After grabbing a quick yogurt for breakfast, kissing my husband and my two-year-old good-bye, and buckling the baby in the car seat, I rushed out the door on a cold Saturday morning. I did not want to be late. I had missed the last meeting while home with my new baby, and was looking forward to some much needed fellowship time with my sisters.
When I arrived, the line for sign-in was stretched from the fellowship hall through the foyer, a line of mothers excitedly waiting for the meeting to start. Those who had already signed in were fellowshipping as they helped themselves to a small continental-style breakfast spread. There were more than seventy women in all gathered in the fellowship hall, all looking forward to the next two hours. This was MITs- Mothers In Training, at the Hampton Roads Church, where expectant mothers through mothers with fourth-graders would be receiving valuable lessons on being strong, and spiritually focused mothers.
Like every meeting, this one started with a short practical- usually an easy recipe or a fun family craft. Following the practical, names were drawn for door prizes to encourage sisters and their guests. Then, we all settled down for the lesson entitled Raising Grateful Children. Two sisters with older children shared their experiences and offered practical, spiritual advice on how to encourage grateful attitudes in our young children.
Upon conclusion of the lesson, there was a question and answer panel with four experienced moms answering questions from us younger moms relating to the lesson topic. After the panel, we split into small discussion groups, each led by a mentor-mom. The groups were divided by the children’s ages and provided us an opportunity to seek spiritual advice on handling age-specific child-rearing questions.
At the end of the small group discussions, we all gathered our things and headed home. It had been a great morning full of teaching and fellowship. I left feeling armed with practical, Bible-based advice, and feeling a closer bond with my sisters and fellow mothers. There was nothing more valuable I could have done with two hours on a Saturday morning. As always, God had blessed the time we had and used it to draw us all closer to Him and one another.
MITs has proven to be a huge success in the Hampton Roads Church and is quickly spreading throughout the American Commonwealth Region of churches. The program has been so popular with the disciples that the Hampton Roads Church has even started a similar program for men- Fathers In Training (FIT).
If you would like more information on MITs or would like to download lessons from previous meetings, please visit the Hampton Roads Church’s website at www.hamptonroadschurch.org and click on the “Mothers In Training” tab near the top of the page. If you would like information on how to start a Mothers In Training group at your church, there is a short guide available on the website, or you can contact our West Region Women’s Ministry Leader, Leslie Millet at leslie@milletemail.com.
