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.
Sarah shares this great ideas for connecting women with high school girls:
I’ve also started the planning for a "Bride of Christ" retreat for the senior high girls in which our adult leaders and ladies of the church will be involved in a ceremony for the girls. I’m creating it around a wedding and approaching it that we should be married to Christ first so that we understand the love of Christ before we even begin to embark on love from a man. The goal is to provide each of the young ladies with a veil at the start of the retreat and before it’s over, they get to "walk the aisle" to Christ and receive a "true love waits" ring from one of our adult ladies, and essentially be married to Christ through a commitment ceremony. I have some senior high girls that are helping me plan it as well, and we’re going to start it with a wedding shower, and end it with a wedding reception!
And here is a retreat idea from Elena:
Our conference each year has approximately 90 women. We provide a Friday night extravaganza, starting with dinner and some sort of pampering and an early bird break out, general session then dessert. In the morning we start off with a huge home cooked meal, two more breakout sessions and two more general sessions… Lots of music, praise and teaching! To bridge the gap, each year we try to cover a wide range of topics in our breakouts that will specifically speak to each stage of life that our ladies might be going through! Our general sessions do the same. From the tote filled with goodies, food, decorating and fellowship times, we hope each lady walks away feeling special, pampered and spirit filled!
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