Capture the Joy (Paperback)

Chapter One

INTRODUCTION (whole group, 5 minutes) Welcome Opening Prayer Getting Started

CONTENT (50 minutes) Video Segment (whole group, 10 minutes) Video Highlights (whole group, 5 minutes) Bible Application (small group, 10 minutes) Video Segment (whole group, 5 minutes) Sharing Our Stories (small group, 15 minutes) Personal Application (individual, 5 minutes)

CLOSING PRAYER (whole group, 5 minutes)

Notes to the Leader

This session is about being a woman of faith. Depending on the setting and group of women you've gathered together, some participants may not be women of faith-and that's okay! Allow for a non-Christian perspective in your discussion. In addition, it's important to remember that some participants may not share your particular perspectives; be considerate and respectful, allowing each woman to express her views.

In addition, you'll notice there is no "Getting Started" section in the Participant's Guide. Instead, you will use this time to get to know the women in the group, using the ideas included on the following page.

Cue up the song "Rise Up and Praise Him" from the Outrageous Joy cassette tape.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome

As women arrive, play the song "Rise Up and Praise Him."

Call the group together. Welcome the women to session one of Capture the Joy: "We Are Women of Faith."

Introduce yourself. Tell the group your name, a little about yourself and your family, and why you are excited about leading this course.

Ask each woman in the group to introduce herself and tell a little about her life-maybe where she works, if she is married or single, has children, and/or has any special interests or hobbies. If your group is composed of women who know each other quite well, choose a sentence for them to finish which will let others know something unusual about them such as:

When I was in high school my favorite subject was ... If I could live anywhere in the world I would choose ... The best vacation I've ever had was when ... I grew up in (name of town) and one thing I remember is ...

Opening Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity you have given us to come together as we embark on the adventure of capturing your joy in our lives. Help us to open our hearts and minds not only to your instruction, but also to one another's friendship. Guide our thoughts as we seek to share together the experiences you have brought us through on our personal journeys of life. In Jesus' name, amen.

Getting Started

For the next eight weeks we have the opportunity to experience this course together-Capture the Joy! Many of you already know about the Women of Faith organization, and some of you may have even attended one of their conferences. Capture the Joy is a unique blend of the conference speakers sharing a part of their lives via video, and us sharing our own stories with one another.

Women of Faith is a conference and organization, but it is also each one of us here. Each person in this room is a woman of faith-whether your faith feels large or small or even nonexistent. Let's read together the quote from Thelma Wells found on page 7 of the Participant's Guide.

* "God has prepared everybody and everything we need to carry out his will for our lives. To each of us, he gives the particular talents he wants us to have, and he plants us in one another's paths to assist in accomplishing what he wants us to."

CONTENT

Video Segment

We are all here today because God has planted us in one another's paths. I'm excited about what we are going to learn together and hope that as we strive to capture the joy we will experience God in a new way.

In this first session we're going to hear a little about the Women of Faith organization and conferences and then talk about our own women of faith experiences. The video features Mary Graham, who will tell us a little about the Women of Faith organization, and Patsy Clairmont, who will speak about our emotions.

Video Highlights

What a great beginning to our time together. Let's turn to page 9 in the Participant's Guide and get started.

1. As Patsy shared her story, what were you thinking about?

2. Mary Graham talked about all of us being women of faith. What are some adjectives we might use to describe a woman of faith?

3. The title for this course is Capture the Joy. How is joy different from happiness? What are some words we might associate with joy?

Bible Application

As we continue to think about this topic, let's get into smaller groups of three or four and turn to page 10 in the Participant's Guide.

Each time we meet we'll take some time to look at what God's Word has to say to us about our topic. Let's read Proverbs 31:10-31 together, then your small group can discuss the questions in the Participant's Guide.

You will have 10 minutes to share together.

Video Segment

Now we have the opportunity to see and hear a song performed by the conference praise team. The Women of Faith conferences employ the talents of Integrity Music Praise Teams. A team of women always travels to the conference to lead the praise and worship time. Here they are leading the theme song for the conference, "Women of Faith." The lyrics to this song are found on page 12 of your guide.

It's neat to hear a song which ties together a lot of different ideas about being women of faith.

Sharing Our Stories

Each week we're going to get into groups of three or four for the Sharing Our Stories portion of the session. As we continue to think about what it means to be a woman of faith, let's turn to page 13 in the Participant's Guide. Stay in your small groups and discuss the questions found in the Sharing Our Stories section. We have 15 minutes to work through this section of the lesson.

(Continues...)