If you’ve been around the CRC for a while, you probably know GEMS. Maybe you’ve led a club, had a daughter in GEMS, or remember the Calvinettes years. You might think of craft nights, badges, and songs about God’s love—and you’d be right. But if that’s where your picture of GEMS ends, I’d love to invite you to take another look.
Barna’s recent research on Gen Z women paints a sobering picture:
"Young women are struggling more deeply with faith than any previous generation,” Barna reports.
Only 38% of Gen Z women now identify as Christian, and even fewer are connected to church or the Bible. Many say older adults don’t understand what they’re facing—and too often, they’re right.
That’s where GEMS Girls’ Clubs comes in.
At its heart, GEMS has always been about relationships: women mentoring girls in small groups, modeling what faith in Jesus looks like in everyday life, and walking through real questions together. It’s not about filling a Wednesday night schedule—it’s about forming faith that sticks.
Today’s girls are navigating anxiety, loneliness, and identity pressures that few of us could have imagined growing up. What they need most is belonging. Through GEMS, they find that in Christ—and in the caring women who remind them they are loved, period.
If your church once had a GEMS Club and let it go, this might be the moment to bring it back.
If your club has been running faithfully for decades, thank you—you’re doing work that matters more than ever.
And if your church is searching for a meaningful way to reach the next generation of girls, we’d love to walk alongside you.
The challenges facing Gen Z girls are real, but so is the hope we have in Jesus. Let’s make sure the girls in our churches and communities know that too.
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