Women Today Magazine – a gift that keeps on giving!

“We are leaving just as soon as we can get this motor home fixed.”

Sandra’s words shocked both Dave and I. Her family had just moved into the rental house behind us the month before. The day after they moved in we met Jason, and he introduced us to their four children. Two weeks later there was a wedding, and the oldest three–Carmen, Elizabeth and Ryan–excitedly told me that their mommy was getting married that day!! The next week I made a point of introducing myself to Sandra while she was having a garage sale. We had prayed often already for this family that needed to know Jesus. And now, just two weeks later, they were moving to Edmonton to take care of her father who was ill.

“Oh no,” I said to Dave, “I haven’t even had a chance to share with her yet!” Yet I had already added to my supply of Women Today magazines that I always have on hand because I wanted to give them to each of my neighbours for Mother’s Day.

When I got home from our walk, I hurried back to her with a magazine. “Here you go Sandra, I was going to give you this magazine as a Mother’s Day gift, but since you will be gone by then, I wanted you to have it now. Maybe you will get a chance to read it on your trip to Edmonton.” I walked away with a heavy heart, asking my Heavenly Father to put other Christians in this family’s life in Edmonton. And then I asked Him to remind me to always be ready to give a gift of the gospel. And He did!!

Over the mother’s day weekend I gave away 50 magazines, to my neighbours, to the nurses in the orthodontist’s office, to the teller at the bank . . . the list goes on. They were my gift to the women in my world.

What can you do?

Each of you has a Sandra in your life. She could be your neighbour, a client, your hairdresser or your sister. On this website, you will find an order form for the Women Today magazine. Why don’t you prayerfully consider who you would like to give magazines to and then place an order? Be sure to drop us a line and let us know people’s response!

Distributing Women Today magazines is a natural way to share God’s Love and forgiveness with women you care about. Be creative! Purchase a quantity of magazines and make them available for other women, perhaps family, business or club associates, as a gift. They are easy to give away! Just ask me.

Doris Beck graduated from the University of Alberta and has worked for the last 27 years with Campus Crusade for Christ, Canada. In her current role, she coaches the hostesses of the Women Today chat rooms. Doris also travels across the country to speak about God’s work in her life and to teach others to share their own stories. She and her husband, Dave, have three grown children. For more ideas, feel free to email her .

I have always loved babies.

Since I got pregnant right away the first time, I thought we would just go ahead and try again. But because of complications after my miscarriage it wasn’t so simple. I couldn’t get pregnant and so I was booked for a D&C (a Dilatation & Curettage, where the miscarriage is treated by scraping out the lining of the uterus).

When the time came for my pre-op testing, I was quite sure that I might be pregnant again but my doctor didn’t believe it.  When my pregnancy tests came back negative, I trusted her word. Yet my husband and I struggled with it. What if I was indeed pregnant with our much-wanted child? We prayed and asked God to protect the baby if that was the case.

My miracle baby

Seven and a half months later we were the proud parents of a healthy baby boy — a full-term baby! God had protected him and even the surgeon and my obstetrician had to admit that Jamie was indeed our miracle baby! Today he is a young adult who loves life and in a few weeks will be getting married and starting a family of his own!

There were times during that pregnancy when I became very anxious. With each complication I came to the point where I had to consciously make a choice. Would I become anxious about losing this baby? Or would I place my trust in God, who knew exactly how it would all turn out right from the beginning? Afraid that I would miscarry again, the doctor put me on bed rest for two months.

One day, laying flat on my back, I called out to God. As I looked out the bedroom window I saw a beautiful rainbow, which is a sign of promise in the Bible. I decided to make my requests known to God and leave the outcome to him. And I am thankful that he knew every moment of my baby’s life before he was even conceived!

I actually had a couple of almost normal months until I was on my back again, this time with toxemia. I was hospitalized and ordered to be on total bed rest once more. At that time I struggled with feelings of anger, disappointment and fear of losing my child, not to mention the anxiousness of not knowing what would happen next.

Again I came to the point where I could say, “Lord, this child is indeed in your hands.” With all the complications Jamie and I almost died during my labor and delivery, yet God miraculously intervened and we both survived.

