What Does Your Church Do?

I'm not in a church... but here are some of my favorite things that friends' and neighbors churches and synagogues and mosques do:

- Find out who needs help following/during birth, death, surgery, divorce and gets food, childcare, cleaning help to them.

- Naptime hangouts (biblestudy or bridge... it's stay at home parents arranging to get some grownup time while the kids are sleeping)

- Finds out sports and activities that the kids are interested in and form "clubs" (gets other parents / non-parent church members involved). Some examples are the Ski/Snowboard club that goes up twice a month in the winter time, the chess club that meets once a week, the referee club, the football club, the drama club, the language club, the dance club, the hockey club, the piano club, the guitar club, the gardening club, the biology club, builders club.

This is one of my absolute FAVS because a) it gets everyone involved and is on a volunteer basis / really gives people an opportunity to give back using their skills and gifts, and creates a great sense of community and b) activities are EXPENSIVE. Doing them for free via the church creates more well rounded and more highly educated kiddos that would otherwise not have the opportunity to. NOT just for those who can't afford activities, but also for those who do to budget constraints can only pick 1, and for those who could excel given the extra attention that an added venue and instructors provide and c) teaches giving back by example. A lot of kids only see 'giving back' or 'outreach' to those who are truely desperate (homeless shelters, habitat for humanity, etc.). But no matter WHAT your interest is, there are kids who would love to learn it. These clubs often have openhouse days where the kids in the club volunteer to teach OTHER kids (often the younger ones) from a local school, etc.

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Here is a link to the women's ministry information at my church:
http://www.christfellowshipeldorado.com/ministries/women/

My favorite Bible Studies are from Precept Ministries by Kay Arthur.

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1. beth moore
2. Gaylord Texan(WOW!)
3/4. teen MOPS and MOPS which helps moms not be so isolated. A real blessing even for nonreligioius. Meals for women who need them.
5. tea party where we ate(though need less sugary stuff), day shopping trip on a bus(not great deals, more to do something without kids), saw a play

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Hey Heather! Our church has a fantastic Women's program. Our spring signups will be available in the coming weeks, and you can link to them here: http://women.dentonbible.org/ for a description. There are usually several going on during each semester, and in the summer as well. Some do a book along with a study, some are strictly bible study. The women's website also has retreat info, special events, etc.

Fundraising - mostly bake sales. So many good bakers!

1) The ladies ministry at my church enjoys the Beth Moore Bible studies. They are awesome, hopefully I will find out which study they will do soon. The last study we did was "Duty or Delight" by Tammie Head. It was a great study. I've been doing a lot of studies on my own too.

2) They have been to events by Women of Faith, Beth Moore, and Priscilla Shirer. I didn't get to go with them but I have been to a few of these events on my own which were at different churches. I saw Priscilla Shirer live at her Going Beyond conference in Ft. Worth almost 2 years ago, and this past September I went to Beth Moore's Living Proof Live simulcast in Mansfield.

3) My church body (both men and women) used to go do visitations at nearby homes to meet our visitors and find our what their spiritual needs were.

4) We do wedding and baby showers for our ladies, as well as an annual banquet and a Christmas ornament exchange party. They are a lot of fun.

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Ok, my favorite church of all time did this outreach for young women. The bible study they did was called apples of gold and it was biblical teaching of how to be a godly wife. The women that were the students had to have been married less than 5 years (or single) and all the women teaching were required to have been married at least 35 years. It was the greatest mentoring thing they ever did for me!

The best part about this was that each lesson was taught by a different woman so if you really clicked with someone you could go to them and the burden of mentoring was spread out.

After the 1 st semester of this the graduates actually volunteered to provide meals for the biblestudy each week and child care. I loved that church sooooo much! I was never sadder to be military than when we had to leave that church!

I second the Beth Moore studies.

My very small, rural church has a Ladies Tea the 1st Sunday in May every year. We generally do a Christmas Tea as well. Sometimes we do a cup exchange, other times we use old fashioned cut glass snack trays and matching cups. Each round table is set for 8 and there are 3 different kinds of tea at each table. (We inherited numerous tea pots from a deceased member) We serve 3 kinds of finger sandwiches, have a chocolate fountain, scones and devonshire cream, truffles and tea cookies. We make everything except the scones which we purchase from a bakery in Colorado Springs. We always have entertainment. Sometimes a skit put on my some men in our church (Church Ladies...it was hilarious). Other times it is someone singing or playing the piano. We've even had an accessorizing fashion maven demonstrate how to accessorize 3 basic outfits to make them look entirely different. One year my mom's church had an "Apron" fashion show where they modeled different kinds of aprons. Theses were aprons that different members made and it was really fun. i.e. a "Ball" apron where the member attached different kinds of balls to an apron, "Cobbler" apron, pictures of different types of cobblers appliqued and another lady used shoes for her cobbler apron. The "Bib" apron had baby bibs attached to it.There was also a "Flower" apron that was made with a floral print but had diffferent brands of flour sacks attached. A "Tea" apron had numerous types of tea bags attached and the model carried a teapot and cup and saucer. There was a "Fast food" apron where the model attached "fast food" wrappers to her apron. The winner was the apron they talked my mom into modeling, a "Double Breasted" apron. The took two very large cupped bras and put one on my mom front and back and then attached chiffon as the skirt. It was really funny because my mom is a petite little old lady who is very propper. Another apron was the "Kitchen Queen" apron. She had kitchen utensils, and an extension cord attached to her. Along with the Apron Style show, they had a competition for the "oldest" apron. My mom won with the apron she made in 5th Grade Home Ec. My mom is 83 so it was approximately 70 years old. The ideas are endless and it was one of the most fun tea parties. Just don't have too many entries. The style show was scripted so they knew the exact order, and entries and all the details to point out.

The Ladies Aid at our church also does an annual Melodrama production. (25 Years) Everyone in the church is involved in some way. We do two "Dinner Theaters" and two "Dessert Theaters". The money raised is used for various community out reaches (VBS, funeral dinners, food bank, and for purchacing much needed things for the church that aren't in the budget)

For fun, we have attended "Dinner Theaters" in the area, attended brunch at the local golf course and various conferences held in the area.

The Beth Moore series is always a hit with our group.