God's shape for this group

Some of us met to pray about this fledgling group. We don't just want to create our own thing, but long to walk in obedience to God allowing Him to shape this group and breathe His life-giving spirit into our times together.

Some of sensed pictures from the Holy Spirit giving us some clues about how God would like this group to grow and develop. This is what we felt God was sharing with us.

No one size fits all.
The picture was of a group of ladies seeing an inspiring design. Each goes home and sews a garment - one sews a dress, the other a pair of trousers and so on. If a person were to look at all of these garments they would not look the same, though they had been inspired by the same vision. As we grapple with raising our kids to be passionate about justice it will look different in our differnt homes. No pressure to do what another mom is doing.

The effort will be worthwhile.
The picture was of a mother pushing a wheel barrow up a hill, straining, taking much of her effort. She is wondering if it is all worthwhile. As she finally gets to the top she sees on the otherside a garden that is fruitful, producing and fully functional, and she knows that it was all worth it. An encouragement to push through those tough times when it just seems like an uphill battle. And a hope that our group will become like that garden where we can join together to produce a fruitful harvest.

An open and outward looking space
The picture was of a clay bowl on a wheel, being shaped. God shaping us as mothers. Us, as mothers, shaping our children. The bowl was not enclosed and small, but flatish and open; being shaped by upward facing hands. A sign of openess, of sharing, of generosity, of outward-looking, and of receiving.

Strategy and Warring on behalf of our children
A picture of women, informally gathered, sitting around a board and moving the pieces to strategic positions. Connecting the dots. Networking. Strategising. And warring on behalf of our children.

Walking Upstream - what is in the name?

When we were praying about God's vision for the Moms4Justice group God impressed upon my heart a picture of a group of women walking in a river. They were walking upstream, against the flow of the mighty water. Around their waists they had tied a rope which was connected to each other - this meant that if any of the women fell, she would not be dragged away by the current, but would be held firm by the other women.

As moms who are seeking ways to live out the values social justice and compassion in such a way that our kids get inspired to become kingdom builders, we need to support and encourage each other.
Choosing to instil values of standing up to injustice and greed is indeed walking upstream. Finding ways to teach our children to show practical love and compassion to the poor and acceptance to those who are different is also walking upstream.
Getting our children to see the ultimate benefits of living simply in a world of massive materialism is again walking upstream.

Moms4Justice - Our History

Moms4Justice has emerged from a small group of moms and tots called Toddlers for Justice (T4J). About 3 years ago Heather and Mauri felt led by God to start a group for toddlers and their mothers. The weekly group was based at The Warehouse Trust, bringing the joy and noise of toddlers into this workplace whilst also aligning the heart and purpose of the tot group with The Warehouse's value of social justice. We moms used this group to provide fun activities that had an emphasis on God's design and purpose for their lives.

Currently the T4J group is changing shape as many of the mom's now have a second child. We will continue meeting weekly at The Warehouse with our younger ones. For our older 3 & 4 year olds we will be meeting once a month at The Warehouse on a Saturday morning and doing some child-friendly activity, arranged by The Warehouse volunteer co-ordinator, that will support the vision of The Warehouse, which is to serve the church in it's response to poverty and injustice.

The Moms4Justice side of this group sprung forth during a recent prayer time where we felt God inspiring us to gather together to explore how to share the issues of poverty and injustice with our kids, in our homes, in our everyday life. But more about that in the next post.