Jan. 27, 2006 - new blog site
I have moved:
Please go to http://homeschoolblogger.com/vibrantfaith
I was having so much trouble with my site, couldn't ever get my friends page to do right and then the names disapeared all together. I figured there was some problem, so I copied my articles and started over with another site. All of you my dear friends will recieve a notice that I have added you as my friend.
Happy Blogging!
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Jan. 23, 2006 - Herb Garden
Hello from my herb garden!
This is a basil plant that is growing out of hand!
It is even got flowers on the top now. Does anyone know what to do next? Should I pinch off the flowers, wait till they turn to seed and then pinch them off? Should I harvest the entire plant....or can I go on using it continually? I have had Thai basil in the ground before and just let them grow on and till they became more like bushes than plants, but I have never had sweet basil in a pot before. The sage that I had in the pot last year, was doing fine and dandy till one day it died. I did not get the chance to harbest all the leaves before it died. Boo hoo! If anyone has any advice, sure would like to hear!
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Jan. 21, 2006 - Adventures with my Daughter
My youngest daughter is 11 and since she is my last child, the only "kid" in the family, and has a personality similar to mine, we have the best of fun.
We seem to always be "into something" whether it's painting, sewing, taking photos, reading, blogging, we're always together. I am having the best time with my last child and know God sent her to me to be an extra special blessing, especially true as my others have left the nest!
This past month was full of adventures. We did a mother daughter retreat with her best friend and her mom. We went to a nice hotel for two days and one night. During the day we listened to the tapes by Dennis and Barbara Rainey entitled Passport to Purity published by Family Life Publishing, You can order it from www.familylife.com The seminar is aimed at junior high age children. The address some truly significant topics on life's most intimate issues It is designed to be used one on one with your child. (If the child is a male, it would be much better if Dad could take him instead of the mom.) During the getaway, my daughter and I spent time alone, listening to the tapes and then for our meals, we got together with our friends. During both days, there is time allowed for an activity of your choosing. Rachel wanted to go to the fabric store and then to the tailor to make some of her personal designs that have been long on paper into a reality.
See photos below.
We had a wonderful time and our relationship was strengthened tremendously. I highly reccomend this course for your preteen!!
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Jan. 21, 2006 - Adventures with my Daughter
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Jan. 19, 2006 - my two cents on curriculum
My two cents on curriculum:
(what I think so far… may change at any time!)
I have used many types of curriculum. I have four children two of which are already graduated from High School. I have come to the conclusion that each child is different and what works perfectly for one student may be disastrous for the next. My advice is to observe and prayerfully consider your options. Learn your student and how they learn. It is also good to know that as they grow, the child will know what works for them and what doesn’t. It is funny to me that one child could absolutely love a text book while the next could hate it.
I feel I made many mistakes, and I am sure I will make more, but I after 20 years of this, I feel I am more understanding of the science of learning.
My first child:
When we first began homeschooling in the early 80’s, not much was available as far as curriculum. There was ACE, Abeka, Bob Jones, Alpha Omega, Rod and Staff,
I decided to go with Alpha Omegas life pacs for Math (which my son and I both did not like at all) and I used Sing Spell Read and write for my phonics and then I added Konos.
The next year I used Weaver (which I loved and used for several years till we went to the mission field) I learned a lot from the Weaver curriculum because it taught me how to teach, prepare and answered a lot of my questions. It requires books from the library and I also used Abeka text books for Science and History to supplement.
We continued to use Sing, Spell, Read and Write. (In fact, I used that curriculum with all four of my children.) It is simply the best! They have upgraded and I still recommend it highly. It is very easy to use and fun. The kids learn without knowing it.
Writing Road to
I used this for a handwriting and phonics review. It is great for spelling. I even used it years later as a refresher course for one of my children who were having trouble with spelling.
Bob Jones Math
We used Bob Jones Math for several years. It was a good basic curriculum.
My second child came along and wanted to do things “on her own.” I had her in Weaver and Sing, Spell, Read and Write and Bob Jones Math as well. She did fine until about third grade where I added Bob Jones language course.
