ACR: Vic, thanks for speaking to us. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and the church you serve at?
Vic: I am a child of God and I’m married to Phil and we have three adult children. Phil and I have been serving at St George North Anglican Church (SNAC) since 2004 and we’ve had the wonderful privilege of seeing people grow in their knowledge and love of God over the past 22 years as well as seeing the church grow in number.
ACR: One of the ministries you have been involved in your whole time at SNAC has been WOT (Women on Thursday). Can you tell us a little of the backstory of this ministry and what it looks like today?
Vic: When Phil became an assistant minister at SNAC back in 2004 there was a need for a leader for a women’s Bible study on a Thursday morning with what was then called LBF (Ladies Bible Fellowship). I love God’s word and I love teaching it to other women, so I was excited to be leading a women’s Bible study group. At the time there were two Bible study groups meeting on a Thursday morning with a creche to look after the young children. Fast-forward to 2026, we have a new name WOT (Women on Thursday) and there are now eight gospel teams (Bible study groups) meeting together at the same location in Carlton as well as a creche. There are also two women’s gospel teams meeting on a Tuesday morning at our Bexley North site as part of T10 (Tuesdays @10). But the heart of what goes on is still the same. It’s women meeting to read God’s word together, pray together, have fellowship together and spur each other on towards love and good deeds.
ACR: Why do you think a daytime Bible study for women is a valuable ministry to run?
Vic: Personally, I’ve benefited so much from being part of WOT over the past 20 or so years. When my children were small it was an opportunity to have time to concentrate on the Bible and pray with the other women there, while my children were in creche. It was hard to find time to do that at other times during the week.
I think generally most people are more awake during the day and whether you’re young or on the older end of the spectrum, you’re able to engage more and learn more from the Bible during the day. The reality is that a daytime group is better for Christian growth than a nighttime group for most women. Some people are only able to meet at night and that’s great. But in my experience in nighttime groups, women are often tired, they have less time, and their brains are less engaged after a long day.
There is something really special about being with other women; I’ve noticed women are more willing to be vulnerable and open up about what’s going on for them or ask their questions about the Bible amongst other women.
We also get more time together, as we can meet from 10am-12noon and so have the opportunity to do a lot together during that time, including training in various ministry skills, praying for mission both local and global, highlighting different ministries going on at SNAC, organising evangelistic outreach events at Easter and Christmas and getting time for fellowship with each other over morning tea—as well as seeing women maturing in Christ as Jesus is taught from the Bible. Women have opportunities to teach up front at WOT during our together time or at outreach events as well as teaching the Bible in the gospel teams so it gives women lots of opportunities to serve in word ministry.
ACR: Anecdotally, many churches seem to be seeing a decline in participation in these kinds of women’s daytime groups… but yours is growing! What do you think you are doing differently?
Vic: I think these things take time to grow and so one of the things that we’ve sought to do is encourage women when they join our church to try and keep Thursday mornings free for WOT. The reality is that mothers can’t do it all! Being a mum and working outside the home is hard to maintain and often it’s the regular weekly Bible study that goes by the wayside or becomes less effectual. I want to encourage women to set their priorities on God.
Many women these days have to go back to work, at least part-time and that’s fine, but one of the conversations we try to have is “what are our priorities?” Can we fit in work around the more important things of family, Christian fellowship and growth, rather than working it out the other way around? It’s only if people have this attitude that they will make it a priority. So for the past 20 years that has been the culture at church: if you’re in a position to work part-time or you’re retired or you’re at home with small children then try and keep Thursday mornings free to meet with other women at WOT.
At our evening congregation where there are more young people, students and young workers, we talk to them before they’re in that position. We get them to think about if and when they might get married and have children. This can help them to make wise decisions now so that they don’t have to go back to work full-time. We encourage them to prioritise fellowship with God’s people not just on a Sunday at church but also during the week at WOT.
I think women enjoy fellowship together and when you get the opportunity to do that each week, women are willing to make sacrifices to make that happen. I think we’ve also tried to raise up gospel team leaders who are available to lead on a Thursday morning in order that we can grow. We’ve also run our LIFE course a number of times on a Thursday morning and this has brought growth from our community and seen people come to faith in Jesus.
ACR: Can you share some encouragements you’ve had as you’ve led this ministry?
Vic: It’s hard to just pick a few encouragements and it’s not an exaggeration to say that WOT is one of the highlights of my week. I have seen women who are new Christians grow in their maturity in Christ and in their confidence in God’s word, and then go on to study at Bible college. And this has been because of the foundation of meeting around God’s word at WOT. There are women who get up early on Thursdays to work before coming to WOT and then go back to work afterwards, just so they can be there. Others have chosen not to work on Thursdays and one lady even used her annual leave to come to WOT.
Another wonderful encouragement is that the gospel teams are made up of women ranging from women in their 20s right up to women in their 60s, 70s and even 80s, and to see that diversity of ages, as well as nationalities, gathering around God’s word and walking in Christ alongside each other is such a joy. A definite highlight has been seeing women come to faith as they read God’s word and see their desire to grow in their knowledge and in their godliness all to God’s glory.
ACR: What are the challenges the group is facing, and how could we pray for this ministry?
Vic: One of the biggest challenges at the moment is that we’re running out of space to meet in at Carlton. We’re thinking creatively about how to use the space we have and what alternatives there are going forward. We would value your prayers for future decisions that need to be made as we continue to grow. Please pray for wisdom and humility for those on the leadership team as we make these decisions. Please also pray for each of the women who come along that they would be willing to make whatever changes are needed so that we can keep growing and see more and more women gathering together around God’s word each week.
ACR: What would you say to other churches about how they might start a similar ministry?
Vic: Start by praying and asking God to provide a leader or two willing to set aside one morning a week. Pray for creche helpers and people willing to do their safe ministry training to be able to serve in the creche. Start setting a vision for some of the women in church who may already have time available during the week to start something. Ask the leaders of your church to support morning Bible study groups by freeing up space and, perhaps, some helpers for the creche. It may take a year or so before enough people are available on the same day, but persevere. Change is always uncomfortable and involves sacrifice but if people can see the reasons for the change, and that it will see more women growing in maturity in Christ, then I think they’ll see that the sacrifices are worth it for God’s honour and glory.
ACR: Thanks so much for your time, Vic.
Churches are warmly invited to reproduce this article in their newsletters, provided it is reproduced in full and the Australian Church Record is acknowledged as the source, with a link to the original article: https://australianchurchrecord.net/growing-womens-bible-studies-an-interview-with-vic-colgan/
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