Being at home with small children is a wonderful privilege and provides such awesome platforms for ministry. Sometimes it’s easy to get so family focused that we forget about our neighbors and other families in our community. We use the excuse that “our kids are our ministry” and we stick our heads in the family sandbox and never give a second thought to other families that need encouragement. I do agree that our families are one of our ministries as Christian women but God has called us to even more while loving and training our children. Finding that balance can be tricky but it’s possible.
I’d like to share with you an incredible platform for an outreach ministry for stay at home Moms with preschool age children. Very little time is involved and no ordination required. It’s the idea of forming a playgroup. A playgroup is simply a group of Mom’s who have preschool aged kids that get together during the week for one hour to play. It can be once a week or twice a month. Whatever works for your group. Starting a community playgroup for the purpose of building relationships with other people has been an incredibly effective tool in sharing Christ with others and facilitating ministry on a number of different levels.
A friend and I sat at her kitchen table and talked about this playgroup idea eight years ago. We prayed and asked God to show us what to do. We started to meet every other Tuesday at the park in town and brought our kids. It was just the two us at first. We met other kids & Moms at the park and told them we’d be coming back and we should all try to get together again. We told some of our friends at church to come and they did. They told other friends and they came as well. After seeing the interest build we decided to branch out from just meeting at the park and we would meet at the creek and do a painting project and have watermelon. Then we’d gather our group for a hay ride during October. The Apple Orchard was a hit and so were the rainy days at someone’s house who was brave enough to have the playgroup over. Advertising was word of mouth. It meant looking for Moms that were already at the park with their children and telling them about our playgroup and inviting them to come. It was free. And it was fun. And they came! After a few months of getting together God began to give some neat opportunities to talk about the church we went to. One Mom started attending our church and eventually became very involved in our children’s ministry and ended up being the next leader of the community playgroup and doubled its size. At that point several churches were represented in our playgroup,….awesome!…..and so when new people came to playgroup and the topic of church eventually came up there were options and diversity represented which is always a great thing. We saw Moms reaching out to other Moms who were struggling. A single Mom connected with one of our regular attending playgroup Moms and I watched a mentoring process begin. It was informal but strategic. Their relationship still exists today and God has transformed both of these women as a result of their relationship, which all began at the blue slides on a Tuesday morning.
Moms with kids, doing ministry. Not ordained pastors, although I’m all for that. I married one. But we’re talking about tired Moms & their snotty nosed kids, doing the work of the ministry. Yeah, that’s what it’s about right there.
If you have a little one at home and you feel that God is nudging you to get out there and show the love of Christ then consider starting up a playgroup.
Some basics that might help you get started…..
- Find one other Mom and pray about starting a Playgroup in your community. Listen to what God might put on your heart.
- Start visiting a local park/playground in your town with your child/ren. Pray while pushing little Johnny on the swings that God might give you some divine opportunities to meet and connect with other Moms.
- Start meeting every other Tuesday from 10-11am (or whatever works for you) and bring extra snacks to share with those who “happen” to be there. And then invite those random park friends to the next Tuesday’s play date.
- Eventually print up a schedule of dates & times you’ll be meeting and where and keep extra copies in your diaper bag and in the car. Give these out as you meet Moms with kids. You will be totally amazed at the people you start to meet when you begin this ministry. When we ask Him to help us love and reach out to others He does it because it’s the very reason we’re here.
- Remember that the purpose is not to grow your church through a “sneaky playgroup”. It’s to form relationships for the purpose of sharing Christ. You may never talk about your church or God for the first several months and that’s okay. Wait for God to lead you into those divine conversations. This is why prayer is critical. We can’t change people. But we know the One who can and as one of our good friends says, “If we had the cure for cancer wouldn’t we be telling everyone around us about it?” Indeed, we would. And so as believers in Christ, who know “The Way, the Truth and the Life”, why would we remain silent?
Playgroup Ideas beyond playing at the park……
- Meet at an ice cream shop
- Meet at the Fire Station for a demonstration (call ahead and ask if they will let your playgroup come….they always have for us)
- Painting at the picnic tables at the park was always a hit ( tell moms to bring an old shirt….cheap paints at Michaels when 50% off)
- Meet at a children’s museum
- Hayrides, Apple Orchards, Dairy….all places willing to work with playgroups and typically give discounts on groups
- Story Hour at the Library as a group
- Nature Walk …bring brown lunch sacks for outdoor treasure
I could go on but I love the fact that God will give us the creativity to do the things He calls us to. And it will most likely look different for each person which is also pretty cool.
Well, if you decide to do something like this, and you have questions feel free to email me at bowlofwedgies@yahoo.com. I’d be glad to pray with you about your playgroup.
If you have experience in some sort of Mom Ministry (a ministry you can accomplish while having a young’n cling to your knees) please share it with us. I know there are lots of awesome things going on out there and I’d love to hear about it.
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