That year we moved to
My third child:
My third child was in the ACE program but having troubles, even though both my husband and I could tell he was very smart and bright. He was lonely, he hated being in his room studying on his own. He could not get things done quickly and would get stuck especially in Math. This is when we switched to Abeka Math for him and my mother came that year and helped him a lot with math and spelling. He still hated ACE. We switched to SOS which is totally on computer and he liked it, but still was lonely as he was doing it in his room…alone.
We began to see that he learned by audio and interaction – something that he had been lacking. With my other two children graduated, I had more time to spend on the two younger kids. I made a commitment. I would take him and teach him one on one with Abeka… totally. I did seventh grade with him and it was truly a turning point year! He picked up on all subjects and afterwards was ready for high school. Then I made a mistake, I put him back in ACE. That year was ok, we thought, but what we did not realize was that he was struggling. As we were half way into tenth grade, we had to come to grips with the fact that ACE was too old, out of date in their information and the geometry and physical science was poorly written. Even with my husband teaching it to him daily (the curriculum is supposed to be self taught) he could not “get it.” So we made a big adjustment once again. I felt I had failed. I felt I had made a terrific mistake. Why hadn’t I stayed with Abeka, when things were going so well? The answer was, I could not spend that much time with him when I had my third coming up. So we are now doing a variety of things. My husband took up teaching him math and science and he is doing the others on his own but with my supervision and help. He is in the same room with me and my daughter everyday, so he is not alone.
This what we are doing:
Science: Apologia – The best I have seen. Before this year, my son hated science but now he loves it. He is making great grades on his tests too. The narrative style is the key I think, because it seems to him that someone is actually talking to him.
Math: Discovering Geometry and investigative approach by Key Curriculum Press. This is not an easy book, needs a teacher, and is very advanced. The positives are that he really likes it as it explains very well and is very practical in its approach. Every kid has probably asked, “Why do I need to take this stuff?” This curriculum answers that question with every day examples of application.
Language Arts: (includes vocabulary, literature, grammar, writing etc…SOS - We went back to Switched on Schoolhouse for this and he is doing great.
History: World History from Abeka. We are reading it and he is writing reports on each chapter and giving me a list of learned vocabulary. This has been an excellent way to use a text book. We have gotten ideas from Charlotte Mason on reading living books and reporting what we have learned as the best way to retain information. Gone is the busy work, in comes the real learning. I think next year we will do SOS though, because he has government and civics and feels that Abeka is biased according to their world view which in my son’s opinion is very small. (spoken from a missionary kid’s perspective.) He can never get enough History.
Music: ACE Still the best self taught curriculum for music theory that I have seen.
Art: ACE
Computer: ACE
Typing: ACE
Still ACE is good for electives and I don’t throw it out all together. It could be ok for language arts as well, but I feel he likes SOS because it is straightforward and doesn’t bother with too much busy work and it is advanced. These are his opinions.
My fourth child:
I have done ACE (which she hated) and Abeka (which she loves cause I do it all with her.) She is social! Is that a category? A social learner? Next year we will try SOS with her. Abeka seems to get repetitious and boring after several years. It is very good for 1-5 grades though. Still the story is being written….
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Jan. 16, 2006 - New Energy
1 Peter 2:11
Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.
The soul is your mind, will and emotions. When we give into the flesh, we harm our soul. Our minds are confused, our emotions in turmoil and our wills become worn down and weaken. This brings death to us. As we are connected to much to our soul, if our soul is unhealthy, our body begins to lack energy. We get lazy and fat and then we hate ourselves.
This all comes because we do not abstain from fleshly lusts. Wow! Doing what the flesh wants really does bring death to us.
But on the other hand, when we sow to our spirit, we will reap life. I recently too a few days off and spent large blocks of time with God. I read, listened to tapes and prayed. What a difference I noticed when I returned to my normal life. I had more energy, and vitality. My spirit was full and ready. My mind was sharper, my will strong, and my emotions were under control My soul was at peace. My body was energized and I lost weight. What benefits come when I take time to build up my spirit.
I have decided to take regular prayer retreats and also during my daily life, spend more time in prayer and in God’s Word.