Getting pregnant again

My next pregnancy ended in another miscarriage and after that it took almost another year before I was pregnant again. We were thrilled, but at four months I became very ill and had to undergo an emergency appendectomy! Again my life as well as the life of my unborn child was at risk.

The surgeon told my husband that my appendix was “hot” and would not have lasted until morning. We agonized through the following days wondering if I would miscarry again and we knew we had a choice to make: would we be overwhelmed? Or would we turn to God, rejoice in him and with thankful hearts make our requests known to him?

Getting to know God better

I spent almost that entire pregnancy on my back as my blood pressure again went dangerously high. I had three months of premature labor, which were also months of incredible growth in my relationship with God. I could do nothing but spend time with him and that is exactly what I did.

As I concentrated on getting to know God better, it became easier to trust him in every situation, especially to bring this tiny baby healthy into our family. Heather arrived safely and she is a constant reminder of those long months I spent being still before God.

Three years later I finally had my first normal pregnancy. That was when Jody joined our family. I had to choose to trust God for each pregnancy and each complication. And now I continue to choose to trust him to help me raise each of our children. With three young adults that isn’t always easy. But it is a choice I make.

One of my favorite passages in the Bible says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:4,6,7)

Without Christ in me I could never choose joy. It would only be a feeble attempt at positive thinking. The source of my true joy comes from my right relationship with him and he gives me the power to make that choice even in the most difficult circumstances. As I trust him with every detail of my life I’m learning the secret of being content in any and every situation.

What about you? Are you living without joy? Do the circumstances of your life seem to be more than you can handle? It doesn’t have to be that way. You can live a life of joy as the Holy Spirit brings about God’s own character within you. The first step is to make sure that Christ is really on the driver’s seat in your life and that you are allowing His Spirit to fill you and empower you.

Pray this simple prayer and by faith invite Him to fill you with His Spirit:

Dear Father, I need You. I acknowledge that I have sinned against You by directing my own life. I thank You that You have forgiven my sins through Christ’s death on the cross for me. I now invite Christ to again take His place on the throne of my life. Fill me with the Holy Spirit as You commanded me to be filled, and as You promised in Your Word that You would do if I asked in faith. I pray this in the name of Jesus. As an expression of my faith, I thank You for directing my life and for filling me with the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I have always loved babies.

Since I got pregnant right away the first time, I thought we would just go ahead and try again. But because of complications after my miscarriage it wasn’t so simple. I couldn’t get pregnant and so I was booked for a D&C (a Dilatation & Curettage, where the miscarriage is treated by scraping out the lining of the uterus).

When the time came for my pre-op testing, I was quite sure that I might be pregnant again but my doctor didn’t believe it. When my pregnancy tests came back negative, I trusted her word. Yet my husband and I struggled with it. What if I was indeed pregnant with our much-wanted child? We prayed and asked God to protect the baby if that was the case.

My miracle baby

Seven and a half months later we were the proud parents of a healthy baby boy – a full-term baby! God had protected him and even the surgeon and my obstetrician had to admit that Jamie was indeed our miracle baby! Today he is a young adult who loves life. He just got married and is starting a family of his own!

There were times during that pregnancy when I became very anxious. With each complication I came to the point where I had to consciously make a choice. Would I become anxious about losing this baby? Or would I place my trust in God, who knew exactly how it would all turn out right from the beginning? Afraid that I would miscarry again, the doctor put me on bed rest for two months.

One day, laying flat on my back, I called out to God. As I looked out the bedroom window I saw a beautiful rainbow, which is a sign of promise in the Bible. I decided to make my requests known to God and leave the outcome to him. And I am thankful that he knew every moment of my baby’s life before he was even conceived!

I actually had a couple of almost normal months until I was on my back again, this time with toxemia. I was hospitalized and ordered to be on total bed rest once more. At that time I struggled with feelings of anger, disappointment and fear of losing my child, not to mention the anxiousness of not knowing what would happen next.

Again I came to the point where I could say, “Lord, this child is indeed in your hands.” With all the complications Jamie and I almost died during my labor and delivery, yet God miraculously intervened and we both survived.

Getting pregnant again

My next pregnancy ended in another miscarriage and after that it took almost another year before I was pregnant again. We were thrilled, but at four months I became very ill and had to undergo an emergency appendectomy! Again my life as well as the life of my unborn child was at risk.

