WELS Women’s Ministry hosted a webinar on (mis)Understanding Mental Health | A Christian Look at Today’s Epidemic on Thursday, May 2, 2024, from 7:00-8:00 p.m. (CST). Included below is a list of the resources referred to in the webinar by the panelists.

(mis)Understanding Mental Health | A Christian Look at Today’s Epidemic

There’s been a lot of focus on mental health in recent years. Current generations are growing up using vocabulary that expresses this reality while older generations aren’t used to discussing something they grew up thinking was taboo. This webinar will be unique in that we will be hearing from licensed professional counselors from Christian Family Solutions. Guided by their insight, we’ll get an overview of what is going on, what we can do, and when and where to get help.

According to the statistics, one out of five adults in the U.S. will experience a mental illness during any given year. This means that if you know more than five people, chances are that you are rubbing shoulders with people experiencing some form of mental illness. As a church, you can expect that roughly 20 percent of your membership is currently experiencing some form of mental illness as well. It also means that if you are suffering with a form of mental illness, you are far from alone! In the webinar, we will explore the following topics:

• Finding a healthy and God-pleasing balance to self-care. We will learn how we can best help and encourage someone to get the help they need. We will try to lessen the stigma attached to mental illness and replace it with compassion, understanding, and love.
• Understanding our responsibility as parents to provide for our children in all aspects of life—physically and spiritually. How are we providing for their mental health
• Looking at depression, which has been referred to as the “common cold of mental health.” If that’s true, why do we feel so isolated, and what can we do about it?

Our prayer is that this webinar will shine a light on and bring awareness to the subject of mental health so that the body of Christ continues to minister to the needs of each other in all areas of life. We encourage you to attend the live webinar, where we’ll provide amazing resources and continue to do fun giveaways to participants.

• Discuss as a church how you can be more open and inclusive to those with mental illness.
• What was your takeaway from the webinar? How does that affect you going forward?
• Challenge yourself to learn more about mental health from the list of suggested resources.

WELS Women’s Ministry hosted a webinar on Reviving Relationships Through Biblical Hospitality on Thursday, January 18, 2024, from 7:00-8:00 p.m. (CST). Included below is a list of the resources referred to in the webinar by the panelists. Women’s Ministry is currently working hard to put together a free Bible study resource specifically for this webinar on hospitality.

Based on Scripture:

• Share with the Lord’s people who are in Practice hospitality (Romans 12:13).
• Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling (1 Peter 4:9).
• Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it (Hebrews 13:2).
• Now the overseer is to be . . . hospitable (1 Timothy 3:2).
• At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household (Acts 16:33,34).

Purpose: Hospitality can be used as a way to reconnect church members and can also be used as an evangelism tool.

People are still navigating the post-COVID era, trying to figure out how to reconnect as some people switched to online-only church attendance, others decreased their church attendance, some members drifted away, and some people became members during COVID and have not integrated completely into their churches. Hospitality can be the springboard to help members become more involved and connected at church. In this webinar, we’ll hear how one couple has been strategic in their hosting of cocktail parties in an effort to lay the groundwork for future small groups.

The Christian church has been gathering in community since its beginning. Believers in the early church clung to one another for protection, strength, and encouragement. They met in each other’s homes, shared what they had with one another, and helped in any way they could.

What does your church community look like today? Do you feel disconnected? Do you spend any time with members of your church family outside of church? Is that even important? How do guests feel when they walk through your church doors?

Our panelists will speak on the importance of hospitality in the home, at church, and even in public. We’ll discuss the differences between biblical hospitality and Instagram entertaining. We’ll explore some of the challenges that keep us from reaching out to others, inviting them over, or offering them our help. What is it about southern hospitality that gives them such a reputation for bringing people together? We’ll hear from a southern sister for further insight!

How do we bring a church family together that’s multicultural, diverse in background, or spans generations so we see each other and function as one body in Christ? We’ll hear how the church in Toronto has done that and continues to welcome people from all over the world.

How do we cultivate a church culture that visitors are drawn to? How do we take relationships to a deeper, spiritual level that enriches the kingdom of God?

We were designed for connection and relationships. Women especially tend to have God-given gifts that make us more aware and sensitive to the feelings of those around us. We tend to be nurturers—whether we’re giving a needed hug, lending a listening ear, or loving our people with a plate of brownies. Ultimately, we want to be able to share Jesus and his Word in all of our relationships, but how do we do that? Is it easier for some, or have they worked to be intentional in their friendships? How do you keep that from becoming weird and insincere?

This webinar will inspire you to rethink your relationships. It will get you thinking about your own church culture with new eyes. It will hopefully inspire you to step outside your comfort zone for a worthwhile reason!

Tip: Don’t watch it alone; in the spirit of the theme, get a group together and watch this one with friends!

Proverbs 22:6—Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

This webinar is motivated by Deuteronomy 6:7, “Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you get home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up”, with the purpose to offer encouragement and ideas to Christian parents as they endeavor to pass on their faith to the next generation. And whatever our age or life situation, we can all be working to encourage faith in those younger than us.

How can each of us work to foster faith in the next generation?

We’ve heard the statistic that a massive amount of young people are leaving the church as they enter into adulthood. We personally know some of them and wonder how this could be when they were raised in a family that believes in Jesus and goes to church. If it’s true that 60% of those young adults fall away from the faith, will my child be included in that statistic?

We can lament the degradation of moral values in the culture around us, but we have the ability to create a culture within the home that seeks what God values—that which is true, right, noble, pure, lovely, and admirable (Philippians 4:8).

Our panelists are real parents in the trenches of discipling their children for a lifetime of spiritual growth and following Jesus. They speak to the challenges that come with this desire to live counter culture in a world that is so good at keeping us distracted and busy.

What are they doing to build faith in the home across the spectrum of ages? How do they maintain regular time in the Word when schedules are so hectic? What does devotional time look like as a family? And how are children taught to incorporate individual time in the Word to grow this spiritually healthy lifelong habit?

This webinar offers encouragement to single parents, those spiritually single (without a Christian spouse), and families with kids of all ages!

We speak to the objections Satan wants you to believe. I don’t know enough doctrine to teach my kids! What if I say the wrong thing? I don’t have time. I don’t know where to start. They learn enough in Sunday school or youth group. It’s too late—my kids are too old. I’m too overwhelmed with everything else I’m responsible for.

Are you a grandparent, godparent, Sunday school teacher, or youth group leader? How can you work with families to nurture the faith of their children and help them to fulfill their God-given role in teaching the next generation about Jesus?

We’ll also offer resources that will help you get started right away. Don’t wait for the perfect game plan or the perfect time. Your goal is not to have perfect kids. You want your children in heaven with you someday! All you need is Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit through God’s Word and sacraments. You have the promises of God who wants all people to be saved—that includes your family—and he has given you everything you need to impress his truths on the hearts of your children.

Find out more by listening to the webinar.