Women’s Ministries Idea

Good Morning!  Here is a fun little story about Women’s Ministries!  I love Mona’s idea and hope it give you some ideas too.

Last year we did Pancake Prayer Breakfast where the men cooked for us.  We had about 40 women there and since it was the 1st event that we had ever really done as a women’s ministry thing, we felt it was very successful.  The down side was, I spent  too much money.  lol 

After Mary and I attended the training conference at Glacier View, Mary wanted to have a “Tea.”  I knew a lady from England who had a little restaurant for “Tea’s” here in Black Hawk, CO (until she lost her visa) and so I had that experience but that was it.  I’m not sure where I got the idea for an “Irish Tea” but I decided that was what we would do, without any knowledge what so ever.   I got on the Internet and started my research and found so many cute little things and recipes that the idea came to me about making a little book with the recipes and information about “Teas” in it to give away at the Tea for a gift.  So, that was how that came about.  Then I decided we had to make the food items out of the book so people could taste different things.  So I thumbed through it and picked out some recipes (should have looked at them more closely though) to hand out for people to make.  2 weeks before the Tea we had a meeting and I handed out the recipes.  I found out only 2 people in our group could make yeast bread –  myself and a lady from Germany- ot oh. 

My Dad, who is a story in himself, donated all the beautiful glassware we used for the tables to decorate.  We had women bring cloth tablecloths and Mary set the tables up each one separately since none of the table cloths would match.  Friday before the Tea we went and bought fresh flowers and Mary wanted another small gift for each lady.  We looked and looked and couldn’t find anything that was affordable and would work, finally we settled on a Christmas ornament in the shape of a present. 

Several days before the Tea the devil attacked several of our women with illness, one had Bronchitis, another had pneumonia, another had Shingles.  Another had a family emergency which took 2 of our women out.  One of our women’s ministry leaders had a trip planned that was canceled twice before the Tea so she ended up having to travel away over the Tea and couldn’t be there.  Several ladies who were going to make dishes couldn’t, so we had to scramble and find someone to make them or I had to make them.  …. Sabbath, Mary and I had to go in a back room and pray since I was feeling oppressed by the enemy, yet, in my heart I knew the Tea would be wonderful.

Mary stained some wood boxes and lined them with felt and we put tea inside and gave them away as door prizes and we gave 1 2010 Devotional away.  I would have liked to have given more of them but at $20 we couldn’t afford more than 1. 

DeeAnn had a message about an Irish Washer Woman that fit in perfectly with the Irish Tea theme.  We had 55 women there and I haven’t really counted the list yet, but I’m guessing probably 25 were not from our church.  One lady came up to me afterwards and said, “Do I have to be a member of your church to be a part of your women’s ministries?”  Of course I told her she didn’t.

The Parties Have Started

 

Notice the centerpiece and the favors

Another Table

 

Last evening was our first women’s ministries event of the season.  The theme was County Fair and the featured speaker was Mary Porter and her friend Susie Q.  Susie Q is a puppet and a very funny one at that. Susie Q reminded us that God didn’t make junk and we are all precious in His sight.

I am amazed how many ladies from the community show up on the very first Women In Touch of the season.  They are always so tickled to be back.

The theme of the country fair was so cute. The favors were especially festive.  I have pictures for you so you can get the idea. The only thing we were missing was the mid-way and Susie Q was quick to point that out.

I know you are wondering about the food. We had burgers with the fixin’s, chips, carrots and celery sticks and brownies for dessert. We fried burgers for 2 hours and I carried that smell with me all day.  The brownies were put on raised cake plates which looked so very cute.  I also know you are wondering if I had a brownie–I didn’t.  It was all I could do but I ate the burger, 1/2 of the bun and the fixin’s, no cheese (we forgot to put it out), no carrot sticks and no brownie.  I weigh in today.

This program is such a blessing to the ladies who come and if you are interested in getting something like this started in your church, I would love to help you.

Another Party!

Monday is another party at the College View Church, what fun we will have.  I will put some pictures up the next time I blog but in the mean time I want to let you know Women’s Ministries is alive and well at the College View Seventh Day Adventist Church.

