Our ministry is doing a Thursday night class called "More than Rubies" for women who are unsaved and new believers.

Through another outreach ministry we realized that many women think they need to be perfect before going to church. The excuses I heard when talking to them were, "Oh, man the church would burn down if I walked in," "maybe someday, when I quit drinking, smoking etc," and "naw they don't want my kind in there."

For months I have told them that they are more precious than rubies in our Father's eyes. That a church is a hospital for lost, lonely, hurting and sick. I usually say, "Well your theory about the place burning down is wrong because it didn't when I walked in!" And explain about how we all falling short.

A few women came... but most would not.

SO... we opened up our "house!" The upstairs of our ministry office (more about the ministry below) was re-decorated for the outreach class. So every Thursday we open our women's home to women from the street. A local Christian college has partnered with us as a "outreach ministry" class for their school, bringing 12 students.

A typical evening goes like this:

6:00 - We pick up the women
6:10 - Prayer and worship
6:30 - Dinner (local churches sign up for 2 Thursdays a month & our Men's home cooks for 1 Thursday and the women's home for the remainder)
7:00 - Bible study (The pursuit of Holiness: Jerry Bridges) perfect to explain that God is HOLY, and He is not looking for perfection just progression in our pursuit of holiness.
7:30 - Closing and take them home

When we first started "advertising" in the streets I heard - "I can't come because I have kids" so we put our heads back together and decided to have a "Little Rubies" and "Boys of Valor" class at the same time downstairs. We feed them dinner, worship, pray all together then separate for class. The kids are taught the same thing as the mothers, except at their level and always with crafts so that they have that "common" teaching to hopefully share between the moms and children.

It has truly blown us away with the response, participation and joy that these women are experiencing! They have bonded together, opened up, and really "listening" along with sharing! We have single moms, prostitutes, drug addicts, women who are "hard", women who are scared, women who are just lonely, etc. All lost & seeking... The women who are "baby" Christians have just bloomed, ask wonderful questions, give awesome insight and don't feel "dumb" in this class... All learning together!

Our "base" ministry is called Libre house and is part of Changing Lives Now Ministry. It is a home where we bring in men and women who are recovering from drugs, alcohol, and or just homeless. We help them find jobs and help them become employable in our community.

Submitted by: Corina Bowen

A fun way to get to know one another better.

Materials: Paper or index cards and pencils

Procedure: Give everyone a paper and pencil and instruct them to write a short anonymous rhyme about themselves. Collect the papers and begin reading them one by one, letting the group guess who the author is.

For example, one of our ladies wrote: "I'm not old, I'm not young and a small bottle holds the best perfume." She turned out to be the shortest lady in the group.

• Laurie Cole, author, teacher and speaker
• Women of Faith Contageous Joy 2006

1. We gift wrapped books at Barnes & Nobles on a Saturday in December. Two ladies worked a 2-hour shift from 9:00 am until 11:00 pm. Barnes & Nobles provided all of the supplies and all donations collected went to a children’s home in our city. Barnes & Nobles allowed us the freedom to talk to people about our church and our relationship with Jesus. It was an easy outreach/mission project.

2. For three Sunday nights in January, we hold “Heart to Heart” classes for women. The purpose is to teach women conversational techniques for sharing Jesus with other people in their everyday life, i.e. in the line at the grocery store, at work, at the bank, etc.

3. The single adults of our church are very involved in an evangelism project at a huge mobile home park called Project Hope. They have activities every Sunday afternoon with the children who live there.

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Last week we asked you to recommend Bible studies for seekers and new believers, here are some of the studies that you recommended.

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Stonecroft is a ministry that equips and encourages women to get connected with God, with others and with thier community. They offer a lot of great resources including outreach booklets and a series of Bible studies called "Friendship Studies."

Thanks Irene!

Another great resource is a ministry called Sweet Mondays. I recently stumbled across their website, then read about it in Today's Christian Woman Magazine... and then Rhoda Marsh emailed me and recommended it for seekers.

Sweet Mondays in it's own words is all about "sharing an idea that will help you in a natural, appealing, fun way to reach out to women of all ages and stages." Check out their website for more information and great ideas on holding your own Sweet Monday.

Thanks Rhoda!

And finally... Here is a link to a webpage that has tons of information on web and ministry outreach. Cybertracts, communications, websites, relating to cultures, new believers, etc. You can find links to it all on the Web Evangelism Page by Gospelcom.

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