There is something so special about being honored with a shower by your closest friends and family for some of your most important milestones in life. But what if you don’t have those kind of friends and family members, or anyone who can afford to host a shower in your honor? A sad thought, isn’t it?
51% of the people in my town live below the poverty line. We see a lot of impoverished people at our church on a daily basis in need of financial assistance. Mostly, it is the women who come in and ask for help. Many of them have children. Every now and then one will be pregnant.
Whenever I’ve been introduced to our guests I give them a tour of our church, invite them to women’s things and try to follow up with them at a later date. It was through these meetings that I was prompted to do more. These women have no one, especially not anyone to make them feel special.
I suggested hosting baby showers for these women to our women’s outreach team. So far, we have done two – one was for a high schooler and another for a single mom.
The neat thing about the shower outreach idea is that we get to meet more women who may not otherwise have ever stepped onto our premises. One of the reasons preachers preach the salvation message at funerals is because there may be people sitting in those pews who might not otherwise ever attend a church service. The same thought applies here. Women will come to a church for a shower whom otherwise may never come on their own to a church service.
Our church is the largest one in town, so it can be very intimidating to those whom were not “raised in church”. The outreach shower gives us a great opportunity to help these ladies feel more comfortable in our building and become more familiar with our people. We welcome our guests and through conversations try to get to know them better and make connections. Furthermore, they seem impressed with our women who would host a shower for their friend/family member.
My sister-in-law married into the neatest family. Anytime I’ve attended one of her showers that has been hosted by her husband’s family, they give a talk. It always includes scripture. Likewise, we have added a talk or prayer blessing to each of our events.
“So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17 World English Bible
We depend on the Word of God and our kind gestures to touch these women in such a way that they will feel comfortable enough to continue their relationship with us and hopefully grow into one with Jesus. We are meeting needs and planting seeds.
Here are some tips for hosting a successful outreach shower:
– It is important to host a high quality event.
– Create beautiful invitations
– Show off your mad decorating skills
– Provide a beautiful looking and tasting cake along with other delicious finger foods
– Prepare a meaningful talk and/or prayer of blessing
– Make sure the woman of honor is blown away at the end of her event by the whole experience.
– Solicit very nice gifts from your church, both from individuals and your small groups/Sunday School classes who may be able to go in together for the large ticket items
– Have a process in place for follow-up
Perhaps this is something that your women’s ministry can consider for outreach and ministry? If you try it, please let me know how it went.
What are some of your women’s ministry outreach initiatives?
How does your women’s ministry minister to those in need?
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Award-winning author Gina Duke is a wife, mother and Director of Women’s Ministry at her local church. Gina is also a speaker with a B.S. in Organizational Leadership. She is able to bring a clear word for authentic Christian living. Through her book, “Organizing Your Prayer Closet: A New and Life-Changing Way to Pray” (Abingdon Press), she imparts 1 Peter 4:7 with the gift of structured prayer journaling. Gina also blogs and offers numerous videos and resources at GinaDuke.com. You may also follow her on Twitter and Instagram @TheGinaDuke.
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We did one of these recently. It was very successful and our young mother has been saved since. We’re studying with her mother now. I’d love to recommend this as a great outreach!
Helene, that is a great investment and response to your women’s ministry efforts. We are hoping and praying for the same. God bless! ~gina
Amazing idea! What a blessing this could be to so many women.