Mugs & Mornings or ETC: Which one is for you?

If you’ve been following along with More to Be for some time, you’ve heard me share about ETC, which stands for Evening Tea & Chat. This simple little mentoring format fell into my lap from the Lord. It wasn’t something that I labored over, prayed through, or came upon through a brainstorming session with friends.

A Short Season

A little over six years ago, I got together with three other women who had a heart for reaching teen girls. We decided that the girls in our community (I live at a boarding and day school) needed a monthly gathering to chat about the issues of life that were pressing in on them. We picked a few evenings, opened up the doors, and waited to see who might show up. Evening Tea and Chat began, so simply, but only lasted a year. And that was fine with all of us, because we felt we honored God and met a need.

A reBirth

Two years later, however, the Lord re-birthed ETC in my heart, prompting me to open my home weekly for the last few months of the school year, following a time in which I shared my testimony with the girls.  I simply didn’t want to dump and run, but longed to have deep conversations with these girls about life, God, and guys.

Moments before our first gathering, I sensed the Lord whisper to me, “Use index cards for their questions.” I stole a stack from the cabinet, tossed them into a basket, and informed the girls that the while I opened our time with the topical discussion, they could write down their questions, about anything, on the index cards.

I talked for about ten minutes on the topic I prepared (that’s why all these Topics & Truth free downloads exist, and I hope you’ll make the most of these resources) and spent the remaining forty minutes answering their questions with the help of a dear friend and partner in the Gospel. We made it a point to discern between what was our opinion as opposed to clear Biblical instruction. The girls sat wide-eyed, absorbing every word with the hearts pried open by His love.

An Unexpected Journey

We were only suppose to have five ETC gatherings that year. Well five turned into 12. Twelve turned into another year. And now, four years later, we’re still meeting in my home and mentoring with the partnership of women committed to serving Christ together in this unusual way.

ETC is a radical way to love on the next generation, who are desperate for our influence and investment of time. <–Tweet This

But ETC isn’t the only way to mentor girls.

Sometimes evenings aren’t the best option for this busy and overworked generation of women and teens. That’s where Mugs & Mornings comes in to play. Instead of an evening gathering, Mugs & Mornings is a perfect name for a Saturday morning gathering.  Using the same exact format as ETC, the only difference with Mugs & Mornings is the time.

Leads to Unexpected Blessings

And time sometimes makes all the difference, based on the turn out we witnessed for our first Mugs & Morning gathering Saturday.  Eighteen teenage girls packed into my home — including my own daughter, which was a wonderful blessing! Moms, you can do this with your daughters! I’m now all the more fired up about the need for women to mentor intentionally! I wish you could see what I saw, eighteen pairs of eyes staring carefully at me, focused on every word, hungry for more than bagels and tea. They didn’t care about being squished on the floor, snuggled on the couch, or propped up against the fireplace. All they wanted was to hear our stories about life, learn from our lessons, and soak in our advice. So, while they opened up their hearts to us, mere women in the flesh, we prayed for God to pour forth His Spirit and give them Christ more than anything else. This generation needs Him most of all.  We’re simply vessels of the Living Water to pour out on them.

Would you be willing to step out in faith and organize an Evening Tea & Chat or Mugs & Mornings gathering?

We have all the resources you need…

Resources Designed for You

We have all the resources you need, including a training manual and invitation. You can also read Impact My Life: Biblical Mentoring Simplified, which digs deep into how to mentor as well as instructions for setting up your own ETC or Mugs & Mornings.  Impact My Life would be great to read with the women who you’d like to partner with you on this journey, too.  Impact My Life is available in Kindle and Print.

If you would like to talk about your desire to become a mentor or host a group, email me at lisa at moretobe dot com and we’ll set up a time to talk.

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