Creating a period-positive church: Hospitality, advocacy, and sacred care
Churches can embrace period-positive practices to foster hospitality, advocacy and care, writes Karie Charlton. Inclusive spaces affirm all lives.
BY KARIE CHARLTON
PUBLISHED: AUGUST 26, 2025
Photo by the Rev. Dr. Charissa Howe at Sixth Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Period Positive Workplace movement (PPWP) offers a compelling framework that churches can use to reimagine how they support people with periods. Traditionally, faith communities have often overlooked menstruation, treating it as a private or even taboo subject. But this mindset limits the church’s ability to minister to the whole person. We are not just souls or intellects—we are embodied beings. Embracing period-positive practices allows churches to honor that reality and create spaces that are truly welcoming, inclusive, and safe for all members of the community.
Churches can draw inspiration from the secular world, specifically from initiatives like PPWP, to bring attention to menstruation as a natural and shared human experience. In the workplace, period-positive practices are grounded in three main values: hospitality, advocacy, and productivity. These same principles are deeply rooted in Christian tradition and can be adapted to church settings in meaningful ways.
Hospitality
PPWP defines hospitality as providing access to period products and adequate restroom facilities. This act is a visible and tangible way of showing that an organization cares for the physical needs of its people. For churches, hospitality extends beyond traditional notions of coffee hour or greeters at the door. Offering period products in church restrooms is a simple but powerful statement to church members, visitors, volunteers, and community groups like Girl Scouts that their full humanity is welcome here. It says, “We see you. We are prepared for you. Your body is not a problem to hide.”
Advocacy
Beyond hospitality, PPWP emphasizes advocacy — the idea that providing period products is only the beginning. It can open doors to broader conversations about menstrual equity, period poverty, and gender justice. The church, historically a moral voice in society, can be a force for advocacy in this area as well. A church that joins the PPWP publicly signals its commitment not only to care within its walls but also to justice outside them. By stepping into this advocacy work, the church can help de-stigmatize menstruation, promote education, and affirm the dignity of all people, especially those who have been marginalized or underserved.
Productivity
The final workplace benefit is productivity—recognizing that when people have access to what they need, they can fully participate in the life of the community. In churches, this doesn’t just mean work productivity; it translates to uninterrupted participation in worship, service, fellowship and formation. A person worried about managing their period without the supplies they need is less likely to feel at ease or able to fully engage. By removing this barrier, churches create a more just and compassionate environment.
The potential for churches
Churches are also uniquely equipped to go further than workplaces can. Because of their emphasis on care, education, and community, they can foster a deeper kind of inclusive support. For instance, the use of medically accurate and inclusive language – such as “people with periods” instead of “women” – can help make church spaces safe for transgender, non-binary, and intersex individuals. For someone exploring or asserting their gender identity, hearing language that affirms their lived experience in a sacred space can be healing. It also ensures that those who may not have learned how to talk about their reproductive health have a place to grow and learn.
Trust
Moreover, the ability to talk openly and without judgment about periods lays the groundwork for broader conversations about physical and emotional health. If a youth leader or pastor can be trusted with sensitive conversations about menstruation, that trust can naturally extend to other topics like mental health, relationships, consent or trauma. When people know they will not be shamed or dismissed, they are more likely to share their stories—whether those stories are about why they joined a Days for Girls packing session or why they’re interested in period justice. These are sacred stories, and being entrusted with them is holy work.
If a youth leader or pastor can be trusted with sensitive conversations about menstruation, that trust can naturally extend to other topics …
Service
This foundation of openness and care also helps churches build relationships around service. Whether someone is volunteering at a period product drive because of a school requirement, a passion for justice, or even a court order, the shared work can create bonds and open doors to meaningful conversations. Again, the church’s role is not to judge the motivation but to honor the participation and listen to the stories that may unfold.
Sacred care
Finally, talking about periods at church prepares communities to respond with care and dignity in real-life situations—at youth retreats, mission trips, or church events where someone might unexpectedly get their period. If we’ve already addressed menstruation openly in the church building, then a surprise period in the mission field becomes a manageable and respectful moment rather than an awkward crisis. In addition, it pushes us to consider the needs of our mission partners more holistically: do they have access to the products and facilities they need to participate fully? Are there other physical or logistical barriers we’ve overlooked?
In embracing a period-positive perspective, churches deepen their capacity to be what they were always meant to be: communities of radical hospitality, compassionate advocacy, and holistic care.
In embracing a period-positive perspective, churches deepen their capacity to be what they were always meant to be: communities of radical hospitality, compassionate advocacy, and holistic care. Period justice is not separate from spiritual work — it is spiritual work. When churches affirm the sacredness of the body and the lived experiences of people with periods, they live more fully into their calling to love God and neighbor with body, mind and soul.
KARIE CHARLTON
Karie Charlton is a PC(USA) pastor in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is the USA special projects coordinator of Days for Girls International. You can find more of her writing in her blog, www.periodpastor.com, or by following her on Facebook and Instagram @periodpastor.
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