Melissa serves as the Women’s Ministry Coordinator for her church and also writes, teaches and blogs for TGC. Lunch will be provided for all who sign up by June 14. Register here: www.rtslunch.eventbrite.com

If you have ever been to one of these conferences, you know that finding a place to eat at lunch time is quite the challenge. But here’s an opportunity to come hear from Melissa and myself about the importance of theology among women. Also you will get to hear more about how Reformed Theological Seminary is working to train women for all sorts of ministries in God’s Kingdom.

But, make sure you RSVP as early as possible. Space is very limited and we expect it to fill up quickly! Again here is the link: www.rtslunch.eventbrite.com

Hope to see you there!

Five Reasons to Include Women on Your Church Staff

March 5, 2018

A couple of weeks ago, here at the RTS Charlotte campus, my wife Melissa (see her blog here) and I gave a lunchtime presentation on the topic of “Why Churches Should Hire More Women on Staff.”

The desire to talk about this issue was motivated by several things. For one, Melissa has served in a paid staff position (part-time) in women’s ministry for about a decade. And so, part of the discussion was her reflections on serving on a church staff and how that has shaped her thinking on this issue.

The second reason for discussing this topic is because of what is happening here at the Charlotte campus. I have been so excited to see more and more female students coming to RTS to pursue theological education. There is a vibrant community of women on campus led by our Community Life Coordinator, Mallie Taylor.

And these women are some of our best and brightest students. Every semester we give awards for the best student papers, and this past semester two out of the three winners were female students.

But, in the midst of this positive development, I know many of these women are wondering what comes next after graduation. There are a limited number of paid ministry opportunities for our female grads and this can raise questions about whether seminary for women is worth the time and cost.

And third, the topic of hiring women on church staffs was raised last year at the PCA General Assembly. The report of the ad-interim committee on women serving in the ministry of the church included this recommendation:

The committee encourages sessions in churches that have unordained staff positions to consider hiring qualified women, possibly even before qualified men. The church staff will of necessity have primarily ordained men, and women will never be ordained. Thus, the committee encourages preferring women for non-ordained staff positions.

Part of the committee’s rationale for this recommendation was because women “are increasingly turning to para-church ministries” instead of the church. While para-church ministries have their place, the church needs these women and thus the committee was looking for ways to address this issue. [Read more…]

The Importance of Being a Pastor’s Wife

June 26, 2017

Since we live in a world that doesn’t view pastoral ministry as a high calling, it is probably no surprise that many do not view pastor’s wives as having a high calling either (including some pastor’s wives!).

I suppose there are many reasons why this is the case. Some people have an image in their head of what a pastor’s wife looks like (or should look like) and they simply don’t want that for themselves. Perhaps others think being a pastor’s wife means certain things it doesn’t necessarily mean. And others are probably wary of a life where you are often scrutinized, watched, and maybe even critiqued.

For all these reasons, I was pleased to give a talk on “The Importance of Being a Pastor’s Wife” to the gathering of women at last week’s PCA General Assembly in Greensboro, NC. It was a packed house so apparently there are many folks interested in that subject!

If you are interested in listening, here it is:

[download]

Melissa Kruger’s Blog “Wit’s End” Moves to The Gospel Coalition

September 21, 2015

This past Friday it was announced that my wife Melissa’s blog, Wit’s End, has been moved over to The Gospel Coalition website. This is very exciting news.

Melissa’s blog does a great job of talking about substantive theological topics while, at the same time, exploring practical nuts-and-bolts aspects of women’s ministry. So, I think it will be a great fit over at TGC and helpful for all involved in ministry, whether men or women.

Here is Collin Hansen’s announcement below. And as he says at the end, congratulate Melissa by follower her on Twitter!

Regular readers of our website will already know Melissa Kruger, but we’re delighted to announce today that you’ll see even more from her as our newest blogger. Melissa coordinates women’s ministry at Uptown Church (PCA) in Charlotte, North Carolina, and she’s written two books: The Envy of Eve: Finding Contentment in a Covetous World (Christian Focus, 2012) and Walking with God in the Season of Motherhood (Waterbrook/Multnomah, 2015). Melissa has three children with her husband, Mike, the president of Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte.
Melissa has been a fixture of our national conferences the past several years. At this year’s national conference she spoke on a panel about ministry among women. During the 2014 women’s conference she addressed “Cultivating Contentment in a Covetous World,” the subject of her first book. And she’ll be speaking three times at next year’s women’s conference: on deepening our walk with Jesus, teaching theology to children, and growing in Christ as a new believer. You can read more about these workshops and register for next year’s conference, June 16 to 18 in Indianapolis.
We invite you to join us in welcoming Melissa by following her on Twitter and browsing the archives of her blog, Wit’s End.