- get your brave on!

Over the years I have never seen anyone come to God by losing an argument!

Why is it so hard for us to share our faith?What are your ‘I can’ts?’

I can’t is based in fear.I can’t is based in fear of man not fear of God.I can overcomes fear- perfect love casts out fear.

I can love God.

I can show love to my family, friends and neighbours.

Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colours in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. Matt 5. 14-16

The Vision New England Recent Convert Study surveyed recent converts to Christ and the reasons they had become believers. Five of the twelve points they discovered include: 1. The Power of Relationships For 71% relationship with a caring Christian friend, neighbour, co-worker, or family member, is the single most important factor in seeing a person come to a living faith in Christ.

2. Conversion Process People come to faith in Christ over a period of time reported 86%. 32% over several months to a year, 54%- journey to salvation over several years, only 14% were a one point in time conversion 3. Effectiveness of Classic Approaches Only 14% of converts are coming to faith in Christ in one time conversion event experiences. Previous classic methods of gospel presentation such as crusades and debates are not as fruitful today as personal relationships & lifestyle witness. 4. Mercy ministries: A significant number of new converts report they became open to spiritual truth when they experienced a life crisis. The specific issues are diverse: loss of a job, death of a child, death of a spouse, illness, divorce, financial need, hard times, despair, grief, and depression. Mercy ministries that reach hurting people can help them find salvation. 5. Spiritual Seekers A group of respondents reported they were simply searching for something. They were seeking spiritual resources or answers for their lives. This group represents all the age groups, demographic and income levels. People, who may have had negative experiences with a Christian or church, may be very open to friendships that connect with their spiritual search.

So it really is through a long term relationship, in the context of living your daily life that you will change their minds about what it means to love God. You are the only Bible that some of your friends and family will ever read. It is not up to Billy Graham to change their minds or a great book about God, but you.

God’s Story

Be prepared to tell God’s story.

1. Bridging the Gap2. On one side of the bridge is God. On the other side are people. 3. Between God and people is a great chasm, a division that exists because of

people’s inclination to rebel against God’s way and go their own way instead. This is what the Bible calls “sin.”

4. If we have ever stolen something, told a lie or not loved someone we have sinned.

5. The dilemma that people face is that we want to get to God, but we know that we can’t simply leap over the chasm. So we try using human effort to get a bridge built until we finally realize that all the human effort in the world will never be enough to get us to the other side.

6. Thankfully, God sympathized with our dilemma and because he loves us so much, he intervened so that we can have a means of getting close to him. His solution was to choose Jesus to serve as a bridge.

This illustration is based upon the words of Jesus in John 5:24: “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”

Target, Stop, Cross, Change

CHANGE

Yes he is an on-line link to help you share Jesus on lineyes he is

OTHER IDEAS:

MY STORY

‘Story’ is not always about your conversion, powerful ‘story’ also includes stories about how God has impacted your life through a particularly difficult period or incident.

Needs to be short Needs to be real Needs to be truthful

1. What you were like before? (use appropriate adjectives)

2. What did you experience? (your encounter with Christ)

3. How did it change you? (don’t infer you are now perfect or have no problems)

GET YOUR BRAVE ON IN MOPS

Tell us about your MOPS group. What are your mornings like? What methods do you use and how often do you share the gospel each year? What tools do you have in your MOPS mornings to share the love of Jesus

with your mums? How many non-Christian mums do you have in your groups? How many have

come to faith? Do you think you can increase the number of non-Christian mums in your

group? How can you increase the number coming to faith?

Some MOPS strategies for sharing your faith:

PRAYER- pray in your team meetings, pray before you do ANYTHING else

on a MOPS morning, pray for your mums regularly and consistently, pray for more community mums to come to your group. Be Nike about prayer- just do it!

THEME MORNINGS

TEA AND TREASURESA High Tea themed morning where you ask the mums to bring in something they treasure. They share this as your icebreaker. You ask 2-3 Christian mums to share what they treasure most in life i.e. their relationship with Jesus.

CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOULA theme morning that is suitable for winter mornings is “Chicken Soup for the Soul”; this is based on the popular book of the same name. The book contains a collection of stories that demonstrate how compassion, grace, forgiveness, generosity and faith can overcome obstacles. So on a chicken soup morning you make a big pot of chicken soup with crusty bread rolls for morning tea and you have some of your Christian mums share how their faith helped them to overcome obstacles in their lives.

BLUE MOON CAFÉ

A Blue Moon Café morning focuses on depression. You decorate your room like the Blue Moon Café, have some bluesy jazz playing, serve lots of chocolate and have two speakers. One who gives medical information on overcoming depression and then a Christian woman who has battled depression and how her faith sustained her through the process.

B E F O R E A N D A F T E RFocus on great before and after stories- weight loss, before motherhood and after, before God and after.

YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND IN MEDecorate the room with a Toy Story theme and explore the theme of friendship. Share stories of how friendships have survived conflict and grown and how Jesus is our friend for life.

LOVE LETTERS

Decorate your tables with hearts, flowers, and love letters. Ask your mums to bring in any love letters (texts, emails) they may have. Talk about love letters, how they make us feel, how they communicate love. Have a talk on God’s love letter to us- favourite love verses in the Bible- give mums copies of the love letter from www.Father’sloveletter com and write love letters as a craft.

DISCUSSION GROUPSDiscussion Groups are where it all happens for our MOPS group. It is where we reach women without a church background and meet their needs. I don’t think enough can be said about the Discussion Group Leader’s position. Our leaders become transparent and open, so that each woman can see Christ through her. These connections are what have kept our mums coming back year after year.

How do you run your discussion groups?

How important do you see discussion time?

Aim to have

an icebreaker,

a question related to content,

a God question and

one that encourages application of what has been discussed.

Table leaders need to be chosen carefully. They need to:

Love God

Have a heart for mums

Be able to be transparent and vulnerable as they interact with other mums

Understand the basics of small group dynamics

Show warmth and acceptance to women from all backgrounds

Be able to be discrete with personal information

Be able to share her journey in God

Moving the mums to God- what’s next?

Out of MOPS catch ups

Events run by church

Off week Bible study

Evangelism course- Alpha or similar- can be run in the morning on the off week to MOPS with child-care.

Meanwhile, the eleven disciples were on their way to Galilee, headed for the mountain Jesus had set for their reunion. The moment they saw him they worshiped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally.

Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.” Matthew 28. 16-20 The Message