One big key to doing that is to make it more important to me than eating, sleeping, shopping, and entertaining myself. A couple years ago, I made an investment and got an on line
Prayer: Thank you Lord for showing me the radical change that comes from spending time with you. This is what I have been missing. I need you more than ever, as life gets more complicated and I am expected to produce more than ever. I want to serve you and will not resist the opportunities you place in my path. Thank you for the energy I need to do your will.
1 Peter 5:10
The God of all grace…after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you.
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Jan. 15, 2006 - Your Value - part two
God wants you to know your value.
- Your life is worth more….
Matt. 6:25-34
"So I tell you, don't worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food, drink, and clothes. Doesn't life consist of more than food and clothing?
Look at the birds. They don't need to plant or harvest or put food in barns because your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than they are.
Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Of course not.
"And why worry about your clothes? Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing,yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.
And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won't he more surely care for you? You have so little faith!
"So don't worry about having enough food or drink or clothing.
Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things? Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs,
and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the
"So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today.
Life is worth more than food, the body is worth more than clothes.
You wouldn’t know that from the glossy magazines or TV would you? They are always sending us a message, you are nothing unless you have this or wear this. We look up to those models because of their job in the public eye or because of what they are wearing and we feel we have to measure up, so we buy things we cannot afford and still feel we do not have what we need.
Matt
Not even a sparrow, worth only half a penny, can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.
So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows.
Aren’t you worth more than the birds? God takes care of them. Carefree living is for the Christian!
So don’t start worrying about the details. Eating...drinking… clothes… that is what the pagans seek. People without God have a world view without God as their foundation they are materialistic.
Society goes after all they can have so they can prove their value.
Do you remember on the movie Little Women when Meg went to the party and her friends dressed her up and then she was embarrassed when her friend Laurie showed up at the party? She wondered why was it wrong to play the part of the fancy lady and have all those men around her paying attention to her. The mother said, “I don’t my girls thinking that their value is merely in their decoration.”
Man’s thinking says, position and possessions make me valuable.
This thinking brings anxiety, worry jealousy, and a feeling of no purpose for your life.
The truth is that I am of high value. You are of High Value, because God says you are.
Every person is a VIP. The Christian should look to God to affirm their value.
If we do not know our value we will look to man for affirmation. “Am I OK?”
We can be so worried and concerned with food and clothes, position. We need to remind ourselves of this truth, “ I am of high value because God says I am.”
Look at the birds of the air, look at the flowers, you are much more valuable than they.
I went through a period in my life when I was very depressed. I remember lying in my bed, and a song bird came and sat outside my window. He sang the same sweet tune over and over and it really did seem he was singing, “Don’t worry, Don’t worry, He cares for you.” Now whenever I hear the song bird outside my window I am reminded of that time when a bird encouraged me. I like to think the birds must be singing because they are happy and free and they must know their Heavenly Father is taking care of them.
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Jan. 15, 2006 - Your Value - part one
I think the question we should ask ourselves is, "Who do I want to be? Because fact is I will do a lot of things in my life. But who am I becoming? We need to take a good look in the mirror. What do you see? A person whom God loves. Don’t compare yourself with others. Who do you want to be in life? A business woman, a homemaker, a public person, a woman of God…. See yourself at the end. Who do you want to have become? Write it down and think about how you can get there. You have choices in life, but if you don’t know where you are going, how can you make the right choices? Knowing your value will help you in reaching your potential in God and give you some confidence to pursue the dreams God has given you. God has some wonderful things planned for you.. You are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that he has mapped out ahead of time for you to accomplish. He has some wonderful things designed for you and all you have to do is walk in his ways and discover them. I want to give you hope that you have a beautiful future whoever you are. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. When we give our lives to Christ, he takes the old and gives us something new. It is a great exchange. Old things are passed away. That old self is not you any more. So you need to start thinking of yourself in a different way now. That is the process of spritual renewal. Have you ever gone in for a makeover at one of those department store cosmetic counters? Ok you go in and you sit down and you say, make me beautiful! They will first say, "Ok, here is some makeup remover. Take all that old stuff that you have on your face off first and then we will make you over." It would be quite ignorant of me if I would get angry with the lady, and say, "Look lady, I spent an hour putting this makeup on and I am not taking it off!" She would laugh and say, "Well, I’m sorry then, you won’t receive the benefits of the makeover. I can’t put on anything on top of that old stuff you have on. Eph 4 : 21-24 is one of my favorite verses. It says. Since you have heard all about him and have learned the truth that is in Jesus, throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception. Instead there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes. You must display a new nature because you are a new person, created in God’s likeness- righteous, holy and true. I have to constantly tell myself new thoughts and train my attitudes to reflect who I really am- a new person created in God’s likeness. Righteous holy and true. It is so important to focus on God and His word and make his word our true foundation for our lives. The world, the devil, and your own unredeemed fleshly thinking is going to try to distract you, but like horses, put on the blinders and focus. Don’t look to the left or to the right. Keep the Word of God ever before your eyes. What does God say? Live by that. more to come....
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Jan. 9, 2006 - "Vases and Candles"
"Vases and Candles"
Watercolor by Julie Hughes
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Jan. 6, 2006 - Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
“It’s one more year closer to the day Jesus returns!” This was announced Sunday morning at our church as one of our staff leaders got up to lead in prayer. All at once my eyes welled with tears. Heaven… Jesus… One year closer… I felt my heart long for Heaven, our heavenly home. I don’t know how much longer I have here on earth, no body does, but I want to remind myself daily that I am not living for this life but the one that is to come. As much as I love this house and love to “keep house” , I must not forget, This is not my permanent dwelling- heaven is. This draws my focus away from the temporal and on to the eternal. It makes me take stock, not in how many bars of soap that are left on the linen shelf or how many jars of tomato sauce
I have remaining in the pantry, but how many souls am
I taking with me to heaven? Souls are the only thing I can take with me. They are the only eternal things. How am I sending up treasure now for the building of my eternal home?
I had a dream one night about a white house, the interior spacious and wide. Everything was beautiful. In my dream, I was taking a tour of this lovely house. I woke up and thought, I wonder if that is my heavenly home?
I have never seen this house before and it seemed very “other worldly”… I will see… someday…
Lord, keep my sight on heaven.
Col. 3:1-25
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God's right hand in the place of honor and power. 2Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. 3For you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4And when Christ, who is your real life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.
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Jan. 5, 2006 - Parenting
The most important thing we are doing in life is preparing a platform for our children. Our vision is that our children will go forward and do even greater things for God than we have. It is not really about us, the enemy fears the potential of those we will birth. We have a great challenge in this generation.
We have to rescue our children now! We have a fight on our hands. It is not a fight with our children but for them. It is a fight for the next generation.
Judges
And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for
Most people expect kids will be wayward and then return later. You cannot abdicate your responsibility or your authority. You must help them find their purpose. Find that bent and steer them toward that. Our children were born to worship. They were born to love and serve God. When they know their purpose, they will walk with God and in the anointing of the Lord. Children are arrows in the hand of warrior. Our kids are going to be our best disciples. Children are mighty weapons in the hand of a godly parent. They will not be defeated when they fight with the enemies in the gates. We can send our children to penetrate our society with leadership, influence and wisdom.
We need to be thinking, “What impact will my life have when I am gone? What will my grandchildren will be doing?” We cannot have a low vision. Our life can make a huge difference if we train our children right. Think about the opportunity! We are building a family dynasty! A dynasty maintains power for several generations. A good man leaves an inheritance for his grandchildren.
The
4 practical points of parenting:
We must imitate our Heavenly Father. He is the example parent.
- Practice loving and consistent discipline
It seems simple, but biblical discipline works. Your home is a window by which your child views God and his world. If you will not discipline, your child will not believe anyone else will either. They will become selfish and start thinking the world revolves around them. If your child learns to obey, he will prosper in life.
We must remind our children, “Because I love you I am going to teach you and discipline you. Honor your word. It is the law, and if you don’t enforce your child will develop a respect the law. Life will not always give them their way. Some people think they should have what they want when they want it and if they don’t get it they develop a victim mentality and be angry with the world.
If we do not discipline them, they will not be happy. Now a not about rules: we need to be careful to guard against legalism. Legalism will turn your children away from you and from God. Don’t always say no to your children. You need to say yes to them as much as possible and then when you have to say no, they will pay attention. They must know the reason behind the rules. They must be taught to honor God’s Word and follow the conviction of the Holy Spirit and their conscience.
- Capture their heart
God is affectionate. His love is sustaining and unconditional. God is wanting to affirm you verbally. God wants to speak life into our lives, we need to speak life into our homes. It is so easy to speak in the negative. We need to make sure we are speaking sweet. The heart of the wise teaches his mouth what to say.
Don’t vent all your feelings. Rule your own spirit. Don’t rant and rave. Don’t get easily angry.
Children take in everything. They record everything so we have to be careful with them. God is going to cover our mistakes but we need a vision. Speak words of faith and destiny to your children. Satan loves to make your children believe lies. We must encourage them daily.
Say, “Good job!” Tell them how thankful you are that they are yours. I am so glad your mine. I am so blessed to have you as my son or daughter. Do they know you are proud of them and that you love them.
Pray over them every night.
Their hearts are very open at night. Pray encourage them speaking over them.
My children need to hear that I am proud of him. God does not embarrass or humiliate us. Fathers tell your daughters they are beautiful. Their first man in their life was their dad and if he thought they were beautiful, that is all they need. Go on a date with them.
You are capturing their heart. You are building your family as a unit.
Everyone can live by them selves but we must be a unit. Speak words of life to children, say, “I love you.” When we make a mistake, if we can say we are sorry easily, it will help them to know they will be forgiven when they make mistakes.
- Be affectionate with them.
Children will always try to get to people who love them. They knew Jesus loved them. Jesus loves your children. He took infants up that he may touch them.
Give them lots of hugs. You give them security when you grab their hand when they go across the street. Put your arm around them. It will teach them to be affectionate.
God loves us to be affectionate and wants them to feel God’s love through us. We are what he has chosen to show our kids what God looks like. We have got to show them what Father God is like.
- Take time with them.
Our world is so busy. Cell phones, schedules, internet...
According to the Old Webster’s dictionary “education” means to correct the temper. It is not the teacher’s job to educate our children. The job belongs to the parents.
Train them for usefulness in their future, and in order to do that, we must spend time with them. Pull them along behind, train them. Come with me and I will show you the goodness of God. Children need your time. Mothers and Fathers take time for them. Spend your free time taking them out, reading stories, and playing with them.
We take the time to train them all during the day and not just school hours. Dinner table is a major training place. If they can behave themselves at home, when you take them out they are a blessing and stay in their chairs. Train them at home how to behave in certain situations. To have manners in public places and how to communicate to adults. They won’t be perfect but if we train them at home, we will be confident when we take them out that they will be a blessing to others.
If you have teenagers, make sure that you are there for them as they grow. If home is an enjoyable place they will want to be there with you. Encourage your children to have a friend over for dinner or a sleep over and teach them hospitality.
Play with your children. Let them know that you want to spend time with them. You should show them that you want to spend time with them just like God wants to spend time with you. Enjoy them, play with them, and don’t let other things keep you from it. Don’t worry about your house. They grow up all too soon and are gone. Your house will still be there.
You have a great opportunity to do something great for the Lord. Your children are your number one disciples. Pass the baton of Faith on to them. Children are wet cement. The impressions we are making in their lives will solidify and harden and will shape their adult lives.
May God give us grace to raise our children in the ways of the Lord.
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Jan. 5, 2006 - Women are Disciples too!
Women are disciples too!
My passion is to see women fulfill their full potential in the
In my view, the problem has been that for many centuries, women have been relegated to a secondary position in society. Jesus came to change that. As we read the scriptures we can see that there were women who followed Jesus and He never turned them away. In fact, when he arose from the dead, He instructed Mary to “go and tell”. We have his authority and his blessing to go and tell as well.
When Jesus was on the mountain, before He was taken up to Heaven, he told all those standing there, including the women, “Go and make disciples of all nations….” He was not only talking to the 12 men apostles but to all standing there with Him and to all who believe on Him.
What an awesome privilege and responsibility to go and make disciples. Women need to be empowered and equipped to do just that. How many people are in this world? And what percentage of them are women? Who is going to reach them? Can the men really reach them? They may give a sermon or call them to repentance, but it is the women’s responsibility to disciple, nurture and “take care” of the new women.
When women come into the church, they are no doubt blessed by the worship and the preaching of the Word, but they desperately need another woman to come up to them talk to them and try to establish relationship with them. One of the best ways to do this is to have the established women in the church be on look-out for the new women. Name tags could help in this situation, members with green tags, visitors with blue. It is very discouraging to those trying to be friends get the response, “I am not a visitor, I have been coming a year…” etc., when asked, “Oh are you new here?” It is also discouraging to the ones who have been coming quite a while and are not quite plugged in to hear asked, “Oh are you new here?” I think the name tags would solve that issue.
Meeting new people at church or other events:
The members should have been trained how to greet the new ones and how to start conversation with them, asking them questions and trying to set up a meeting time with them. Asking people, “Are you new here?” is not the greatest opener. Hi, I’m Julie, (shake hands if appropriate) I’ve been coming to church here for quite a while. How did you like the service?” is much better. Ask them if they live nearby and ask them about their family. During the course of the conversation try to find something in common with that person. Does she like sports? Is she a homemaker? Does she have children? Does she work full time? What are things she may would like to do?
You don’t have to ask all those questions obviously, but when you discover and get an idea what this person may like, you can make a suggestion. You could try at that point to set up a coffee break, lunch near their work place, or a tennis match. What ever you do, try to establish that you really are interested in getting to know this person. Try to seek out those you are attracted to and feel that they would be similar to you in things they might like. In other words, since I am not a sports person, I would not really be too helpful to someone who is tennis pro and comes to church in their sportswear. I would look for some one who perhaps dresses similar to me, who is about the same age as I am and someone who looks like I could get along with.
You should have done your homework and prepared name cards for you to give to others when you make an appointment with them.
You can say, “I really do want to get together some time this week, can we do lunch on Tuesday?” And then, “Here is my card if there is anything you need before that, I would love to hear from you.” Be sure to get their name and phone number too.
You should be sensitive to her and let her talk. She may express a need and you can just stop right there and pray for her. God can help you minister to her even if she is not a believer yet. Prayer is something almost everyone receives and feels love through it.
The Call
Within 24 hours you need to call this person. You don’t have to talk long, just make sure they know that you are thinking of them and if they had mentioned anything in your conversation, it would make them feel special if you would bring that up.
Also within 48 hours you should plan to see them at their house or have made an appointment with them, preferably early in the week. Tuesdays would be a great day to dedicate to visitation of new ones.
Before the appointment:
It is so important to prepare your heart before you go to minister to the new person. Pray and ask God to help you know what to share with this person. And ask God to fill your heart with love and compassion and understanding toward that person. Ask God to lead you in your Bible reading to prepare your heart and show you what that person needs. Prepare your heart so you can be open. Paul talked about opening his heart wide to the people. This is what we must do.
Prepare to treat this person as a long time friend. You do this in faith because you believe they will be. You must also believe that you have something to give to them and that they will want to embrace what you have.
Be sure you deal with your heart before you go out, and determine that you will not judge them no matter what, that you will accept and love them just as Jesus would.
If we are to minister to hurting, unsaved people or new believers, we must first resolve that even though they are not perfect, neither are we. And we can minister grace to them because we know Jesus took both our sins on himself.
The appointment:
When you meet with this person for the first time, she may be a bit uneasy or nervous wondering if she is going to have to reveal her life to you and if you will accept her. The very first thing we must do with a person is to make them feel comfortable, by being real with them and vulnerable about our own lives. They need to know that you don’t think you have it all together and that you just want to be friends with them. Do things they like to do. Don’t play a hostess, but be sensitive to what they like. Talk about things you would talk about to make a friend and when you get on to a topic, be sure to let her feel that you accept her views as important and that you are not judging her for saying what she wants to say.
At some point in the conversation you can turn things to spiritual things. Like asking her how she heard about the church and then reassure her you are glad she came so you could get to know her and be friends. If you sense she is eager to talk about spiritual things or her life, you can wait and listen for clues. Find out where she is on her spiritual journey and try to bring her one step closer to a better relationship with Jesus.
Don’t argue or try to explain doctrinal differences. Also, don’t try to be her counselor. Keep clear of peripheral issues such as religion and stay right on the central issue – which is a closer relationship with Jesus.
If the person has never been exposed to Christianity: Have you ever heard the story about Jesus? Have you seen The Passion movie?
If the person is not a Christian but is religious: Have you ever attended church regularly?
If the person is trying to have a relationship with God but is bound by drugs, alcohol, immoral sex, or other abuses: What are the biggest struggles in your life?
If this person is young mother, seems a little distraught and needs encouragement.
Tell her about a new mothers support group or a cell for young mothers. Assuming also that you are making these available.
If this person is a career person who is on top: Have you ever thought about what is most satisfying about life? Where you lack satisfaction?
If this person is devastated by trama or a recent bad experience: Introduce her to a counselor in the church or Healing Streams program.
Don’t push or try to fix them, just be sensitive to the things they share with you. Nothing that people say or feel is dumb. It may be a different viewpoint than you have ever had but it is still how they are perceiving life, so try to be understanding and accepting. This love will be the thing that draws women into a relationship with Jesus.
You can ask them if they are interested in getting together once a week to enable you to explain about some keys to living successfully. It is important that they know about how to have a relationship with Christ.
Let’s assume they are interested in making an appointment to study one on one with you. The booklet that we use is entitled One to One. It is available from https://www.everynationonline.org It is designed to share with your sister once a week. You can do it over coffee, lunch or in the park or workplace, at her house or yours.
The discipleship sessions
The first few times you get together, you are going to need to spend some time just being friends and sharing in a warm way. Then at some point after about 5 minutes pull out your One to One book. Then you can read it along with her the first chapter and it will take about 15 minutes unless she has comments or questions.
You will want to make it as comfortable as you can while trying to keep to the lesson as much as possible.
After you read the lesson, you can ask her if she has any questions or anything she is wondering about. She should share at this point. You need to remember to be a good listener and not use this time to preach to her but to try to understand what she is saying. The more we listen, the more time we will have to wait on the Lord for an appropriate response. Ask her if there is anything that you both can pray about and when she is sharing listen attentively. She needs to know you really care about her and her situations.
You need to pray for her and allow time for her to pray if she feels that she wants to.
Prayer for Salvation:
Heavenly Father,
I acknowledge that the separation between us is because of my sin. I confess that I have sinned and have fallen short of your glory. I thank you that you sent Your Son Jesus to pay the penalty for my sin. I believe that He died on the cross for me. I believe that You raised Him from the dead. I am sorry for my sins and I ask you to forgive and cleanse me. I want to turn away from everything the Bible calls sin. I now receive you as my Lord, Master and Savior. Please fill me with Your Holy Spirit and give me the power to love, serve, and obey you for the rest of my life.
In Jesus Name, Amen.
Cell groups
There are different kinds of cell groups:
Outreach cells for lost people.
Discipleship cells for new believers
Fellowship and prayer groups
Bible Study groups
Interest related cell group (friendship cells)
(Suggestions for this: http://www.oasisla.org )
The following are some examples and ideas in the forming of Friendship Cells. They would occur regularly and would be arranged according to age, interest, and demographics. The goal would be to provide the foundation for a network of good works across the city.
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A group called Growing Together could be started to cater to help with raising children. The programming could cover lessons on conception to birth, early motherhood, the toddler zone, school age, and even the empty nest syndrome. The goal would be to provide inspiration and help across every area of family life.
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A group called Girl Force could be started to encourage women who work outside the home.
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Another group could be called Devoted for those women who are single and want to be completely devoted to God and his service.
Dividing women from the men creates a warm and safe atmosphere that they can let their barriers down.
The church women’s ministry is vital to the growth and health of the church. May the Lord help you as you seek to develop a wonderfully fruitful ministry to women. What wonderful things to look forward to as you reach out to women, disciple them, get them involved in service, and teach them to disciple others.
A very important part of this whole process is that we train the new ones to go out and do this with another woman, so that the kingdom keeps advancing and reproducing. If the process stops, there is no more growth. One by one we can reach the women of the world.
Ideas for reaching out and serving:
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Exemplary Older Woman Works - Older woman available to give advice to younger women. Those who have 'been there and successfully done it' before. TIME AND ENERGY IDEAS:
Green Grass- lawn of the people next door.
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