The surgeon told my husband that my appendix was “hot” and would not have lasted until morning. We agonized through the following days wondering if I would miscarry again and we knew we had a choice to make: would we be overwhelmed? Or would we turn to God, rejoice in him and with thankful hearts make our requests known to him?

Getting to know God better

I spent almost that entire pregnancy on my back as my blood pressure again went dangerously high. I had three months of premature labor, which were also months of incredible growth in my relationship with God. I could do nothing but spend time with him and that is exactly what I did.

As I concentrated on getting to know God better, it became easier to trust him in every situation, especially to bring this tiny baby healthy into our family. Heather arrived safely and she is a constant reminder of those long months I spent being still before God.

Three years later I finally had my first normal pregnancy. That was when Jody joined our family. I had to choose to trust God for each pregnancy and each complication. And now I continue to choose to trust him to help me raise each of our children. With three young adults that isn’t always easy. But it is a choice I make.

One of my favorite passages in the Bible says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:4,6,7)

Without Christ in me I could never choose joy. It would only be a feeble attempt at positive thinking. The source of my true joy comes from my right relationship with him and he gives me the power to make that choice even in the most difficult circumstances. As I trust him with every detail of my life I’m learning the secret of being content in any and every situation.

Take a look at your life.  How would you describe it? Contented? Rushed? Exciting? Stressful? Moving forward? Holding back? For many of us it’s all of the above at times.  There are things we dream of doing one day, there are things we wish we could forget.  In the Bible, it says that Jesus came to make all things new.  What would your life look like if you could start over with a clean slate?

Living with hope

If you are looking for peace, there is a way to balance your life. No one can be perfect, or have a perfect life. But every one of us has the opportunity to experience perfect grace through a personal relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ.

You can receive Christ right now by faith through prayer. Praying is simply talking to God. God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. Here’s a suggested prayer:

Lord Jesus, I want to know you personally. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life to you and ask you to come in as my Savior and Lord. Take control of my life. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Make me the kind of person you want me to be.

Does this prayer express the desire of your heart? You can pray it right now, and Jesus Christ will come into your life, just as He promised.

Is this the life for you?

If you invited Christ into your life, thank God often that He is in your life, that He will never leave you and that you have eternal life. As you learn more about your relationship with God, and how much He loves you, you’ll experience life to the fullest.

The showers are over and your special day is almost here. You are excited about how the wedding plans are all coming together, and that you are able to check things off on your ‘To Do’ list. Everyone around you is full of anticipation for that moment when they see you walking down the aisle, with eyes only for your bridegroom standing at the front of the church.

For you the anticipation has been building since the day he told you that he loved you and wanted to marry you! You could hardly wait to spend the rest of your life with him, and it seemed so very far away. There were so many decisions to be made, details to be planned, and people to see. Now you are almost there! You are counting weeks and days, no longer months or even years.

But there is one more feeling that perhaps you weren’t prepared for. Your parents may be grieving because they know that although you will always be their little girl, you will be a wife first.Whereas you can hardly wait for your wedding day to arrive, there are times when they wish they could make the clock stand still. When someone asks how you are doing, your face lights up as you talk about him and your future together. You are looking forward to being a wife, taking care of him and being there for him. Your energy goes into communicating with him, planning for your big day, and being ready to set up your new home together.

Brides: Download your free wedding planning e-book

It can be seen in the little things, when you get a letter in the mail, or a message that he called, how your heart leaps towards him in eager anticipation of what he said. And yet at the same time, there is that little nagging doubt in the back of your mind. Will I be a good wife? Will our love grow stronger with each passing day?

As you spend hours planning and getting ready for your wedding day and your marriage to this amazing man, enjoy the journey, these last days of singleness, and anticipate all that God has for you and your life together with your husband.

Next: Eeks! I Think I Found a Wart!

The showers are over and your special day is almost here.

For you the anticipation has been building since the day he told you that he loved you and wanted to marry you! You could hardly wait to spend the rest of your life with him, and it seemed so very far away. There were so many decisions to be made, details to be planned, and people to see. Now you are almost there! You are counting weeks and days, no longer months or even years.

