Women love to connect with other women and book clubs are a wonderful way to come together and share our thoughts! In the next two installments of WM 101, we will feature some tips on organizing a book club.

Pray and Plan

As in anything, pray, pray, pray, and then start planning. Have a firm idea of why you want to start a book club. Is it specifically for the women in your church, or will you use it as an outreach tool? Will your books be of a specific genre, or will you vary what you read? Will the group decide what to read, or will you choose the books? Will all the books be Christian based, or will you read secular books also?

Write a short purpose statement of your vision for the group. i.e.: "The I-Love-Cooking Women's Book Club is a diverse group of women of First Community Church, who meet the third Tuesday of every month to discuss their favorite cookbooks."

If you will be the facilitator, choose a recurring day and time that you will be available to meet. (Most book clubs meet monthly.) Confirm that the date does not conflict with any common church or community event.

If you plan to meet at church, ask for permission, and secure the room reservation. You may also consider meeting in homes, at a local coffee shop, food spot, or even a book store. Local Christian bookstores will often love to help, if they have the room, and will sometimes even offer books at a discount to your group. Also, if you are near a major book chain like Barnes & Noble or Hastings, they typically have meeting areas or coffee shops that you can reserve space in for your book club.

Note: Clubs that meet in homes or church are good for fellowship based groups. Outreach based groups are most effective in "neutral" locations.

Advertise

To get the word out in your church, create a flyer and/or small advertisement to be included in church publications. Ask to put copies of the flyers in places around your church that women will see them. (Women's restrooms and the children/nursery wing are great places to advertise anything for women!)

If you are planning to use your club for outreach, extend your advertisement to your local newspaper, library, and bookstores.

It is important to let people know that this will be a club where people read the same book and discuss it. Sometimes people associate "book club" with ordering books at a reduced cost.

Include the first meeting date, time, place and a contact name with a phone number on every piece of advertisement for your book club. If you plan to let the group choose what to read, ask women to come to the meeting with two book recommendations.

--- Look for Organizing a Book Club Part 2; coming to your mailbox in two weeks! ---

In Him... Robyne Beaubien, Editor

This fun idea for a garden party was submitted by channing@gkbaum.com, Denver, CO and was originally published in Issue 260 in April 2005.

Based on: Matthew 13

Description: Our Women's Ministry Team held a tea last weekend for the ladies in our church. The event was based on Matthew 13, the parable of the sower. The keynote speaker talked about how our walk with Christ is represented by the parable.

We also had a woman read the story, "The Trellis and the Vine" that tells the story of a tiny seed growing into what God had planned for its life.

For our invitations and decorations we used a garden theme. The buffet table had lots of gardening decor, with burlap covering the tables, clay pots, marble slabs for the food, watering cans, etc.

Each table had a clay stepping stone with a potted flower and tea lights. There were centerpieces at each table used for door prizes, and other giveaways of gardening items.

Each lady received a packet of flower seeds as she left the event. We served sandwiches, fresh fruit, pasta salad, veggies, cookies and three types of tea.

Our church's "theme" this year is "going over the wall" encouraging us to reach out into our community. In keeping with this idea, we sold two tickets for the price of one, so ladies could invite a friend, coworker, neighbor, etc.

It was awesome to see all the new ladies at our event. Many were touched by the parable of the sower and women lined up for information on how to get involved in our church!!!

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Here are some ideas for books (fiction and non- fiction) to read in a new books club. I always recommend keeping it "light" for the first few books. This helps the women begin to learn about each other and creates a safe atmosphere for sharing. Once your group is established, feel free to explore heavier subjects.

The Lineage of Grace Series by Francine Rivers. These are novellas with Bible-based, fiction accounts of the women listed in the lineage of Christ. Well written stories that are short and easy to read. They also have study questions in the back that are great to discuss in a book club. Here is a link to Unveiled: Tamar, the first book in the series.

Normal Is Just a Setting on Your Dryer by Patsy Clairmont. This is the first book of Patsy's that I read and is still one of my favorites. Women connect with this author in a unique way and I have found this a great book to get everyone talking.

Fingerprints of God (or anything else) by Jennifer Rothschild. I have a slight bias because I love all of our Jennifer's books, but this one is my favorite. It really resonated with me and many other women I have talked with.

The Canopy by Angela Hunt, a great fiction author. This book is a scientific/mystery. Any of her books would be good choices for a book club.

The Princess by Lori Wick. Again, another great fiction author. Lori writes mostly romantic fiction. She has several books that women would enjoy reading and discussing.

Note: Please keep in mind that this is just a sampling of books to use in a book club. There are so many good books out there... happy reading!

In Him.... Robyne Beaubien, Editor
Email: robyne@womensministry.net

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