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Guest blogger Lorie Looney Keene shares a fresh thought about mentoring…perhaps something you haven’t thought about! Perhaps after reading this you will think about using your church nursery as a place for mentoring others!
My church has experienced a recent outbreak of pregnancies. Many of my friends, as well as myself, will be having another child in 2012. It begin with just a couple ‘special announcements’ and began to spread seemingly everywhere. So much so, that we are actually in the process of moving our church nursery to accommodate the impending arrivals. :)
We are all very excited about the arrival of these new mini members, and I have been very blessed to see people begin to step up and take on more nursery duties at church. Typically, I have seen nursery workers to be young mothers doing there expected volunteer service and teenagers who enjoy playing with the babies. What has impressed me the most at my current church, however, is the number of senior adult women who are willingly signing up for ‘diaper duty.’
Some of these ladies have grandchildren of their own. Others, have none. A few have children who live out of town. A couple have family close by. Regardless of their varied personal experiences, they are all volunteering to come rock babies who, for the most part, have no physical tie to them. This is not a mandated duty. But rather, one motivated out of love.
I am thrilled by this, because it allows the moms a chance to sit and rock nearby seasoned mothers who usually can’t wait to get their hands on your baby. It is an added comfort to see your little one nestle up to a worn lap who has cradled many children and be held by hands who lovingly pat them to sleep. This time also allows a natural environment for mentoring to occur.
Titus 2 encourages women to teach other women how to love their children. Such an environment allows that teaching to occur without having to always use words. A gentle touch, a reminder that someone understands your exhaustion, a smile at the perfect time aides in teaching ‘younger’ moms that they are neither alone in the process of raising their children, as well as, they have women around them who love them.
If your church nursery does not currently include a span of ages in its workers, consider requesting that senior adult women (who are physically capable) volunteer some of their time. Some ideas for ways to recruit them are:
1. Remind them of how important they are to young mothers. Just because they have raised their children, they are still needed as mentors.
2. Encourage them to use their ability to rock a baby, feed a baby or simply be an adult presence in the room is very valuable.
3. Share with them the precious opportunity God may be giving them to befriend a young mother and pass on their experiences in mothering.
Lorie Looney Keene earned both a Masters of Divinity in Christian Education and a Masters of Theology (Th.M) from Southern Seminary, where she worked for three years as The Assistant Director of Women's Programs. Prior to working at Southern Seminary, Lorie served in Poland with the International Mission Board and has over seven years experience as an ER nurse. She is the author of "Pull Up A Chair: You Me, and the Gospel of John" by New Hope Publishing, as well as a contributing author to Journey Magazine . Lorie lives in Tullahoma, TN where her husband, Stephen is the Youth/Education Minister at Highland Baptist Church . She is a Sunday School teacher to HighSchool girls, leads a weekly women's Bible study and teaches Biology at her church's homeschool co-op. Currently, Lorie is enjoying the role of stay at home mom to her 2 year old son, Elijah.
Lorie Looney Keene shares a fresh approach to mentoring and play dates. Consider this when you are seeking ways to connect the generations of women in your church.
I have been comfortable teaching women's Bible study classes, helping with events, doing young women's mentoring for many years now. Recently, however, God has been redesigning my concept of ministering to women. He has been developing in me a love for older women.
We have several senior adult couples in my church who, for various reasons, do not have any biological grandchildren. Several of these couples have become very fond of Elijah. So, rather than just having 'play dates' with other young moms in the church, I have also been scheduling play dates with several of the older ladies as well. Recently, Elijah and I spent the morning at the home of an older lady who was so excited to have a child play in her yard again. We now go there once a month.
In addition, I've watched a couple of the ladies recently lose their husbands. I had been especially close to one of the couples and was caught off guard when I received a phone call in Kroger with her crying on the phone asking me to please 'come over and see if her husband was in a coma because he wasn't responding to her.' I went to her home, held the hand of a dying man with cancer, and helped her come to grips with the idea of enlisting Hospice care. He passed away 5 days later.
All this to say, God is really growing me in my idea of what it means to love on women in my church. I am blessed with many women my age and absolutely LOVE them...but I'm realizing the added blessing of also building relationships with those of older decades.
As women in the younger generations, we have such a unique opportunity to minister not only to one another, but to women who have walked longer miles in similar shoes. We are wise to include older generations in our normal life routines. The wisdom and experiences gleaned from them is invaluable. Some ways that you may begin to include various generations in your life include:
1. Adopt an older lady in your church as a second ‘grandmother’ to your child. Children can never have too many people loving on them!
2. Take time to develop a real friendship with a woman at least a few decades your senior. Ask her to share her mothering experiences and favorite pieces of advice. You may be amazed at how much she can relate to you.
3. Schedule a ‘play date’ for you and your child/children to spend some time at the home of a senior adult woman.
Prayerfully ask the Lord how He wants to beginning tying together some generations of women in your church. You will become much the richer for the experience.