But there is one more feeling that perhaps you weren’t prepared for. Your parents may be grieving because they know that though you will always be their little girl, you will be a wife first.Whereas you can hardly wait for your wedding day to arrive, there are times when they wish they could make the clock stand still. When someone asks how you are doing, your face lights up as you talk about him and your future together. You are looking forward to being a wife, taking care of him and being there for him. Your energy goes into communicating with him, planning for your big day, and being ready to set up your new home together.

God is already drawing your heart away from your family and friends, and preparing you for being a wife! It can be seen in the little things, when you get a letter in the mail, or a message that he called, how your heart leaps towards him in eager anticipation of what he said. And yet at the same time, there is that little nagging doubt in the back of your mind. Will I be a good wife? Will our love grow stronger with each passing day?

There are many parallels between you planning for your wedding and looking forward to being in the arms of your bridegroom, and believers looking forward to Christ’s return. They are called the Bride and He is the Bridegroom. Too often, instead of anticipation, we are filled with other emotions, perhaps fear,or even grief at leaving that which we have here on earth. Instead, we should be filled with anticipation, eagerly waiting and listening to every Word from our bridegroom, making preparations for that day when we will see Him face to face. Just as you, the bride, spend hours planning and getting ready for your wedding day and your marriage to this amazing man, so we should anticipate that marvelous day when our Bridegroom will come for us and we will be with Him for all of eternity.

Enjoy the journey, these last days of singleness, and anticipate all that God has for you and your life together with your husband.

Father, thank You for the way that You have brought us together, fitting us together to be a perfect match. In the same way that we eagerly anticipate our wedding day and our life as husband and wife to begin, remind us to be just as eager about our relationship with you. Thank you that some day soon we will see You face to face. Amen

In this age of high mobility and high activity, it’s an incredible challenge to develop relationships with the people around us.

So, how can we begin to build relationships that allow us to care for others and ultimately give them an opportunity to hear the message of God’s love?

• Pray
  As you start each day, pray that God will fill you with His Holy Spirit so you will be in tune with His plans. Make sure there’s no sin you are refusing to confess. Then invite God to take control of your thoughts, motives, actions, speech–everything.

• Open your eyes
  Ask God to show you your neighborhood, the people in your sphere of influence. Don’t limit yourself to the family next door. Remember, the Good Samaritan was far from home when he was neighborly.

• Ponder
  As God brings people to your mind, evaluate your relationship with them. What do you know about their life or their needs that would give you an opportunity to show you care?

• Plan
  Now, make a conscious effort to pursue a relationship by setting aside time for them. It may involve extending hospitality, perhaps inviting someone over for coffee or hosting a block party at Christmas. If your schedule seems too full, consider decreasing the number of your regular activities.

• Serve
  As you get to know your neighbors, listen. Find out what they enjoy, what they struggle with, what motivates them. As you listen, you’ll also discover ways in which you can become more involved in their life. Can you babysit at the last minute? Do they need help shoveling the sidewalk?

• Give
  Give gifts. Time is often the most precious gift, but sometimes a card or a batch of cookies says a lot too. There are also great gifts of the gospel available: the JESUS film in their native tongue, or a magazine such as Knowing Jesus Personally, or A Christmas Digest.

• Be yourself
  Be honest about your own life. We don’t have to pretend to be perfect. In fact, when we’re honest about our struggles, it’s an opportunity to explain how knowing Christ makes a difference in our life.

• Be bold
  And finally, don’t be afraid to share how you came to know the Lord. Being a Christian is part of who you are and as you share your spiritual pilgrimage, it will help establish a relationship of trust.

As you build bridges with your neighbors, believe God is at work in their heart. Too often we buy the lie that people don’t want to know God, so we don’t even attempt to get involved in their lives. Have an expectant attitude. Remember, Jesus came to seek and save the lost and He has not resigned!

“Pain is inevitable, but misery is optional. We cannot avoid pain, but we can avoid joy. God has given us such immense freedom that He will allow us to be as miserable as we want to be.” (You Gotta Keep Dancin’, by Tim Hansel)

“Your neck is unstable. It has begun to heal but the damage is done. I suggest that you make the necessary changes in your lifestyle.”

The doctor’s words sent my mind off racing. What would that mean for me? I listened as he continued his monologue.

