What the Summit "said" for our Women's Ministry

I was confirmed in our "process" of discovering God’s direction for Girlfriends at Cedar Creek. Now I know why it’s felt laborious and slow-moving—it’s because it IS laborious and slow-moving! I believe that we will have ownership in the vision that God gives us, but the refinement and declaration steps were new for me to consider.
We had two other conversations that were notable. We have to consider our ministry as to how it meets the needs of our "consumers" (women) in a way that no other ministry does. When we picked apart the fact that CCC does an exceptional job of bringing women in, Linda pointed out that Girlfriends did indeed connect women and provide small groups to encourage women. We all agreed that we failed to "close the back door" and get women involved in the life of our church. Second, as we talked about the clubs, which really could be the best way to connect women, there were two issues: leadership with the vision and areas of interest that met the needs of "most" women. Linda came up with a great suggestion: create three "types" of groups – intellectual (books, museums, lectures, etc.), activity (walking, line dancing, hiking, games, etc.) and skills (crafts, cooking, etc.), with a different focus each month instead of one group doing the same thing all of the time. Each could be lead by a team of women who would share their gifts and the responsibilities, and they could all still meet at the same time each month. Another snippet of information, came through a book called "Reveal" where Willow details their research to examine the value of their money spent on their congregation to make a difference in their lives. What surprised them (and me too) was that the most devoted followers of Christ said that they feel the least fed at Willow. Bill joked that he’d "hire a seminary prof and feed them until they puke." What captivated me is that I believe CCC is in the same place. I’ve lost several friends to other churches because I could not adequately answer the question "Where do people go to get discipled?" Maybe we need to focus on getting women into God’s Word on their own, not by the vehicle of Bible studies offered.
I am haunted however, by the discussions on poverty and AIDs and the images supplied by Richard Curtis (You can watch them at www.makepovertyhistory.org/video/ ., "Yellow Dress" and "Toddlers" are especially troubling.). God is creating a holy discontent in me to do whatever we can to alleviate the plight of women and children around the world. I truly believe that this breaks the heart of God.