Hearts in Touch

Christmas stories

2008-12-05T13:02:00.002-06:00

Miriam Schoenig, Fort Collins, CO

Last year my father passed away right before Christmas. For most of the month of December, we had spent as much time as possible in the Hospice facility next to his bedside. Planning for Christmas became an afterthought until one of my nephews invited us all to his home to celebrate. With little time to make preparations, we each volunteered to bring a part of the meal. But what about gifts?

It was agreed that we would each contribute to our church camp in lieu of gifts. But since it is such fun to watch each other open gifts, we agreed to find something in our homes that we were willing (or eager) to pass on. Our "white elephant" gift exchange brought a lot of laughs as gifts were traded.

We had a wonderful, unplugged Christmas last year. Our focus was on the joy of being together, and our church camp was blessed in the process! In fact, we're going to do it again this year.

How have you unplugged Christmas? Share a story of a particularly memorable Christmas.

Bible Study suggestion

2008-11-14T21:00:00.001-06:00

A woman in Iowa writes, "I have a lady in the church interested in a Bible study for single women/mothers. Do you have any suggestions of what the Covenant has to offer?"

What are your fundraising ideas?

2008-09-04T21:22:00.002-05:00

Hello from Wakefield, Nebraska!

Several women from our congregation are interested in attending Triennial 2010. We'd like to start planning fundraisers now to help offset the cost of attending. Do you have any ideas for us that have worked in other congregations? We'd like to raise almost all of the monies necessary for these 5-6 women to attend, so we're talking a substantial amount of money. We've already volunteered to organize and host our church's annual Ice Cream Social for the next two summers, but would like more ideas (that might not necessarily involve food!!)

Please leave comments with your ideas to help us out. We'd appreciate it!

Pam Vander Veen
Evangelical Covenant Church, Wakefield, NE

Women Mentoring Women - Leaving a Legacy

2008-01-09T21:06:00.000-06:00

Miriam Schoenig, Fort Collins, CO

My husband and I couldn’t have children. That’s okay with us, but it’s strange to think we’re the end of the line. In a sense, when we leave this earth, there will be nothing of us left behind. I believe we all have a desire to leave a legacy whether we pass it on to our children or to others. For that reason, it has been important to me to invest in the lives of young women.

At first, I wondered how to find a young woman to mentor. I thought about asking the ones I knew if they were interested in such a relationship, but was afraid my question would sound like an egotistical statement that I had a lot to share with them. I soon realized that it wasn’t my job to do great things for God, but instead find out where He is working and join Him. I realized the Lord had already placed many young women in my life with whom I worked. In the course of a day as I would hear about their struggles, joys and challenges, we developed relationships. I was asked to begin a Bible study for the women at the company and in doing so, found many opportunities for teaching moments. Since then, the Lord has brought women into my life through various avenues. Sometimes He has a long-term relationship in mind and sometimes it is short-lived. I never have to go looking for “mentees”.

I meet for coffee twice a month with a young lady. Another woman lives in California, so our communication is via email and phone. A young woman at church connects with me on a more irregular basis, sometimes over dinner. The place and time isn’t important, but I’ve found that it is important to share stories from my life. I also share how God is working through current challenges. People love other people’s stories. I believe it’s important to be open and transparent with those we teach.

The hardest lesson a mentor must learn is that the results are God’s responsibility. I felt washed up as a mentor after one young woman abandoned her faith. My mentor, a wiser, older woman reminded me not to take that to heart. We are instruments in God’s hand. The final product is His responsibility.

What about you? Does mentoring happen in your church naturally or do you have a mentoring “program”? If you have a succesful program, to what do you attribute that success? What has worked and what hasn’t?

How do you boost cookbook sales?

2007-11-06T12:37:00.000-06:00

The women of Brookwood Covenant Church, in Topeka, recently hosted a tasting lunch featuring 17 recipes from the new church cookbook. Judy Rogers, who leads women ministry at Brookwood, said the lunch was open to everyone at church and it boosted cookbook sales.

This sounds like a great way to publicize a cookbook. Thanks for the tip, Judy.

Has your women's group published a cookbook? What worked and what didn't? Were sales as successful as you thought?

(She also said they worked with Morris Press and were pleased with the end result.)