YOUR FEMALES ONLY SMALL GROUP: You Have One Right?

What is the purpose of your all girls small group? Do you have one?  You need one, not just to go through a new curriculum. Girls are desperate for a group that addresses issues that teaches them how to do life in this culture.

Have you visited ASK.com lately? You can ask anything and ASK.com will have an answer as anyone can respond to question and the best answer is posted to the top. If you have any questions about sex there are answers there, from G-spots to how do two girls have sex? Is that where your Junior High girls gets their information from? I am not saying that this would be a perfect topic for Valentine’s next week. NO!!

The issues you are not speaking to your girls about, they are looking to other sources. Below our some guidelines and resources for your all girls small group.

*ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT THE SEVEN FACTORS THAT EFFECT WHETHER OR NOT A GIRL WILL BE AT RISK OR EMPOWERED?

1.     SELF-ESTEEM/SELF-IMAGE

2.     FAMILY

3.     FRIENDSHIPS

4.     DATING RELATIONSHIPS

5.     SCHOOL CULTURE

6.     MENTAL HEALTH/HEALTHY WAYS OF COPING WITH STRESS

7.     FAITH (Girls who beliefs and religious values are least likely to be involved in at risk behavior)

There are many topics that you could tackle within each factor. Rotate through them. Have your students put together questions related to one of the areas that they would like addressed.

MEN & WOMEN OF THE BIBLE WERE HUMAN LIKE US

If I don’t meditate on scripture long enough, I miss the backstory on a character in the bible. As a result my message tends to come out spirit heavy lacking any earthly good. When your students think of Judas Iscariot what comes to their mind, what comes to your mind? The man who betrayed Jesus, the worst man in the bible, one of those characters that you can kill off in a tv series season finale. Judas committed suicide. Have you ever felt overwhelming shame? That you really screwed up, messing up someone’s life because of the choices you made and regret? Do you hate you and think or feel that your life is over, that you should never have been born? We just passed mental health awareness day January 28^th let’s talk about that. Judas wasn’t just a bad guy. He was a guy who messed up and believed there was no other option.

YOU SHARE

Have your female leaders share or women from your church. Tell them what the main message is and the scripture passage you will be using. Have the ladies share a personal story that illustrates that point. For example tonight some female teachers led the girls devotional. Message: Issues of Tude. (Attitude) Scripture Passage: Story of Jonah. Personal Stories: Attitude towards people of authority, Attitude of that is beneath me, Attitude towards friends – Domineering. The girls in the room listened, laughed and loved their stories. They shared their failure, what they learned and their talks were so practical.

LET THEM TALK

“Are there any questions?” “What do you think about what I just said? Do you agree or disagree?” Leave spaces in your small group for girls to talk. Many females process their thoughts by talking to one another. I will have a student ask me a question, and just before I answer, Holy Spirit slows me down enough to not answer but ask that student a question like, “That’s a great question, why do you ask?” or “What do you think?” These questions, allow the female to speak further to the issue. I often find when they do, they share something brilliant answering their own question better than I could. Then I take notes.  

*Research of Zahra Shamji for a Female Adolescent Workshop Addressing Increased Crime Rates and Underlying Causal Factors, Risk Factors, and Protective factors. Alison Springer went through her research and identified the Six Factors that need to be addressed with teen girls.

Alison D. Springer

The Founder of the Young Woman of Power (YWOP) Conference, Alison develops programs that are designed to build girls confidence such as the YWOP PivotFWD workshop which she delivers in Calgary’s Youth Judicial System. Alison’s heart for young women is to see the statistics of violence against women decrease and to see females become counter culture/culturally dangerous by growing in true confidence.