Wondering how to reach out to the community in children's ministry? Why not consider MOPS for next year. Here's how it works in Sutherland... wow! Praise God!
The Ministry of MOPS,
by Marianne Vanderkolk, Sutherland CRCA.
The MOPS ministry is a very exciting ministry of building bridges and furthering relationships in the community. It is based on a Friendship Evangelism model so when coming to a MOPS morning, it looks more like a community mothers group than a church-run outreach. This, we believe, is what makes MOPS such a powerful ministry.
Since Mothers of Preschoolers can often feel overwhelmed, alone, insecure, stressed and extremely busy, the program is designed to provide them with “Time-out” while their children (Moppets) are being looked after by a capable team of helpers.
Each MOPS group structures their morning differently. We begin with a very relaxed morning tea, followed by a talk. Speakers have included people from within our church and from the community – dealing with a huge range of topics including cake decorating, hairdressing, mission topics, health and fitness topics, Discipline DVDs by Dobson, as well as using the MOPS curriculum which usually has 6 DVD sessions on various mothering topics. Then we have some discussion questions. At this time, the Christians in the group and the MOPS team can answer questions from their own personal experience and bring in their journey of faith appropriately. Following this, we have some time for a creative activity which can include cooking demonstrations, crafts and other activities.
The aim of MOPS is to bring mothers to a knowledge of Jesus Christ through friendship evangelism and subsequently, using tools such as Christianity Explained, Christianity Explored and others, to explain the gospel clearly. Since we first began in July 2008, we have seen a number of ladies come to church and church run activities (since it is a very familiar place for them and their children), go through Courses, attend a special MOPS Bible Study on the alternate week, and come to faith and also profess their faith.
The MOPS Bible study is a wonderful opportunity for interested ladies to learn about God without any prior knowledge of God or the Bible. It runs on the same day as our KYB group and so the two groups meet at morning tea. Some ladies have moved from the MOPS Bible Study to the KYB when they are ready to go more into depth.
Another aim of MOPS is to encourage young women in developing leadership skills. It has been a great opportunity for young church mums to enter into various roles and work in a committee.
We are very thankful to God for the fruit of the MOPS ministry and we pray that He will continue to bless those who come and bring more into relationship with Himself.
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