How To Create A Craft Class For A Women's Ministry

How To Create A Craft Class For A Women’s Ministry

It all started a few years ago when I attended a free sewing class at a local church taught by Eva Harp (http://www.couturiermommy.com). I absolutely loved getting together once a month with other like-minded “sewing-crafty” moms who wanted to learn or improve their sewing skills. Well, after God laid it on my heart to start the craft class (read more about that here), I spoke with Eva and asked her for advice about starting the craft class at my church and she was such a great inspiration and help to me! I am forever thankful for her wisdom!

Where I Am Now:

I have researched and prayed and then prayed some more about each one of our craft classes. I have literally have lost sleep trying to find the perfect craft for every skill level. You see, teaching others how to make a craft doesn’t come natural to me. I love to make crafts for my home, but teaching someone else or much less hoping they will like what I am going to teach them is a whole other story. This is a new journey for me, but one that I am super-happy to be called to do. If I put aside all of the “work” that goes into coordinating a craft class and focus on the real meaning behind why we are getting together for the craft class, then I am quickly reminded how much I really do LOVE what I am doing right now.

I know that God has called me to do a BIG task, and I am so happy that I am jumping in with both feet full force; However, this doesn’t make it any easier for me. You see, when God calls you to a BIG task that you are not really familiar with at the time, you don’t feel like you have the talent for it or much less even the time, then that is where the story really begins because GOD gets to shine through you. Yes!

God will get all of the glory because everything that I am doing with this class will be specifically HIS design and craft and not my idea. I am just a messenger or in this case the craft teacher. I am not perfect, but through HIM I am made perfect in His eyes. My craft may not always be perfect, but my willingness to obey HIM in all that I do will ultimately shine through. In fact, if we are going to be real here, then I should tell you that this is where I have shed the most tears – tears of fear, tears of discouragement, tears of not feeling worthy, tears of not feeling talented in this area and the list goes on…..

How To Create A Craft Class For Women’s Ministry & How it all works:

I spend at least an hour or more with God on a daily basis seeking His will for my life and then in return I can hear Him clearly when I pray about this craft class.
I spend quality time praying about the craft class and how it should be organized, laid out, and ultimately taught on an easy level.
I spend quality time praying about the craft
I research various types of crafts for hours and hours
I ask my friends for their opinions about various crafts, but ultimately I let the Lord speak to me.
I plan the craft
I buy supplies for various crafts that I’ve researched and figure out how to make the craft because most of the time my craft that I choose has no instructions or I need to majorly tweak them for a class. This takes A LOT of time.
I typically spend a lot of money and time trying out a whole bunch of different crafts to see which one would best fit our needs and then I tweak them to make it just right for our class.
I take LOTS of pictures
I write an overview for the class – Find my Mommy Decorates Overview Plan here
I blog about the craft here
I research and pray about the devotional (sometimes 2-5 hours of planning). Our devotional is only about 10 – 15 minutes, but you have to remember that this does not come natural to me, so I have to work extra hard to make sure that I get it right. You can read about one of our devotionals here.
Make sure that you have a good support group of girls who will help you setup the craft and just overall help you with any little details. I have my sweet friends Amy, Murcy and Alicia. I LOVE them and could not do this craft class successfully without them!

My desire for each and every one of you who take this class is to not only learn a new skill, make new friends, be encouraged, but to see God truly through me.

Fighting The Discouragement When Planning Women’s Ministry Activities:

I have shed quite a few tears over the crafts when things just did not turn out right in my eyes, but I ultimately told myself okay this is a learning curve and I will preservere no matter what and I will not give up. I think about Nehemiah in the Bible. He had a HUGE task of re-building the city walls of Jerusalem, and he had to overcome a lot of obstacles both physically and emotionally. He had quite a few people who did not believe that he should re-build the city walls and they tried their best to discourage him through rude remarks, but Nehemiah didn’t listen, He just prayed and God answered in mighty ways!

Considerations For Every Class:

1. Easy! Every skill level needs to be able to complete the craft

2. Price! The craft materials need to be reasonably priced for every budget.

3. Availability! Availability of craft materials (location of store needs to be convenient for everyone.

4. Time! We need to be able to complete the craft in the allotted amount of time planned

5. Cute! It need to be super-cute!!

How Do I Know If I Am Called To Create A Craft Class For Our Women’s Ministry At Church?

Well, first of all you need to spend a lot of time in prayer and seeking God’s wisdom to make sure that this is the route that He wants you to take for your church. Secondly, write out your plans and have church leaders review it to get there feedback and then press forward once you get the green light! It’s crucial to have a vision and plan in place before you begin a class and the crafting part will come along with time.

Thanks for joining me along this NEW Mommy Decorates journey!