The 3 D’s of girls ministry…

Jul 15, 2009 by     2 Comments    Posted under: Featured, Girls Ministry

It’s crazy to think that this October marks my 7th year as a professional girls minister.  I remember my first days on the job. In fact my very first day on the job was Fall Retreat 2002.  The buses were waiting outside to take me to a campground where I would meet students for the first time.  I walked away from the weekend excited and scared stiff of the new task I had taken on.  I remember conversations ranging from people pointing out to me the girls who had eating disorders and needed counseling…all the way to leaders who were depending on me to make some traditions for some girls that had already experienced too many changes to mention in their high school career.  I remember not being invited into many conversations with girls, but having to figure out a way to get into their world.  My fall-back phrase at the retreat when I couldn’t figure out a way to start a conversation was: “Hey do you know where I can get a soda around here?”.  When I left that retreat, It wasn’t long after that I took a 6 hour drive back to my teenaged roots and spent some time with my 1st girls minister who happened to be my mom.

I read a journal I had written as an 8th grader and I prayed that God would give me direction.  I talked with my mom and we prayed as God began to reveal to us what were some key elements of my spiritual growth as a teen girl.  We wrote down a list that was able to be summarized in 3 categories.  As I spent the first year as a girls minister, I met with every grade of girls, with the leaders of those girls, and with some of the parents.  Each time I would ask them what they believed a girls ministry should be about, their responses would hit on those 3 categories.   As I observed what resources were being created for girls at that time, I found it interesting that there were different categories being offered to teenaged girls.  I began to see the same categories over and over again.  I needed a phrase to capture what I was seeing so that I could talk with moms and other leaders regarding this phenomenom, so in the fall of 2003 it hit me.  DATING, DIETING, AND DRESS were the 3 topics that were constantly being discussed in resources and events for girls.  I began to coin the phrase: “The 3-d’s of girls ministry” and was excited to hear it was helpful to other ministry leaders as well.  Since that time, I have continued to hear friends in girls ministry use my description of the often talked about topics but I would like to clarify what we should be offering instead.   The 3 categories that God confirmed with my mom and I and later among the girls ministry I work with were what I am calling “The 3 G’s”.  We began our girls ministry by clearly defining what we would be about. We would not be about “The 3 D’S”.  We would be about the 3 G’s.  Those 3 G’s are what makes up our girls ministry name:  Grl3: Girl to girl, girl to God, and Girl to go

Those 3 G’s were key elements to helping me grow into the Christian woman I am today.

Girl to girl is : connecting girls to Godly relationships with girls of all ages.

Girl to God is: connecting girls to grow in their pursuit of God

Girl to go is: connecting girls to their world to shine God’s love.

I am excited to begin writing more about how the 3G’s impacts girls ministry and how the 3d’s impacts girls ministry. Both have an impact, but unfortunately one leads towards a self-less journey and the other leads deeper into the Self-ish mindset.

Stay tuned for more info as I work on the future book: Tossing my tiara.

FREEBIE: An encouragement activity

Jul 8, 2009 by     No Comments    Posted under: Freebies, Girls Ministry, Girls Ministry Activities

Here’s an idea for you to do with your girls if they are needing some help with encouraging one another.

For the script that is used in this video go to: LYLAS Girls Night

FREEBIE biblestudy: we love Jesus…yes we do…

Jul 7, 2009 by     1 Comment     Posted under: Featured, Freebies, Girls Ministry

I just got back from a brief vacation after serving 2 weeks at summercamp. Imagine my surprise to find out that we had booked our relaxing vacation at the same hotel that a large teen dance competition was occurring. The bedazzled outfits, the up-do’s, the screeches and screams were 24-7. It reminded me of the wonderful teen tradition that took place back in my large state Christian youth event days. It never failed to happen that while we waited for the programming to start, either the wave or another tradition would begin—The “WE LOVE JESUS CHEER COMPETITION”.  Those students would now be in their 30′s and as the thousands that screamed out that they loved Jesus more—you would think that much would be happening as a result of  their self-proclaimed love of Christ.  However, sometimes we become Cheer-leaders and forget to be God-life livers.  Below is a freebie biblestudy to use with your teen girls to begin talking to them about not just been a cheerleader for Jesus but truly living it out.–Amy-Jo

CONNECT ACTIVITY:

Have students dream up a new kind of olympic sport, then have them come up with a cheer for that new sport.

DISCUSSION: If you put a group of teenagers together who are attending a Christian event with other teenagers, it usually doesn’t take long before you run into a bunch of people who will try to start the wave or begin chanting across the crowd to say this cheer: We love Jesus Yes we do, we love Jesus How bout you?

Whoever they point at has to quickly take up the challenge by repeating the cheer even more obnoxiously and louder to prove their love in the Christ they follow.

It makes me smile smugly to think about how easy it is to stand in a Christian concert or event and yell to a group of people that believe the same way as you that “You love Jesus” so boldly. Then the cheer ends with a group that will yell “WE LOVE HIM MORE. WE LOVE HIM MORE.”

TURN IN YOUR BIBLES TO JEREMIAH 1.

Let’s transition into the day of Jeremiah the prophet. A time when no such rallies or concerts would have been welcome, because the people of God had turned away from worshipping Him and were fixing their attention on other things. So God called Jeremiah to tell His people they had stopped loving Him. He called Jeremiah to tell them the consequences of their actions. He called Jeremiah to tell them what He wanted to do in their lives if they would return to Him. He called Jeremiah to a difficult 49 years of constantly communicating the messages of God that would have sounded like bad news at times. I think Jeremiah would have rolled over laughing if he saw the way we boldly claim our love for God in youth group meetings, Christian concerts, and rallies but I think he would ask us if we would still proclaim those messages if no one else around us wanted to hear it. How long would you still stand and say what God had done in your lives if everyone was anti-God?

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER WITH YOUR TEEN GIRLS:
How do verses 4-10 help shape Jeremiah’s calling and identity?

What are Jeremiah’s fears and how does God respond to the excuses Jeremiah offers for not being able to answer God’s call?

If you were Jeremiah and you knew the hardships associated with being God’s megaphone, how would God’s promise in verse 19 be helpful?

Read aloud Jeremiah 1:4-5, and replace YOU with your own name. God has appointed His children to be a Holy Priesthood in some pretty dark places—what is your response to God’s call to declare a God-life in the places you are living? How does Jeremiah’s experience challenge you and/or your excuses?