“I suggest that you give up downhill skiing, sky diving, anything that would put your neck at risk…” I heard little else said that day. I was only 19, a university student with a desire to live each day to the fullest.

But now a car accident had left me in indescribable pain. As a result of the permanent soft tissue damage from the accident, I was unable to take as many courses as I usually did per semester. Nor did I have the strength to complete my performance degree in piano. There was little hope of life ever returning to normal.

Pain, misery, joy

We rarely think of those three words in the same context. Yet in my lifelong journey of living with pain, I have learned to do just that. It is really easy for me to focus on the negative circumstances of my life and complain about them. I can even justify why I complain about them. After all, I have a right to complain – I’m in pain everyday. But God instructs us in His word to “consider it all joy.” No exceptions.

I call it my journey of joy, and it wasn’t traveled overnight. Instead it has been a lifetime of learning through the various trials, disappointments and sufferings that my Heavenly Father has allowed to come into my life. Choosing joy, and in turn being content, is a discipline that we learn in our lives one step at a time. In the front of my daily planner, I wrote this statement: “God chooses what we go through. We choose how we go through it.” The choice is mine to make and it is true that I can be just as miserable as I choose to be!

Choices. That’s what joy and contentment is all about. We cannot change the circumstances, but we can choose how we respond to them. We choose whether we will be miserable because of them, or joyful in spite of them. The choice is always ours to make.

Here are four choices we can make that are the keys to living with contentment.

1. Choose your focus - Charles Swindoll once said, “Your outlook on life is not determined by your circumstances, but by your focus.” Instead of looking at the circumstances, choose instead to look beyond those circumstances to God. I had to daily choose whether I would focus on the circumstance of living with chronic pain, or focus on God who has promised that His grace is all-sufficient. By choosing to keep your eyes on the Lord, you will get to know Him better and it will become easier to trust Him in every situation.
2. Choose joy - Again, I have a daily choice to make of whether or not I will “consider it all joy.” And although I cannot choose for a lifetime, I can choose to rejoice in the Lord and His faithfulness one moment at a time. I can ask God to restore to me the joy of my salvation (Psalm 51:12).
3. Choose to laugh - It has been said that he who laughs, lasts. Don’t take yourself too seriously and whenever possible, laugh at yourself! There is a reason why Proverbs says that a cheerful heart is truly good medicine (Proverbs 17:22).
4. Choose to cultivate a thankful heart - Never doubt the goodness of God toward you. Begin to daily look for those things that you can be thankful for. Start with looking for one thing every day, and then increase the number of things. This is a discipline that requires diligence. Even in difficult circumstances, look first for something for which to be thankful. Remember, that God is never surprised about anything that happens in our lives.

For those who struggle with chronic pain, having an attitude of gratitude is difficult because the first thing that hits you every morning is how much you hurt. You’re not even sure you can get out of bed if you wanted to get out of bed. There is a deprivation of energy. But you can learn in the midst of the chronic pain to choose joy and to be thankful. Focus more on what you can do than what you can’t. Although physical pain is part of my everyday life, I have a choice to make. I choose to celebrate life, to be joyful and to be thankful for each new day!

Without Christ in me I could never choose joy. It would only be a feeble attempt at positive thinking. The source of my joy comes from my right relationship with Him and it is He who gives me the power to make that choice even in the most difficult circumstances. As I trust Him with every detail my life I’m learning the secret of being content in any and every situation.

What about you? Is chronic pain keeping you from living a life of contentment and gratitude? It doesn’t have to be that way. You can have peace and fulfillment by being filled with the Holy Spirit. The first step is to make sure that Christ is really on the driver’s seat in your life and that you are allowing His Spirit to fill you and empower you.

Pray this simple prayer and by faith invite Him to fill you with His Spirit:

Dear Father, I need You. I acknowledge that I have sinned against You by directing my own life. I thank You that You have forgiven my sins through Christ’s death on the cross for me. I now invite Christ to again take His place on the throne of my life. Fill me with the Holy Spirit as You commanded me to be filled, and as You promised in Your Word that You would do if I asked in faith. I pray this in the name of Jesus. As an expression of my faith, I thank You for directing my life and for filling me with the Holy Spirit. Amen.

