Sweet Monday

Reaching women for Christ one sweet invitation at a time

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Sweet Monday Rocks

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At my November Sweet Monday, I had a good friend and neighbor share her hobby of painting/decorating rocks and hiding them all over Chesterfield, VA and beyond. We had a bucket full of rocks and all the supplies needed for each woman to paint rocks they could keep, hide, or giveaway. I was surprised at the talent each lady showed and how their designs told a story about them.

When I first spoke to my neighbor about leading Sweet Monday Rocks as a theme, I told her it was fun to find rocks with Bible verses, but wouldn’t it be great if we created rocks to tell the story of the Gospel. I was challenged through Scripture that as followers of Christ, we need to know how to share the Gospel. And those that aren’t a follower of Christ need to hear the Gospel.

I decided I wanted to give the ladies at my Sweet Monday a simple way to explain the Gospel through pictures that even a child can draw (my 7-year-old daughter helped me paint these rocks). That way I knew each lady went home with a simple way to share the Gospel, and if there were any there that needed to hear the Gospel, then they would.

Below are pictures and an explanation for each. Feel free to make your own, share them with others or hide them around your neighborhood. You can also put the link to this article on the back or #sweetmondayrocks so people may come here to see the Good News of the Gospel.

Creation In the beginning was God and He created everything by His perfect design to work together. He created each of us with a purpose to worship Him and to walk with Him. (Read Genesis 1 & 2, Colossians 1:16)

The Fall Life doesn’t work when we ignore God and His original design for our lives. When we selfishly insist on doing things our own way this is called sin. We all sin and the consequence of sin is separation from God in this life and in eternity. Sin is present in every human heart and has led to a world of brokenness. We see this brokenness all around us in our world, relationships, lives and systems. Brokenness leads to a place of realizing a need for something greater. (Read Genesis 3, Romans 3:23, 6:23)

Jesus Because of His love for us, God did not leave us in our brokenness. Jesus, who is God in human flesh, came to us and lived perfectly according to God’s design. He came to rescue us and do for us what we could not do for ourselves. He took our sin and shame to the cross, paying the penalty of our sin by His death and was raised from the dead, therefore defeating both sin and death. This is the Good News. This is the Gospel. (Romans 5:8, John 3:16)

Restoration Simply hearing the Good News is not enough. We must admit our sinful brokenness and stop trusting in ourselves. We don’t have the power to escape on our own. We need a savior. We need Jesus Christ. We must ask for God’s forgiveness, turning away from our sin and toward Jesus. This is what it means to repent and believe. When God restores our relationship to Him, we begin to find meaning and purpose in a broken world and can pursue God’s meaning and purpose in all areas of our lives. Even when we fail we are encouraged and can see God’s presence in this world and through all of eternity. (Romans 10:9-10, Romans 10:13)

View and download your free printable Sweet Monday Rocks information sheet here.Download

To find a Sweet Monday near your, visit our Find A Sweet Monday page.

Loving Our Neighbor

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As a child in the suburbs of Virginia, I grew up knowing my neighbors, and they knew me. Regularly, I would walk through their yards to get to friends’ homes waving as I walked by, “Hello, Mr. Goff.”

“Hey there, Michael.” Mr. Goff always called the neighborhood kids by our parent’s names because he claimed we looked so much like our parents he couldn’t tell the difference. “How are the sisters and mom and dad?” He would make small talk as I stopped to chat for a few minutes, “Going to visit Judy and Dave?” Also not my friends’ names, but their parent’s names. “You girls stay out of trouble.”

Thirty years later, a walk through this neighborhood is filled with “No Trespassing” and “Private Property” signs. Waves to neighbors are sometimes met with a wave back, but not a lot of small talk and sometimes they’re ignored. 

My neighborhood is similar. I notice as many of my neighbors return home from a day of work they quickly walk from their cars to their front doors trying not to make eye contact with anyone. On the occasions when I approach my neighbors to speak with them, I have noticed a sense of wonder on their faces as I walk toward them as if they are trying to figure out my motives before I speak. 

Luckily I have broken down this wall with a few of my neighbors, and we go out of our way to say hello and even keep up with what is going on in each other’s lives. Unfortunately, nowadays, this is not the norm, and I would argue it takes a lot of work to accomplish. 

No matter how hard it may be, we are called to this type of ministry — to “love our neighbor as ourself,” to “seek the good of others,” to “carry each other’s burdens,” to “show hospitality,” and to “value others above ourselves.”

Sweet Monday is a ministry that helps women do just that as they serve their local communities by inviting other women into their homes/churches/care facilities in the hopes of creating relationships that lead to connecting women to the life-changing gospel and then encouraging them to seek discipleship in the local church.

While this is the result we pray for in our ministry, there is so much more that I have seen Sweet Monday provide along the way. It has provided a supportive group of women to a woman in the midst of a divorce. It has provided refuge and rest to a woman carrying the heavy burden of being a caregiver for an aging parent. And it has provided friendships to many women who in their day-to-day lives feel so lonely in a broken world.  

If you would like to attend a Sweet Monday near you, visit Find A Sweet Monday. To learn more about becoming a hostess in your community, visit Become A Hostess.

Sweet Harvest is Around the Corner

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The Lord has given all believers the commission to spread the gospel to those around us. For many, that can be a very intimidating task. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be! We’ve been given the Holy Spirit to assist us in this awesome call.

One key to organically sharing the gospel that can often be overlooked is relationship. This simple yet powerful component is what makes building the kingdom of God natural and fun. First and foremost, we must cultivate a personal relationship with Jesus. It is out of this relationship that the good news overflows from us to others.

Along with daily intimacy with God through His Word, below are 5 simple steps to grow your Sweet Monday through new relationships:

  1. Engage (really listen and show interest)
  2. Befriend (build on initial contact and take steps to get to know that person better like asking them to meet you for coffee or lunch)
  3. Ask for a need/request (so you can pray more specifically for that person)
  4. Share (use a scripture that coincides with that need)
  5. Invite (to your Sweet Monday and/or church)

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Matthew 9:37-38

If you are not a Sweet Monday Hostess but would like to learn more, visit our What is a Hostess Page.