I have been blessed to serve in women's ministry for over 10 years.
The Lord has given many wonderful ideas (He gets all the credit!!!)
that I'd like to share with you.
that I'd like to share with you.
Please feel welcome to ask questions, or if you have an event coming up and would
like some ideas, just leave a message.
like some ideas, just leave a message.
Heart2Heart:
Are you looking for a program that will help your ladies to connect on a very real, transparent level? Heart2Heart may be just the thing you're looking for. We meet once a month (the 2nd Saturday of each month - that's the '2' in the title) for about 1.5 hours. It begins with a 15 minute devotional and then we use that as a springboard for discussion. The discussion sometimes lasts for 1/2 hour, other times for a whole hour depending on what the ladies need to share. We have a very important rule that we hold very dear - what's said at Heart2Heart stays at H2H! This is what helps the ladies to feel secure and open up to each other. We then take prayer requests and close in prayer being sure to bathe each and every request in prayer. We do not get a big group each month, but it has become so important to those of us who attend. It's such a blessing!!
Event themes:
~ Christmas Tea: We asked each of the ladies to bring their favorite tea cup with them. Our centerpieces were tea pots that I brought with me and we then filled them with inexpensive flowers. We served tea, coffee and water and had finger sandwiches and small desserts. For our favors I created little card packets to hold tea bags with our scripture verse written inside. Tea holder tutorial. The tea was followed by the talk 'The Wise Still Seek Him'.
~ Bubbles, Bubbles, Toils and Troubles: We used this for our first ladies retreat. We tied tiny pink Christmas bulbs to the invitations (they looked like bubbles) and handed them out at church. We hired a speaker to talk about how we are to deal with our problems as Christians. For the Friday evening of the event we had a pajama party and played games giving out things like bubble bath as prizes. We decorated the conference room with clear balloons and pink table clothes. We made name tags by writing the names of the ladies inside clip art of an old claw foot bath tub and then gluing little glittery craft balls onto the card.
~ Life is Sweeter with Jesus: This is for all of you chocolate lovers! We made 'save the date' wrappers that we then stuck on Hershey bars and handed out to the ladies of the church. We hired a speaker to share how through every phase of life, everything is sweeter with Jesus in her life. Friday evening we had a chocolate buffet and played games that were candy related (contact me if you need some). Saturday after lunch break we put out some additional chocolate treats.
~ God Uses Broken Hearts: Our team hired a speaker for this breakfast event who shared her story of heartache and how God has used it to His glory and for her greater good. We scooped up lots of heart decor a few days after Valentines including table clothes, paper goods, hanging hearts, etc. We even found cute little puffed heart key chains at the Christmas Tree Shops that we used as favors.
~ SonFollowers: Think of the beautiful sunflower and how it keeps it's head toward the sun at all times. Like the sunflower, we as Son Followers should always keep our focus on the Son of God. We held this event in the Spring and has a soup and salad dinner followed by a wonderful speaker who took the comparison of sunflower to Christ follower even deeper. We decorated with what else, sunflowers!
~ Simply Christmas: This was such a lovely Sunday afternoon event! I spoke on how we can simplify our Christmas celebrations by keeping our focus on the birth of Christ and what that means. I also offered some practical tips. We had some yummy desserts, sang many Christmas carols together, and then did a Yankee Swap with homemade gifts. The decorations were beautifully done by my friend and women's ministry teammate and consisted of inexpensive, recycled materials. She used mason jars with a handful of cranberries and some greens inside, then filled the jars with water and topped with a floating candle. We also had hand cut snowflakes hanging around the room.
Ice Breaker and Event Games
~ Little Known Fact: Prior to your event have each lady that will be in attendance submit one little known fact about themselves. Compile all the facts and write them out including a list of all of the ladies that could possibly be a match for each fact. Tell the ladies they are to go around the room and find out who goes to each match - but you can't say "is this you?" Instead, you have to ask questions that would help you figure it out without them actually saying which is them.
~ Scavenger Hunt: Scavenger hunts don't have to be long and involved. Do something to encourage the ladies to be creative. Break them into teams and have a prize for the first team to finish and maybe a prize for most creative. For example, at our chocolate themed retreat one of the teams took a picture of someone dropping something for 'Butterfinger'.
