Disciples Women

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Kick starting new groups

How do you get something new started with the women in your church?

This is one of the key questions Disciples Women are asking. And just asking puts you on the cutting edge. Being on the cutting edge doesn't mean you have all the answers, but it does mean you can see what's coming, and you have a chance. You can do what you have always done (and continue to get what you always got!) or you can see your role in the new thing God is doing.

So How Do You Start?!

• Deal with Past and Present
  · Spend 3 minutes or less lamenting all that has changed.
  · Look at all the limitations, obstacles, problems.
  · Recognize the ministry that has been.
  · Celebrate what is being done with and by women in your congregation.
  
  
• Prepare for Change
  · Begin with prayer and scripture:
  · Read Isaiah 43:18
  Remember not the former things...Behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it
  springs forth. Do you not perceive it?
  · Read I Corinthians 5:17
  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come.
  · Read Matthew 28
  The Great Commission
  The Great Commandment
  · Read the purpose of Christian Women's Fellowship - even if you call your group
  something else. Isn't this what women's ministries is all about?!
  To provide opportunities for spiritual growth, enrichment, education and creative ministries to enable women to develop a sense of personal responsibility for the whole mission of the church of Jesus Christ.

So What Do You Do After You Have Prepared Yourself So Well?

• Pray
  · Give God praise and thanks for all God's blessings in the past, present, and them many good things God has yet to do.
  · For each woman in your church.
  · Then listen. Not for what you think the women want, but listen for what God is calling you to do in this time and place.
  Take a look at the Book of Esther. Hear the question that asks, “Who knows but that you were born for such a time as this?
  
  
• Next some steps or tools...
  · Look around the church and see if you can find at least 3 women with something in common (age, life stage, interests, need)
  · Call women together around a meal or dessert.
  · Invite them personally
  · Call to remind them
  Provide opportunities to get to know one another
  · Share interests and needs with one another
  · Invite them to continue
  · Plan with them the next when, how, where
  
• Listen to the women you have gathered about the best time and place.
  · Provide childcare whenever possible and give lots of suggestions about resources.

Things To Remember

Fact 1:
Small is beautiful! Surprise! The optimal size for a group is about seven persons. Thus, our focus should not be on forming one or two large groups, but on forming a number of small women's groups.

Fact 2:
People are intimidated by groups that are already in existence and are much more likely to want to be a part of the formation of a new group. The survival of women's ministries in your congregation has everything to do with starting new circles.

Remember ...

• Don't rush success. You are building a community, not an institution. Community takes time!
  
• It takes at least 5-6 months for people to see themselves as a group.
  
• Never give someone a job as a way of inviting them into community.
• If you want to introduce specific Disciples Women/Christian Women's Fellowship resource, do so one at a time.
  
• It is not a failure when a group or program ends (if you have done your work!) It simply means its time is over, or its time has not yet come. If it was a new group that didn't last, wait five to six months and begin again. It may be that the leader you need just had a baby and three months from now she will be ready for something new.
  
• If you can gather three women together who have something in common, shared life situations or interest, you can start a new group.

May God bless you in the new things you are doing!


Based on the writings and work of Dr. Ruth Richardson, former regional staff, Tennessee.

reprinted from Guideposts for Leaders, l999

—by Susan Gonzales-Dewey
Susan Gonzales-Dewey is Associate Pastor of First CC, Ventura, Calif., and Regional Staff for the women of the Pacific Southwest.
She and her husband, Don, are the parents of two children, Noah and Leah.