Women in Touch will meet  on Monday, May 4 and won’t start again until October.  We are ready for a break but we do miss the 350 plus ladies who come to enjoy Spiritual food, laughter, a meal and beautiful decorations.  This time our theme is weddings, we will have a devotional, a parade of wedding gowns and a lovely meal.

We are having Chicken Croissant Sandwiches (vegetarian), Fruit Salad, Green Salad and Wedding Cake for dessert. We will get our groceries today and a cooking team will spend most of the day on Monday cooking and praying for this day of outreach and ministry.

If you don’t have Women’s Ministries in your church I would love to help you get one started.  Please leave a comment on this blog and I will contact you.  Women’s Ministries is vital for a growing church!

We Had a Party!!

Monday evening was our “Party With a Purpose”–Women in Touch. 350 ladies gathered, we visited, enjoyed dinner and worshipped together. 

 There is about 12 ladies and 1 man who rush to the church kitchen the first Monday morning of the month and start the process of getting ready for our 6:30 PM dinner. I am always amazed at the fun and excitement that’s  in the air as we work all day preparing.  We washed and cut close to 20 heads of lettuce and added several other items to make  taco salad.  We made filling for 700 enchiladas, made Spanish rice for the crowd.  By the time we rolled all of the enchiladas we were ready for lunch.  Our menu for the evening was vegetarian chicken enchiladas, Spanish rice, taco salad and cookies.   In the afternoon we finished our food preparation and got every thing ready for our guests.

The decorations were lovely, the decorating crew arrives on Sunday morning and by the time they are finished they have transformed Heartland Hall into a wonderland of beauty.

  350 ladies arrived mostly on time and at least 250 were ladies from the community.  We hear over and over how much these ladies love our program and they are always sad when May comes because we won’t get together again until October. 

Buffy Halverson was our special speaker, Buffy spoke on Prayer.  She  made prayer sound like a fun, exciting thing to do.  She also gave us a renewed idea of how important it is to keep communication going with God.

 Here is your LOL (laugh out loud) for today, I thought I was doing well getting some pictures for you to see.  Do you notice one picture that does not seem to go with the rest?  I don’t know how to delete it, so you will just have to enjoy the picture of Jadon Gibson’s Lego creation. From the small pictures I was clicking on I thought it was a table decoration–LOL.

A PARTY WITH A PURPOSE!!

There, try that title on for size.  I decided if I put Women’s Ministries you may not be interested in reading this post.  You probably don’t just love Women’s Ministries like I do or perhaps you do.

Do you know that women make up at least 70% of the church today?  Yikes, we are becoming a majority.  Not only that, WE control many of “the purse strings”, so THEY say. Interesting don’t you think?

Women’s Ministries is really not about the purse strings, the majority or even about ordination.  Women’s Ministries is about unselfishly ministering to others, ministering to the single mother, children and women in the church and in the community. 

In my church we have Women in Touch.  This is a party with a purpose!  The party, well, we have 350 women who come the first Monday of each month from October – May just to enjoy a supper, hear the devotion and a special feature.  These ladies enjoy the yummy food and the lovely decorations.  You may wonder where all of the ladies come from, many are ladies from the church but most are ladies from the community.

Women in Touch has been taking place at the College View Church in Lincoln, Nebraska for 18 years.  April 6 will find a large group of ladies having a party and enjoying the evening together.   We laugh together, pray together and come closer to God together.  The fun thing is there are all age groups at this party; we say it is for women ages 18-108 years old.

I hope you have Women’s Ministries in your church, if you don’t you are missing out.  If you would like to get something started I would love to help you.  Just leave a comment on this blog and I will contact you.  If you don’t want to tackle something like Women in Touch, perhaps a new mom’s ministry or burden bears would be something you would like.  We have so many resources available to help you get a ministry started in your church.

The truth is, when you are ministering to someone else you are actually ministering to your self and to Jesus most of all.  You will enjoy doing ministry for others whether it is a party with a purpose or taking a gift to a new mom and inviting her to bring her baby to Sabbath School.  We were created for a purpose and I believe serving others is one of our purposes on this earth.