January 24, 2010

History of Sonflower Sisters



Welcome local Sonflower Sisters, local soon-to-be Sisters, and online Sisters! Today we launch our newest curriculum, Hearts Drawn Close.

I'll start with a brief history of this mother-daughter discipleship ministry.

Getting Started

In early 2006, when my daughter Brooke was five years old, I felt a call to disciple her in the ways of Christ. Only I wasn't sure exactly how to do it. So I asked a dozen Christian girlfriends (Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Charismatic, Evangelical, Presbyterian and Lutheran) with daughters Brooke's age to join me, and together we birthed Sonflower Sisters.

Our first year we didn't have a formal curriculum; we couldn't find anything in the bookstores for young girls. So we paired up and planned according to God's leading. We had such wonderful times getting to know one another and drawing closer to the Lord and our daughters that we wanted to share Sonflower Sisters with other friends.



Growing Bigger

We started two additional Sonflower Sisters groups in 2007. I felt led by God to write our curriculum, Decorating Your Daughter's Interior. We spent the year exploring the basics of the Christian faith by using items in our daughters' bedrooms as metaphors. The bed (the main item in a bedroom) stood for our main purpose in life: to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. We crafted pillowcases to remind us of this lesson. The girls loved this!

In 2008, we added another local group and I wrote Recipes for Life. We used cooking as a metaphor for living the Christian life. The girls loved crafting special aprons to wear to our gatherings, and learning how to measure and cook. The moms loved that we created heirloom cookbooks to carry our daughters into adulthood. The word began to spread.



Sharing Bigger

As I shared our Sonflower Sisters moments on my family blog, As We Walk, moms from all over the country began asking for copies to use with their own elementary-aged girls. At the same time, two current Sonflower Sisters took the groups to their local churches, and one took Sonflower Sisters to her private elementary school. God was moving in the hearts of mothers, drawing them closer to Himself and to their daughters. In 2009 I sent out over 50 copies of curriculum, and oversaw five local groups with more than fifty moms and daughters.

2010 is proving to stretch Sonflower Sisters in new ways. We continue to grow locally despite the lack of formal advertising. We've begun a waiting list for our local groups. In the meantime, I've asked them to join us online, where I'll post our teachings and activities. I've also invited my blog and facebook readers to join us on our journey this year.












God has special plans for mothers and daughters. My girls and I are priveleged to be included in them. I'm excited to see how He draws our hearts close to Himself and close to our daughters. I'm excited to be on this journey with all of you!

4 comments:

  1. recently God has put it on my heart to do some sort of a more structured discipling with my daughter and possibly her friends... but I wasn't sure where to start... This looks like something that I was thinking of... wondering if I could have access to the decorating your daughters interior curriculum? Thanks for the inspiration! this looks awesome!

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  2. is it possible to have copies of your previous studies about decorating and cooking?

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    1. Sarah, yes it is possible. Email me at sonflower sisters at comcast dot net and I'll forward you the files. Blessings! Deb

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