GEMS Sleepover - The Good News Cafe

Every year the GEMS eagerly anticipate our sleepover.  The past couple of years, we have focused on completing the badge for the GEMS theme of the year.  Our theme this year is “Bringing the Message” and we’ve been talking about how we can share God’s message of salvation in differing ways. 

The meeting hall was transformed into the Good News Café.  The girls were seated by the hostesses (counselors) and we shared some ice cream sundaes loaded with goodies.  After the sundaes were finished, we split into smaller groups for some discussion.

It’s crazy to think of a waitress serving you an empty plate and saying, “Enjoy!”  But that’s exactly what it’s like for people who don’t know Jesus.  They have an empty plate instead of one full of Jesus’ love.  They may not know it, but they are starving for something more.  They’re hungry for Jesus and His love! Four key points of the true message of God’s love were introduced - God made you and loves you, everyone sins, Jesus took the punishment for our sins and the best part, you can be God's child forever!  The girls then practiced retelling these points to each other.  The girls learned that you can use your lips (words) as well as your life (listening, helping and praying) to tell others about Him.  Different activities were presented as options that each group could do to follow through with "Bringing the Message".

Here is one leader’s comment on her group’s response to completing a service project:   “We had the most meaningful talks with the girls about their faith.  We talked about whether they were willing to say ‘send me’ and they all responded by changing the bowling outing we had planned into a cookie baking and distributing evening to the homeless in Langley.  That was inspiring.”

This evening really gives the leaders a chance to connect more deeply with the girls in their groups and learn more about them as individuals and how the ministries of this church are impacting their lives – for the better! 

From one of the leaders:  “What I would like the church to know is how I believe that for some girls, GEMS has transformed their lives.  I think there is a tendency to believe that GEMS is a bit like brownies but with a little bit of Christianity thrown in.  I saw firsthand on Friday night how GEMS is transforming the lives of young girls.  I knew one girl went to day care but I did not know that she and her brother started there when they were 3 and 1 respectively.  She credits the day care for introducing her to God.  She said she feels like she has ‘never not known God because of it’.  She went on to say that GEMS has picked up where the daycare left off and answered questions she had and led her to a deeper faith – WOW!”