The Church Needs Spiritual Mothers

"But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children."  — 1 Thessalonians 2:7 (ESV) 

Dear New Life in Christ Church Family

This Sunday is Mother’s Day—a time when many of us pause to give thanks for the women who shaped our lives with courage, tenderness, and faith. Mother’s Day also gives the church an opportunity to recognize something deeper than biology: the essential role of spiritual mothers in the life of the church. 

We live in a culture that often measures a woman’s value by her productivity, platform, or public success—while quietly overlooking the eternal significance of nurturing faith, cultivating family, and shaping the next generation. But Scripture and church history tell a better story. From the early church to today, women have been vital to the mission of God’s people—especially through the quiet, faithful work of discipling others, caring for covenant children, and building up the body of Christ. That work may not always make headlines, but in God’s kingdom, it echoes into eternity. 

From the very beginning, God designed men and women to serve side by side—equal in dignity, distinct by design, and complementary in calling. In Genesis 2:18, when God declares, “It is not good that the man should be alone,” He’s not only addressing marriage, but revealing a broader truth: human flourishing depends on both men and women working together in community. The body of Christ, like a family, needs both spiritual fathers and spiritual mothers. 

This has always been true. The Apostle Paul honored women as co-laborers in the gospel (Romans 16:1–7). Jesus welcomed and was ministered to by faithful women who followed Him (Luke 8:1–3), supported His ministry out of their own means (Luke 8:3), and were the first to proclaim His resurrection (Luke 24:1–10; John 20:17–18). 

Today, the church still needs spiritual mothers—women who embrace the call to nurture, disciple, teach, pray, and model Christlike love, especially for the next generation. 

That’s why your work matters—whether you are a mother by birth or a mother by spiritual calling. When you rock a covenant child in the nursery, pray with a teen struggling to trust the Lord, lead a Bible study for young women, or show hospitality to a college student far from home, you are doing something eternally significant. You are helping the church be what God intended—a family. 

Paul once wrote of a woman named Rufus’s mother, saying, “She has been a mother to me as well” (Romans 16:13). What a beautiful legacy—to be known as someone who brought maternal care to the soul of an apostle. 

So as we approach Mother's Day, I want to say thank you to every woman in our church who reflects the heart of Christ through spiritual mothering. In a world that prizes power and platform, you are choosing the path of quiet faithfulness and generational influence. And God sees it. Your labor is not in vain. 

God does not merely allow women to serve in the church—He shows our need of women. We need you. And our covenant children need you. 

Happy Mother’s Day to all our mothers—physical and spiritual. You are a gift to the church. 

Faithfully Yours,  Pastor Sean 

PS. Here is a 39 minute talk from Michael Kruger on why we need women in ministry. (https://youtu.be/iVnnHdoS3Nk?si=O-ac5ATpMKIHfiEa)