Cup of JOY Women

Become a Facilitator. A Cup of JOY Women's small group is designed to accompany any podcast series from the WRAP Yourself in JOY Podcasts. (You choose from the Esther, Nehemiah, Advent, or Finding JOY series. The new series JOYFUL and Battle Ready launches in September.) Each podcast series is based on one of the JOY books written by Karen, and all four have imprimaturs. 

Members will listen to an accompanying 15-minute podcast before or after the meeting each week on their own time.

Hosting a Cup of Joy Women's small group is a beautiful way to involve others in the study of Scripture and foster gentle evangelism. Together you will grow in faith, hope, love, and JOY.

Invite Friends As a host and facilitator; you will start by inviting a few friends (e.g., 2 to 6 others) for a weekly hour of thanksgiving, prayer, and discussion over coffee or tea. You will want to pray first so that God leads you in inviting others from your church, neighborhood, or community. See the Invitations section below for a sample invitation you can use.

Cordial and Casual. Inviting others to join you for coffee or tea will make your invitation seem cordial and casual. As a host and facilitator, you will find the handout for each meeting and the format easy to use:

1.  Opening Prayer. Open the meeting with the Cup of Joy Prayer inviting the Holy Spirit to guide the study. 
2. Thanksgiving. Invite each woman to offer a one-sentence thanksgiving (e.g., you could go around the circle). The focus is gratitude. 
3. Discussion & Scripture. Using the Cup of Joy one-page format, the facilitator reads the brief commentary and asks the questions on the handout. Then she calls on the women who offer to respond or invites them to read the Scripture sections aloud, following the handout.  
4. Prayer & Petitions. At the end of the hour together, the facilitator invites each person to offer a one-sentence petition, after which she says, For this, I pray to the Lord. All respond: Lord, hear our prayer. Close with a final prayer, such as the Our Father.

Only One Hour. The weekly one-hour format encourages women to know the meeting will be focused and not take up much of their precious time. Discussing the content covered in the questions and Scripture will help the Scriptures come alive. 

Keep the Focus. The facilitator will help keep the discussion from getting side-tracked by the news, a dieting trend, etc. Please call the woman back to the question if a conversation starts getting off-track. 

Fellowship.  Women love to share their lives in conversation, so if your group enjoys sharing, invite them to come 15 to 20 minutes early to fellowship. Then all will find it more enjoyable.

For MORE INFORMATION, EMAIL:

Karen@WrapYourselfinJOY.com

or 

Website: WRAPyourselfinJOY.com

Podcast: WRAPYourselfinJOYPodcast.com

Handouts Provided. Weekly, the questions and commentary will be emailed to the host in a one-page front and back PDF handout. . 

Sign up to be a HOST for a Cup of JOY Women and choose your series using the form below. Next, an invitation and the first PDF handout will be emailed to you. You will make a copy of the handout for each group member.

Be Welcoming & Facilitate the Discussion. As a host and facilitator, your main job is to be welcoming and to facilitate the meeting,  To prepare for the meeting each week, you will want to listen to the accompanying podcast and review the study and Scriptures in the handout.  

Pray. You will want to pray for the meeting and your group every week. The Lord always desires to bless the study of His Word and give each one new hope and JOY.  Romans 15: 4  reminds us of this:  Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope. 

Digital or Hand-written Invitations. Please take a look at the sample above. Invitations are available as fill-in-the-form, print-and-fill-out-by-hand, or digital. 

Print. You can download the invitations and print them on colored paper using a black & white printer, or you can print in color using a colored printer.

Email Invitations. You can choose to email a digital invitation to your invitees.

Choose the Series. When you sign up and decide on a series, you will receive the first handout and invitation, too.  Fill in the More Information below. 

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Opening Prayer. You will want to begin with a short opening prayer.  You can use the Cup of JOY Women's opening prayer on the handout. See below:

Heavenly Father, thank you for this beautiful group of women you have gathered together today.  Jesus, thank you for surrounding us with your life-changing presence and dying for our sins. Holy Spirit, thank you for guiding us into all truth.  Please bless our time together and fill our hearts and conversation with your love. We commit this hour to you and ask that you change, heal, strengthen, and restore us as we study your Word. We ask this in the Holy Name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen. 

Pray Partners.  Invite the women to take a group prayer member's name and pray for her petitions and for more joy, hope, and love every day.