1. Day retreat and women's picnic. Summit View, Vancouver, WA.

• Day Retreat. We have offered a Day Retreat with a variety of mini workshops. Workshop leaders come from within the church.
• Women's Picnic. A women's picnic draws moms with children. Moms enjoy being with other moms and the children enjoy playing together.

2. Intergenerational Interaction, Mayger-Downing Community Church, Clatskanie, OR

All our fellowships and retreats are for women ages 13 and up. We encourage interaction at all levels.

3. Mom's Hang Out during Vacation Bible School, Island Church, Bainbridge Island, WA

The Mom's Hangout during VBS provides a place to minister to moms who bring their children to VBS and then linger. A place to feel welcome, the Hangout also answered questions about what the VBS children were learning. (Many families were unfamiliar with Bible stories.)

Because Island Church's rooms were all used by VBS, one of the three women's ministry leaders brought her trailer to the church parking lot and designated it as the Mom's Hangout. We provided a porch environment with plastic patio furniture, table clothes, and jars of flowers. Soft music played in the background; fresh coffee and tea with fancy creamers, half and half and sugar served in real mugs and lemonade in good quality plastic.

During the week we were able to connect with several of the new moms at our church, connect with moms from other churches and connect with several unchurched moms. Shared stories prompted prayer. As the week continued, we wrote a list of moms in attendance and gave them to the senior women of the church o pray for them and their families.

Not wanting to lose connections with the moms and kids to came to the trailer, one of the ministry leaders hosted a salad potluck at her home. (The kids ate hotdogs, chips, watermelon and popsicles.) After the lunch, most stayed until late afternoon.

The important parts included prayer support, remembering the details, welcoming and serving. Just a few women to run things--two or three--prevent people from feeling overwhelmed.

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Women's Ministry leaders: Please feel welcome to share with other ministry leaders innovative ideas that have been successfully implemented in your sphere of ministry. You may submit ideas to be shared on this site to: wcm@westernseminary.edu

Thank you for your submissions!