I was first diagnosed with chronic fatigue

When I was going through a particularly painful time six years ago, a rheumatologist gave me a definitive diagnosis for fibromyalgia. I had only one pressure point that wasn’t extremely painful.

While I know that fibromyalgia will always be part of my life, with the right medications, exercise, and better sleep patterns, I have seen God do amazing things in and through me. This last year has been the best in 15 years!

I’ve been sleeping much better, following the advice of my rheumatologist. Here are some tips that might also help you if you’re struggling with sleep disturbances.

1. Don’t nap during the day! This was really hard for me, because I would be so tired. But the rheumatologist said that because I was sleeping during the day, I often couldn’t sleep at night. So that was the first huge change for me.
2. Exercise daily. I walk at least four or five times per week. At first it was very hard because of the pain, and even now, when I start out some mornings, I am in a lot of pain. But with each step it gets a little bit better, and by the time I get back home, I feel much better. This also makes me more tired physically (and not just mentally) and so I sleep better.
3. Get rid of whatever it is that keeps you awake or wakes you up! My doctor gave examples such as blackout blinds to keep out the morning light, getting rid of the dog or cat that sleep in your bed and wakes you up, or using ear plugs to keep out the noise of your husband snoring. All very practical. Our dog no longer sleeps with us and I now have a set of earplugs always available by the bed. That simple tip has made a huge difference in the amount and quality of the sleep that I get!
4. Try to wind down before going to bed. Because I often feel very tired and nauseous in the mornings, I was doing lots of work and activities in the evenings. The result was that when I went to bed, my body and my mind were still going in a hundred different directions. Consequently, it would take me hours to slow down enough to get to sleep. Now, instead, I try to limit what work is done in the evenings. I read more, watch less television (which, contrary to popular belief, does not help us relax!), and spend more time working on creating memory scrapbooks which I can do and relax at the same time.

Having fibromyalgia, I have learned many things about myself. I was a “doer,” someone who went like a whirlwind from morning until night. I have had to learn to choose what I give my energy to, and where I will expend it.

Each day I choose to celebrate God’s faithfulness, regardless of the pain and fatigue. I trust Him to give me the strength and grace to do all He has called me to do – and He does!

It had been a heavy week, incredibly busy and in the midst of it all, people all around me who were hurting. As I sat down with my Bible in hand, I wondered what it was that God was going to remind me about today. As I glanced down to the blank page of my journal, my eyes fell on the verse at the bottom of the page, “Whoever believes in Me…streams of living water will flow from within him.” (John 7:38 NIV)

What a word picture—not a barren desert, but living, life-giving water. Not black storm clouds either, but living water that was supposed to flow out of my innermost being, not just squeezed out, or trickling out, but full out! The next verse that came to mind was Matthew 11:28 “Come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest for your soul.”

I had to stop and consider: What does a soul at rest look like?

* It doesn’t worry, using up countless energy being anxious about something that may never happen. Did you know that 80% of what we worry about never happens?

* It doesn’t mean that I don’t care about others, but it means that I leave those cares at the foot of the cross and leave them there. “Casting all your cares upon Him because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).

*It means that I listen and pray and allow God to be God in the lives of those I care most about. “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6).

* It means that I will experience God’s peace in the middle of the storm, not just afterwards. “and the peace that passes all understanding…will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus”(Philippians 4:7).

Lord, nothing has changed since I sat down here with to reflect on You and Your Word. But my focus has changed, and my soul is at rest. Keep me in that place today Lord. Amen.

Questions: What is it that is keeping your soul from being at rest today? How can you practically leave your cares at the foot of the cross? Why is it so difficult? Share something that we can pray with you about today that is threatening to destroy your soul’s rest.

No matter how beautiful or warm a church building, it cannot match the intimacy and comfort a home offers. God wants us to surrender our residences to Him because He wants to use our resources to introduce people to Him, then lead them to the church.

I (Barbara) like what my husband, Howard, says about our role in witnessing: “The Lord never told the world to go to church He told the church to go to the world.” When we make our homes available for His use, He blesses us. (From “The Joy of Hospitality”)

Hosting a party in your home – or backyard – is a great way to bring people together in a comfortable atmosphere and to share the love of Christ. Through the years, Power to Change staff and others have had “entertaining with a purpose” parties as a platform to share the gospel. You can do this in a variety of ways, including having a speaker share a testimony and an invitation to receive Christ. Or you could give away an evangelistic tool like the JESUS Film DVD or a book like Soul Cravings Prequel as a leaving piece. Here are some ideas to get you going.