Lorie Looney Keene earned both a Masters of Divinity in Christian Education and a Masters of Theology (Th.M) from Southern Seminary, where she worked for three years as The Assistant Director of Women's Programs. Prior to working at Southern Seminary, Lorie served in Poland with the International Mission Board and has over seven years experience as an ER nurse. She is the author of "Pull Up A Chair: You, Me and the Gospel of John (LINK)" by New Hope Publishing, as well as a contributing author to Journey Magazine . Lorie lives in Tullahoma, TN where her husband, Stephen is the Youth/Education Minister at Highland Baptist Church . She is a Sunday School teacher to HighSchool girls, leads a weekly women's Bible study and teaches Biology at her church's homeschool co-op. Currently, Lorie is enjoying the role of stay at home mom to her 2 year old son, Elijah.
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. Here are three more.
From Cinnamon: This year’s women’s retreat really focused on bridging the gap between the women of our two services. One service attracts young families while the other service attracts seniors. We had 50 women attend ranging from 15 to 70. We engaged the younger ones by offering options in our breakouts that included excursions. We engaged our older gals by having one of their own as a speaker. We also included breakouts that were interesting to them: women’s health issues (heart health and spiritually surviving cancer). Other options in our free-time were crazy hikes that might interest our young gals and prayer places that might attract our older gals. Our young 20’s gals were small group leaders of our teen group. I mixed the rest of our groups but made use of the wisdom of our older gals by making them group leaders. They needed training to feel confident but did outstanding. Worship is tricky but we try to include praise and hymns in every sessions worship (worship leaders sensitivity is crucial for this to succeed).
Ida Faye shares her Sweet Life Cafe and Legacy Café idea to purposefully engage generations: Sweet Life Cafe was a Friday night and Saturday at a retreat area. Legacy Cafe was a Friday night and Saturday at church. It was an overnight for the ones that wanted to spend the night. We had high school students to senior adults that attended. We set up a cafe atmosphere with the use of round tables. At each table we placed a variety of ages. Many of the ones that attended expressed to us these were two of the best events they had been involved in.
And finally, Karen shares this event called "Be His Hands and Feet”: This event encouraged women of all ages to live out their faith in our church, community, and world. The speaker encouraged Spirit-led service. There was a video featuring women of all ages from our church serving in many different capacities. The food was mission-trip style with beans and rice. There were photographs and statistics about world needs on the walls. Ministries from our church and community had tables along the walls to educate women on ways to serve through their ministry. Then, the women were encouraged to browse the tables and consider ways they might serve. The women were also given a $10 voucher (from the $10 price of admission) to support the ministry of their choice.
Keep sending ideas and I will keep sharing them on this blog.
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
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. Here are two more.
Nancy shares about an outdoor event for the adventurous!:
Our ministry began as an outreach ministry to all of the women in our community. Our vision is to unite women of all ages and denominations through events hosted outside the boundaries of the church walls. Our most recent event was a hike. We hiked through a stream, with our guides posting themselves in the middle to point out the stable rocks, provide a hand for balance and encourage those who were afraid. We hiked up steep trails, ensuring not one was left behind, cheering on those who did not think they could make it. We each walked along with someone we had not met before and gave them a chance to share their lives with a safe traveling partner. Finally, we arrived at a beautiful water fall and shared a meal together, surrounded by God’s amazing creation: wildflowers, butterflies, mountain peaks, mountain critters, various trees and the wonder of His greatest creation-women! After the exhausting hike, one of our guides treated us all to ice cream at a local favorite burger place. As we sat around sharing ice cream, our thoughts for the day, our struggles in life - relationships were built. What a grand day it was.
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
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.
Linda shares this great generational idea:
This year our Women’s Ministry theme “A Refuge for Generations” is based on Psalm 145:4. Our fall dinner featured a panel of women representing the decades from their 20’s to their 70’s. We had a moderator (our women’s ministry director) who asked each of them questions based on information provided by the participants in advance and gave them an opportunity to share how they had seen God work through the circumstances of their lives. The event was for women 18 and up. We’ve had women of all ages tell us how meaningful this evening was to them and that it was the best one ever. Thank you for the opportunity to share.
And Kay shares this brunch idea:
We had our Christmas Traditions' Brunch November 5, 2011. Our ladies decorated tables (on Thursday and Friday) with their favorite tradition and we had ladies in their 20's to ladies in their 70's decorating a table. On Saturday, our speaker was one of our own young mothers who is in her early 30's. Last year's speaker was in her 60's. In attendance yesterday we had girls as young as 11 and ladies in their upper 80's. Our youth hand bell choir played as we viewed the tables. Our special music included a mother and her two daughters - one in her 20's and one in her early 30's. Involving all these different ages in preparation and in the program draws all ages. This event is one of my favorites!
What great ideas! 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
