You may have heard about Connections, the new group for moms at Hope. Here’s a chance to learn more about Jessica Holmes, the humble leader who shies away from the spotlight, but felt God’s consistent call to start this group.
1. Have you been involved in a mom’s group before?
I have not! I worked in the nursery for MOPS a few times but then I got pregnant and kept getting sick from the kiddos so I had to stop. But not knowing a lot of people in Denver, I was immediately excited to join the mom club and hopefully make some friends through our new common interest when I found out I was pregnant.
2. What motivated you to start Connections?
After I had my daughter Stella, I was really excited to join MOPS at Hope, but found out it was cancelled. I occasionally went to a few other secular groups based on different interests/hobbies that I learned of, but I
felt like those groups worshiped “green living” and were centered more on complaints (about husbands, kids, other moms who didn’t share their ideals) and I got frustrated. I really wanted to connect with other moms, but ideally those who shared my values where we could be a support to one another rather than a weight.
I really felt God developing a desire (if you can call it that, I was reluctant for many reasons at first!) to start a group for moms. Week after week, in moments when I would ask God questions and really sit and listen, I felt him pushing and prompting me towards this idea of a casual but sincere group for moms. I brought it up to a few people at church and was directed to Anna McMichael. We spent the next few weeks meeting, talking, reading, and praying and out of that we designed Connections!
3. What do you think some of the biggest challenges are facing moms of young kids?
We have so much information now at our fingertips, coming from every direction—media, Facebook, friends, books, Google. Everything is telling us how to raise our kids, which issues are important, and which will ruin their lives if we take a misstep. It’s scary to think about sometimes and I’ve really found more than ever that I can’t rely on myself or just logic or good judgement to get through this maze. I really need to remember that I have Christ and that in the end I’ve turned my daughter over to him and she’s under His protection. It’s tricky to remember since it’s not something you hear people saying every day, but our hope (and our kids!) is really in Jesus and not the newest fad, discovery, or method.
4. What does discipleship mean to you?
I think it’s living with a goal of constantly retuning yourself, your thoughts and actions to Christ and his desires, and then just honestly encouraging others to do the same through your model and through discussion and encouragement. I think there’s a lot of humility in it. The idea of “leading” something really intimidated me at first and was almost enough to have me never mention the idea, but in the end I felt like that was my own pride in not wanting to admit that I do make mistakes and that I didn’t want others to see them. At the same time, that’s what this group is all about—it’s a chance to sit down and just really open up with others who understand the joys and the stress of raising tiny people to know God’s love.
We have discussion questions that aren’t tricky or brainy, but they give the opportunity to really examine yourself and your dealings with God and your family. The goal is for that to lead to a chance for change. Find something you don’t like the look of in your heart or actions? Great, now you can do something about it! Turn it over to Christ, make a plan to pray about it or how to change it in your daily life with God’s help (and the continued support of your new mom friends!). That process of searching, noticing problem areas, repenting of them and then working on them—that’s discipleship to me. It’s becoming, little step by step, more like Christ each day.
5. What’s a typical morning at Connections look like?
We meet on Tuesdays from 9:00 – 11:00 am and it’s very open. Moms can come for as long as they want. If kids aren’t eating breakfast or are napping late it’s fine to show up at 9:30 or even 10:30! We have coffee and fun syrups so you can play barista. There are baby toys available and so far the kiddos just play and walk around and interrupt and that’s ok. It’s not just a baby moms group either—we’d love to have moms of all experiences join us!
I have printed questions and when you get to the group you just grab a question and join in the discussion. While I want the discussion question to be helpful, it’s really just a starting point. I think it’s great too if moms want to share stories/struggles and get to know each other. It’s a time to help each other, talk hand-me-downs, great stores, swap diaper tales and just really find encouragement in a relationship with other moms while recognizing our common ground and help in Christ as a central part of our role as moms!
Connections meets weekly on Tuesday mornings from 9:00 – 11:00 am at Hope in the Baby Skybox. Contact Jessica with any questions, or just stop in next week!