An old friend who’s a church planter reached out recently asking if I had a few minutes to chat about a popular women’s Bible study author. A woman in his church came across one of this author’s studies and asked him for help. She wanted to know if he thought it was a sound resource or if she should look elsewhere.
Since he wasn’t familiar with the author, he called me. I shared my assessment and offered alternative studies I thought might better serve this woman and others in his church. I hung up the phone encouraged.
I love that this church member wanted to exercise discernment about the resources she uses and that she went to her pastor for help. I love that he found a way to help her even though he didn’t have personal knowledge of the writer or study.
But as I reflected on the situation, I realized many pastors don’t have a friend to call or a women’s ministry director on staff who can help field these questions from church members. And I’m sure no pastor has the capacity to keep tabs on all the new women’s resources published each year. So how can pastors help vet women’s resources?
At a Glance
Let’s say a woman in your church walks up to you, book in hand, asking if it’s a good resource for her to use. Or perhaps you’re meeting with a women’s ministry leader who wants your input on a new study she’s considering teaching. As a pastor, you’ll likely be able to make helpful inferences from the standard information included on a book cover that might not be meaningful to the average reader.
Start with the author’s bio. Share with the woman what you know about the seminary, denomination, or local church listed there, and explain how these influences might shape the book’s content.
As a pastor, you’ll likely be able to make helpful inferences from the standard information included on a book cover that might not be meaningful to the average reader.
Next, point the woman to the publisher and endorsements. Perhaps you recognize the publisher and can offer the woman your general assessment of their resources. If you don’t recognize the publisher, a quick scroll of its website to see other books they’ve published might give you a sense of the sorts of authors and content they tend to engage. And you might recognize some names in the book’s endorsements to offer additional clues.
Of course, you won’t be able to make a definitive assessment of the book from these bits of information, but you might glean enough to generally categorize the book as either likely to be a sound resource or likely not to be the best option.
Over Time
You might also consider increasing your familiarity with women’s resources. From time to time, ask godly women of different ages and stages what Christian books and teachers they’ve found helpful. Also ask them if there are popular books and teachers they’d advise women to avoid. You’ll likely find common threads in their answers. Doing this will communicate that you care about women’s resources and want to hear from women about them.
Reading The Gospel Coalition’s reviews of women’s resources will also help. A few minutes spent here and there to read a review from TGC or other trusted sources can help you build a base of knowledge about who’s writing and what they’re saying in the women’s space.
I’d encourage you to occasionally read books written by and for women in the church. Even reading one book each year that you find helpful and sound could lead to a fruitful conversation with a church member. If asked about an author and book you’re unfamiliar with, you still have something to recommend—“I’m not familiar with that book or author, but I recently read a great book by Nancy Guthrie. Maybe you’d like to try one of her books.”
Why It Matters
Perhaps you’ve rarely, or never, been asked to help vet women’s resources, and you’re wondering if it’s worth your time to be prepared. Though it may seem like a minor aspect of your call to shepherd women, there are several reasons it can be helpful to be familiar with women’s resources.
Women are increasingly looking to social media influencers to tell them what to read, what to believe, and how to live. When women go looking for answers and recommendations online, they’ll find them. But too often, the advice is unbiblical. Though it may be rare for a woman to seek a pastor’s advice on resources, if she does and he’s prepared to help her—or at least to seek help for her as my friend did—it’ll encourage her to seek wise counsel again. And it’ll likely have ripple effects in the congregation.
Even reading one book each year that you find helpful and sound could lead to a fruitful conversation with a church member.
Consider the church member who approached my friend. She now knows that the Bible study author she asked her pastor about isn’t aligned with their church’s doctrine. As she interacts with other women in the church and someone mentions this author, she might say something like this: “I was interested in that study too because I saw a lot of Instagram posts about it, but I asked the pastor what he thought, and he pointed out that the author teaches some things that aren’t biblically sound. He recommended a study by another author and I’m really enjoying it—I’ll send you a link.”
In that brief exchange, a few important things have happened. First, the pastor helping one woman equipped her to help another woman, so now two women are using a better resource than they might have without the pastor’s help. Second, the church has been established as a place to find resource recommendations. The second woman might never have considered asking the pastor about a Bible study, but now she knows he’s both willing and prepared to help. Hopefully this interaction will encourage her to do some digging before she orders the next book or Bible study that’s all over social media. And third, both women have seen that their pastor values and supports women and their pursuit of biblical understanding.
A pastor growing in knowledge and awareness of women’s resources isn’t just being prepared to answer direct questions. As you learn more about what women are reading and who they’re following, you’ll also be better prepared to shepherd them. You’ll have insight to inform your sermon application and conversations with women after church, and you’ll be better equipped to pray for the women in your congregation.
Helping vet women’s resources probably involves less work than you thought. But it also has the potential to bear much more fruit than you might imagine.