Decide on your target audience

Depending on who you feel comfortable with and how much room you have, this could be for children, ladies, adults or entire families. It is important to decide at the beginning who you are going to target. That will determine the time of day, who to invite, what kind of activities and ice breakers to plan, and what kind of leaving piece you want to give them.

Plan a seasonal event

• A neighborhood block party. The start of summer is a great time for a “celebrate the end of school party” for families. And you can always fire up the grill for a large group barbeque.

• A family Christmas open house. At Christmas, neighbors can bring a sample of their Christmas baking. Using a theme of Christmas carols, have kids taking music lessons perform. Then you can share what each carol means. You could ask families to bring their favorite Christmas ornament and have them share why it is important to them. Christian families can be encouraged to bring an ornament with a Christian message and you can finish up by sharing an ornament with a nativity scene, an angel, or a star. As an action point, you could give out invitations to view the JESUS Film at your home the following week.

• An Easter brunch. The same idea could be used to plan a family Easter egg hunt with a brunch afterward, or with a JESUS Film or Magdalena: Released from Shame party. Both of these DVD’s are available in multiple languages and work just as well in English as in other languages if your audience is multicultural.

• A neighborhood open house. Our neighbors have come to expect the little invitation that lets them know when our annual open house is going to be. Everyone helps out by bringing some food, and each year our focus is a little bit different. They always leave with a gift that shares some aspect of the Good News of the Gospel.

• A “Different Culture” open house. Christmas is a great time to invite neighbors who may be from different cultural backgrounds to watch the JESUS film in their own language. Finish by giving your guests the video when they leave, to watch again or share with their family members. You can use this excellent tool any time of the year!

• An evangelistic coffee party. For couples or for ladies only. The flow of the evening could include a special feature, for example, making beeswax candles or something seasonal. Have a guest speaker share his/her personal testimony along with an opportunity to invite Christ into their lives. Use comment cards afterwards as a follow-up tool.

Invitations

Whatever kind of event you decide on, make sure that your invitations clearly indicate that there will be a spiritual component. Don’t invite your guests and then “spring” something on them. Also mention what the speaker will be sharing.

Prepare

Ideally, planning for an outreach event should begin well in advance of the event itself. Just as Jesus involved His disciples in His plans, you too can pull together a team of Christians to help you.

Pray

Pray specifically for the right location, date, time, speaker and special feature. Pray individually and as a group for those you invite. Ask God to prepare their hearts for what they will see and hear, and a supernatural working of the Holy Spirit to bring people to know Christ. Finally, pray for wisdom (James 1:5).

Put it together

• Decide what type of event to have (i.e. morning coffee, barbeque, evening dessert, dinner) and when to have it.
• Host a planning meeting with the people you have chosen to help you.
• Select a special feature and, possibly, a theme. For a Christmas coffee brunch you may choose to make wreaths or holiday hors d’oeuvres. For a Valentine’s feature you could make greeting cards and stationery with stamps.
• Identify and secure the resources you will need: location, speaker, feature, music, materials, decorations, refreshments, etc.
• Decide on your guest list and send out invitations.
• Prepare thank-you’s, hostess gifts, evangelistic gifts for the guests to take home, comment cards and follow-up letters to guests who prayed to receive Christ or requested more information.
• Develop a schedule for the flow of the event and have team members take on various roles.

After the party

For those who indicated a decision for Christ, you may want to offer the magazine Knowing Jesus Personally or give them a leaving piece with the link for follow-up articles about faith. If someone indicates an interest, suggest they check out icravechange.com and let them know that if they want to ask questions an online mentor is available.

After the event, celebrate with your team and pray again for all those who attended. You and your team might also choose to host an investigative/discovery Bible study with those interested in learning more. Continue to reach out to your guests through friendship, and consider inviting them to a future event or church service with you. And don’t forget to drop them an email in the weeks to come and encourage them to check out a website like powertochange.com.