This November we completed our 16th Lifeway Women Leadership Forum and it was the best ever according to attendees! I always have a blast being with these leaders and hope you will attend next year! Click this link to find out dates.
We asked attendees to share their ministries that have been planned or have already been successful at connecting the generations. I will share those in several blog posts so you can see what is working. Please tell us what you are doing to connect the generations.
Tami shares:
One event we’ve completed this year encompassing all ages is an annual event we hold in March. The title of the event is "Spring Fling". We encourage women to bring their daughters, mothers, sisters and lost friends. Each year we choose a theme and every aspect of the event matches the theme. For example, this year our theme was "Fiesta" so our meal was Chicken Fajita salad, our entertainment and music had a Mexican flare. Our decorations were things associated with Mexico. We encourage our speaker to choose a topic that relates well to the theme and has a great spiritual application. We ask our women to theme dress if they would like to participate in that way. The men of the church volunteer their time to help in meal preparation, they serve the meal and clean up as the event comes to a close. We have found this to be a great time of fellowship and spiritual encouragement for the men as much as for the women. This is our biggest women’s event of the year and ladies who have attended in the past look forward to it with great anticipation.
Sheila, a member from a small church, shares her Girls Night Out idea:
In January, a “Girls Night Out” was hosted by women’s ministry. This night was full of fun, fellowship and encouragement for those who came. A pizza, salad, and dessert dinner was provided followed by a program from our church body “experts”. We featured a wardrobe color analyst (a dear lady in her early 70’s), a nail specialist (in her 50’s) and also a local prosecutor’s office professional raising our awareness on the topic of domestic violence. Then a Chonda Pierce DVD was enjoyed in the sanctuary on the big screen which included lots of laughter and encouragement especially in the area of depression. The event was attended by 75 women across the generations. Our color analyst was surprised and thrilled to have the attention of our young college age girls. We truly mixed with and enjoyed each other!
Watch for more ideas coming soon!
Helpful Resources:
Women Reaching Women, Revised and Expanded version, Chris Adams
Lost and Found, Stetzer, Stanley & Hayes
Context, Threads by Lifeway
The Millenials, Thom Rainer & Jess Rainer
Respect: Meaningful Ministry with Baby Boomers in your Church and Community, Craig & Gandy
Essential Church, Rainer & Rainer
Simple Church, Rainer & Geiger
www.lifeway.com/womenreachingwomen
The Barna Group on-line, http://barna.org
Gen Trends, http://www.gentrends.com/
Scouting the Divine, Margaret Feinberg
No Other Gods, Kelly Minter
Interrupted, Jen Hatmaker
Sacred Roads, Heather Zempel
The Tough Sayings of Jesus, Michael Kelley
What Do You Do With Your Wait?, Mike Harder
Connect the Dots, Mike Hurt
unChristian, David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons