Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - July/92

Contributor - Joan Kingswood

Title - Ministry to Young Mothers

Topic -Ministries

When was the last time you had the privilege of supporting a mother with young children? Did you bake her some muffins? Take her little one for an hour? Lend her a helpful book on parenting. Listen to her concerns? Or invite her to a "MOMS" group? If you're serious about implementing the great truths of Titus 2:4 then perhaps you and some like-minded women in your congregation are ready to start a ministry to the young mothers in your congregation and in your community.

What is it?

So what is a MOMS group? A MOMS group is a group of mothers who meet -weekly or bi-weekly to encourage one another in homemaking and child rearing. For some who come it's simply a morning out with their children well cared for. For others it becomes the beginning of a new life in obedience to Jesus Christ.

There are already several MOMS groups established in our Canadian congregations. Forestview Community Grimsby, Ontario, has had a MOMS group for over four years and Karen Blaauw has provided much of the leadership for that group. A new MOMS group at Countryside Reformed Church in Cambridge, Ontario, is also seeking to serve our Lord with their ministry to the mothers Of Cambridge and area. In New Brunswick I helped lead a large MOMS group (50 mothers/ week) for three years.

Goals

Here are some of the "how to's" of MOMS groups. To begin with, you'll need a very committed core of women who understand the goals of a MOMS group: (1) to support mothers in a society that devalues the calling of motherhood; and (2) to develop friendships with non-Christians in order to allow them to seek Christ working in our lives and homes.

Format

Once your goals are established, you need to develop a program that supports the goals. Our group met every Thursday from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. The Grimsby and Cambridge groups meet every other week. We started with coffee, tea, juice and muffins while mothers got their little ones settled into the children's program. Then a guest speaker would address the mothers n a topic pertaining to mothers or mothering - e.g. dental hygiene in children, schooling choices, time management, gardening, discipline. Mothers then divided into discussion groups to facilitate friendship and application of the topic. We came back together to talk and do a craft or learn a skill before collecting up the children and heading home.

Planning

Planning and organizing takes lots of committed workers. Our group was led by a steering committee made up of a chair-person, treasurer/secretary, craft person, discussion group coordinator, teaching team, hospitality director and child care coordinator. Of all of these people and committees, the child care group is the most difficult to get volunteers for. Although our MOMS group in New Brunswick always managed to have good child-care workers (often from other congregations) both the Grimsby and Cambridge groups have struggled in this area. Karen Blaauw encourages groups that are being held back by this sad condition to look into paid babysitting rather than forfeit the whole ministry for lack of commitment to children. The cost can be somewhat offset by a no-pressure donation box but hopefully your congregation will have given you some share of the budget for this important community work.

The wonderful thing about a MOMS group is that there are always mothers in every community who are in need of encouragement and who will be open to a ministry of this kind. As Karen Blaauw says "You don't need to look for ex-cons or drug addicts to be an effective witness to your neighbourhood." Forestview's group began five years ago with a "trial" day and had 14 mothers attend the first meeting! Our group in New Brunswick had 25 mothers from the community after the first six months and continued to grow from there. Many of these mothers became a part of the Sunday morning worshippers with their husbands and children. Several became Christians as a result!

Challenge

Are you ready for the mission field? Willing to put time and effort and prayer into serving God by caring for the lost? I would encourage you to take a serious look at ministering to the young mothers in your community.

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