1

How to Form a Christian Moms’ Club

Brought to you by http://www.oldfashionedhomemaking.com

2

Table of Contents

Lesson One – Define Your Mission ........................................................................................ 3

Lesson Two - Set Up a Schedule ............................................................................................. 4

Lesson Three - Forms, Forms, Forms ................................................................................... 6

Lesson Four - Making Your Online Presence: ................................................................... 7

Lesson Five - Promoting Your Moms Group ..................................................................... 9

3

Lesson One – Define Your Mission

The first step in starting your own Moms Group with a Purpose is to define your purpose, of course! Every moms group needs a mission, the main goal in which they would like to accomplish as a whole. Below are some questions you will need to ask yourself when planning out the "purpose" of your moms group:

How do you plan on taking an active role in your community? Are you going to host fundraisers? Are you going to host Bible Studies? How are you going to use your group to help the members grow in their

relationship with Christ? How do you plan to use your group to spread the love and hope of Jesus

Christ throughout the community? Do you want your group to be a place of friendship and fellowship? Or is

your main focus going to be on community service, or both? What kind of activities do you plan on hosting within your moms group? Will this group be just for moms, or will kids be encouraged to

participate as well? What kind of a moms group would YOU like to be a part of?

These are just a few questions you will need to ask yourself when defining your group's mission statement. Once these questions have been answered you will have a better idea about what your group will be about and it will help you plan and achieve future goals placed by the group!

Homework: Get out a piece of paper and start writing out your mission. Use the questions above to get your brain working.

4

Lesson Two - Set Up a Schedule

Once you have written the mission statement for your moms group, you will then want to come up with a monthly or yearly schedule. This is a great time to put your mission statement to use. Be sure to plan events that reflect, and help you to achieve, the goals of your mission statement.

Below are just a few ideas on some events you can put on that schedule:

Moms Night Out

Host a Moms Night Out with just the girls at least once a month or every other month. This will help the moms get to know each other better, and is also a great way for the new moms to be introduced into the group!

Introductory Meeting

Host an introductory meeting, or an informational meeting, once every other month to inform potential members of your mission statement and upcoming events so they can decide whether or not your moms group is the right fit for them!

Monthly Meeting

Host an in person monthly meeting to help plan and brainstorm future events.

5

Host Fundraisers

Get involved in your community by teaming up with the other moms within the group and host a fundraiser to help out local charities.

Service Projects

This is a really great thing moms can do together; pick a project you would like your group to participate in, like making blankets for the children at your local homeless shelter. This is a great way to get involved in your community without having to plan a fundraiser!

These are just a few ideas on what you can add to the schedule. Be sure to remember when planning out your schedule that things may change once you start getting members, just be sure to remain flexible with your new schedule.

This schedule will be a great way to show potential members what the group has planned and what the goals are, and this will help them decide whether or not your moms group is something they are interested in joining.

Homework: Take a calendar or planner and plan out your events. Try and plan events on the same day each month, for example you can schedule your Moms Night Out on the first Monday of each month. This makes it easier for the members to remember the events each month!

6

Lesson Three - Forms, Forms, Forms

Now you may or may not choose to have some paperwork involved with your moms group. Is it necessary? Well really that is up to you. I do recommend having some kind of questionnaire or application for the members to fill out to make it a little more professional and personal at the same time.

Here is a list of some suggested forms for your moms group:

Welcome Letter

Now I know this is not technically a form, but it is nice to have a general welcome letter that you can send to your new members once they join. This is a nice way for you to show your members that they are special and are valued by the group.

Code of Conduct

Again not technically a form, but important! This will ensure that everyone is very clear on how you would like the group to be run.

Application

This is always good to have especially if you plan to collect membership dues. This is a great way to collect basic information from your new members and you can even put questions in there regarding why they are joining the group.

7

An application is just a great way to learn more about the new members coming into the group.

An Interest Form

Having your members fill out a form that require them to list their interests and likes will help you to schedule events that everyone will want to participate in. You want to make sure that everyone enjoys being a member.

Creating forms will help you keep your moms group organized and running smoothly. Thus, allowing all the moms involved to have more fun.

Lesson Four - Making Your Online Presence:

Getting your moms group online is the best thing you will ever do for your group!

Having your group mainly online has many benefits. It will make organizing the group much simpler. The calendar, databases, forms, messages etc. will all be online for the whole group to see!

Sometimes moms just can't make in person meetings, so having your group mainly online will make it possible for those who want to be involved, but can't necessarily make an in person meeting, feel like they are a part of the group.

You will be able to reach more women online than if you just have a completely in person moms group. So as you can see hosting your group

8

online has many benefits. Possibilities could include message boards, Google or Yahoo groups, and so on.

Homework: Decide on a place to host your group online, if that is the way you choose to go. Pick a place and then go through the set up process.

Once you have started your online group, we now want to focus on getting a website set up. Why do you need a website? Well because you want to have an area where you can target potential members. The group site is more for managing your members; the website is more for getting potential members interested in joining your group.

Here are some of the pages you will want to have on your website:

Your mission statement - This will help potential members know if your moms group is the right fit for them.

Your code of conduct - This is just another way to let potential members know what will be expected of them once they become a member. This helps to eliminate any surprises!

A link directory - This is just a page where you will post links to other websites. When you start promoting your moms group and your website, you will want to exchange links with other websites in order to get your name out there and obtain new members. This will be discussed further in the next issue.

Contact information - Be sure to make it pretty clear where new members can contact you if they are interested in joining the group or if they have any questions or concerns. Provide a brief rundown of your application process.

Calendar of events - Another great thing to have on your website, so potential members can see if the group events are something that interests them.

Each suggestion listed above should have its own separate page. It is a good idea to right out each page by hand or on your computer first. You should have everything already written out from previous homework assignments.

9

Now starting a website and hosting a website has actually become very simple. Some places where you can host and maintain your website for free or a small fee are Blogger, Wordpress.com, or Wordpress.org. Again, search around to find a platform that suits your group.

Lesson Five - Promoting Your Moms Group

Now it is time to promote your new moms group! Below are just a few ideas on how you can promote your new moms group in person:

Post Flyers in and around public places where moms hang out. Ask your pastor if you can post an announcement in your church

bulletin. Make up free business cards and hand them out to every mom you run

into! You can get 250 free business cards at Vista Print; all you have to do is pay for shipping!

Post an ad in your local newspaper.

Homework: Promote, promote, promote! Post your moms group information everywhere moms hang out.