Coffee Break After Hours

We have all heard many ways that the pandemic has disrupted our normal. Here is a story of how one Coffee Break leader, Jenny Griffin, listened to God's call and thought outside the box. Read Jenny's story below:

As a former Coffee Break co-director, a woman who values time in the Word, and a mom who understands what it is like to have kids at home, I wanted to give moms the opportunity to have access to Bible study. Due to COVID, child care wasn't an option at church and the Zoom session we offered during the usual coffee break hours wouldn't work for young moms with children at home.

God placed these young moms on my heart and helped me come up with the idea of offering the Coffee Break Bible study "after hours." This meant meeting after we put our children to bed, so that we didn't have to worry about getting a babysitter and could meet in the comfort of our own homes. It has been a beautiful success. We really enjoy being able to check in with each other, pray together, and study the Word together. 

In order to create the group, I contacted the moms who used to attend Coffee Break in person, before the pandemic. I asked if they would be interested in attending. We also offer a MOPS program at our church. I am a part of this organization as well, so I used this as an forum to reach other moms who may be interested in Bible study.

MOPS has a Facebook group, where I create the Bible study time as an event and provide information of what we are studying, as well as the Zoom link for our study session. I send out the invite to everyone in MOPS, as anyone is welcome anytime. We also send out an email letting moms know about the upcoming bible studies and times we meet.

For those moms who are regular attendees, we also have a text group where we share prayer requests, discussion ideas, and questions about the study throughout the week leading up to the study time. On average, we have 8 to10 regular attendees (depending on the study).

Prior to meeting with the moms, I meet with the other coffee break leaders over zoom. This allows me to include some of their ideas and talking points. The moms enjoy being able to glean wisdom from the older leaders who give us a valuable perspective. 

We really enjoy the time together, so we decided to continue our study during the summer and also plan to continue this fall. We may have the option of childcare at church again, which will be a wonderful blessing. Some moms, including myself, will join the regular coffee break study groups again, but I will plan on touching base with moms to determine if anyone would still like to continue meeting at night. If so, I will be sure to offer this as an option to make sure all moms are being reached and having the opportunity to study with us. 

We know God delights in this opportunity for anyone to study God's word, right where they are!