{"id":6348,"date":"2016-09-13T10:00:45","date_gmt":"2016-09-13T14:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/womensministrytoolbox.com\/?p=6348"},"modified":"2020-08-25T15:54:51","modified_gmt":"2020-08-25T19:54:51","slug":"tackle-taboo-topics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/womensministrytoolbox.com\/tackle-taboo-topics\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Tackle Taboo Topics"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"how-to-tackle-taboo-topics\"<\/a><\/h4>\n

Perhaps the idea of tackling taboo topics is one that your women\u2019s ministry team steers clear of.<\/h4>\n

You\u2019re afraid of saying the wrong thing.<\/p>\n

Not being able to handle questions that are bound to come up.<\/p>\n

Worried that you\u2019ll offend someone.<\/p>\n

While we\u2019re often fearful of tackling taboo topics, our women are starving for safe places to have real discussions about real-life struggles.<\/h4>\n

Maybe God is calling your team to be that safe place like He recently did ours\u2026<\/p>\n

God pricked our women’s ministry team\u2019s heart almost a year ago when one of our church members had a late-term miscarriage.<\/p>\n

We prayed and struggled for months about how we could respond to future situations, knowing that we should and couldn\u2019t focus our compassion on just those who\u2019ve had a miscarriage.<\/p>\n

Through our survey earlier this summer<\/a>, we discovered we have a large number of widows.<\/p>\n

We know we have women in our congregation who have been diagnosed with or are caring for women with bipolar.<\/p>\n

Even if our women aren\u2019t themselves in crisis, they are often caring for or ministering to women who are.<\/h4>\n

This fall our women\u2019s ministry team is launching a series of workshops framed as Compassionate Conversations (based on 1 Peter 3:8-9<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Over a series of 4 workshops, we\u2019re going to tackle the tough topics of mental health, grief and loss, marriage, and special needs.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re shining a light on some of those taboo topics like divorce, anxiety disorders, infidelity, bipolar, depression, abortion, miscarriage, and suicide.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re putting together panels of women that are willing to share about their personal experiences with these topics. They\u2019ll briefly share their stories, answer questions, and guide our small group discussion time.  (I\u2019ll share more details after we\u2019ve finished our series of workshops.)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"10-ways-your-womens-ministry-team-can-tackle-taboo-topics\"<\/p>\n

Speaker panels are just one way to tackle taboo topics.<\/p>\n

Here are 9 more ways to tackle taboo topics:<\/h4>\n

1. Intentionally invite women to share their testimony about what God has done in an area of their life that is often viewed as taboo.<\/p>\n

2. Invite guest speakers from a women\u2019s abuse shelter, a crisis line, a Christian recovery program, etc. to come in to share about their ministry with your women.<\/p>\n

3. Collect and deliver donations to a crisis ministry in your town. Encourage discussion at your meeting about that ministry. Share details about what services they provide.<\/p>\n

4. Research volunteer needs for a local crisis ministry and gather a group of women to go and server there \u2013 consider doing so on a regular basis.<\/p>\n

5. Host and facilitate a program like DivorceCare<\/a> or Celebrate Recovery<\/a> (for all types of addictions) at your church for your community.<\/p>\n

6. Offer a morning of workshops featuring several crisis ministries \u2013 allowing your women to choose which one they\u2019d like to hear from.<\/p>\n

7. Plan an encouragement and care event where you invite counselors to help your women write note cards to women in crisis. It\u2019s so hard to know what to say and we fear saying the wrong thing.<\/p>\n

8. Create a flyer with recommended crisis resources for your women and church members. Make sure you Pastoral staff has approval and input on the list.<\/p>\n

9. Host a movie night at the church and feature a movie based around a taboo topic.<\/p>\n

I recently had the opportunity to preview the upcoming film \u201cVoiceless\u201d<\/a>, a movie focused on the taboo topics of abortion and the pro-life debate.  I was impressed by the depth of the movie and the extent to which multiple viewpoints were featured. This movie isn’t afraid to get real.<\/p>\n

The movie Voiceless<\/a> would be a great launching point for a compassionate conversation with your women.<\/h4>\n

From writer\/director Pat Necerato comes Voiceless, a film that tackles the controversial pro-life vs. pro-choice debate with conviction and compassion, and presents that the true choice is one the church must make. In the film, a young, reserved war veteran-turned-community outreach leader puts his life on the line to stand against an abortion clinic that has taken up shop across the street from his Philadelphia church.<\/p>\n

Check out the trailer below:<\/p>\n