Ministry Coordinator:  Stephanie Seehousz – (484) 881-2732

MOPS Instagram:  @mops.sharptown
Sharptown MOPS Group Page:  https://www.mops.org/groups/sharptownmops

Registration requested.

MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) exists for you. Being a mom is beautiful and hard and we get that sometimes you just need a safe space to breathe. A place to get some encouragement that what you are doing matters. We believe in the simple but revolutionary idea that remarkable things happen when moms come together. Whether you are a soon-to-be mom, first-time mom, or seventh-time mom, you are welcome here. Find us on Facebook @MOPS of Sharptown.

Meeting Times:  MOPS meets at Sharptown Church on alternate Tuesdays every month from September through June (see meeting dates below).  Meetings are from 9:30 – 11:00 a.m.  For childcare, please bring children to the nursery or classroom between 9:15-9:30 a.m.

Meeting Dates:

2021	2022
September 14	January 4
September 28	January 18
October 12	February 1
October 26	February 15
November 9	March 1
November 23	March 15
December 7	March 29
December 21	April 12
	April 26
	May 10
	May 24
	June 7

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

•  What is a MOPS meeting like?

A MOPS meeting includes food and fellowship, teaching time on issues relevant to moms and families today. i.e, motherhood, potty training, nutrition, financial planning, marriage, time management, small group discussion, a creative activity (some of the time) and quality childcare for your children.

•  What about the children? 

Your children will be cared for by a team of childcare workers.  Children ages birth-3 years are in two rooms (nursery area) and ages 4+ are in another.  Children ages 4+ are taught about God in a structured MOPPETS program.

•  Do I have to be a member of Sharptown Church to attend MOPS? 

NO, you do not have to attend Sharptown Church to attend MOPS…the only qualification is that you must be a mom of a preschooler (birth – kindergarten age) and please bring a friend!

•  How much does it cost? 

MOPS has you covered 365 days a year with exclusive mom content, a mom network and discounts. MOPS Mama is $32/year and includes:

✓ Access to all Digital Series by MOPS International
✓ Access to Mama Meetups – meaningful online communities for moms
✓ Quarterly print Magazine subscription
✓ Access to local, in-person MOPS groups
✓ Bi-monthly encouraging texts
✓ Monthly Virtual Prayer Gathering
✓ Tuition discount up to 30% at Colorado Christian University

A small donation ($3.00) is asked per meeting to cover expenses such as craft supplies for the moms and children, as well as snacks for the children.

If you have any more questions about MOPS at Sharptown Church, please contact our ministry coordinator.

Find out more information about MOPS International.

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Beginning September 14, 2021:

Welcome to the 2021-22 MOPS International Theme – All For Love

Theme Verse

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 (ESV)

After a year spent hunkering down, living smaller, and experiencing a little more fear and anxiety than usual, we are declaring this is the year of going big. It’s a year of fresh starts and turning ordinary experiences into extraordinary ones. Enthusiasm will replace worry. Friendship will replace loneliness. No longer will we wait to “get back to normal”; instead, we will start making space for the new things God has for us. We will become less guarded and more daring because this is our year to live All For Love.

Love is the most powerful force on the planet, and yet the concept almost seems cliché. We tell somebody we love them, and in the same breath we talk about how much we love a new podcast. Perhaps we’ve become so accustomed to the word that we’ve forgotten how revolutionary it is, how God’s love changes everything. It is life-altering, curse-lifting and, as shown in Christ’s resurrection, quite literally death-conquering.

This year we embrace the transformative power of love, to the point where it starts to affect everything we do — the way we talk to our kids, interact with strangers, handle disappointments, celebrate victories, make decisions. When love floods into our lives, it all shifts. It results in less doom-scrolling, more conversation. Less comparison, more community. Less fear, more confidence. More over-the-top displays of compassion. More patience. More life in our souls. This year, love will save us. In fact, it already has, because love’s name is Jesus.

Living All For Love means we will:

WALK IN POWER.
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. – 2 Timothy 1:7

The opposite of love is fear. Fear drives so many of our thoughts and decisions. It is a potent emotion that causes us to do and say things that are out of alignment with who we want to be. It causes us to act in anger. Fear can make us timid and preoccupied; it might control our thoughts and keep us up at night or hold us back from forming deep friendships because we are afraid of being vulnerable. Fear keeps us stuck, but perfect love casts out fear. Here is the truth: There is nothing that can stand between you and what God has planned for you. God has given you a spirit of power, love, and self-control, and it is time to walk in this power that comes from the Holy Spirit. Love gives us the courage to exchange the intimidation of fear for an extraordinary life, full of passion and confidence to solve any problem that comes our way.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
Love your neighbor as yourself. – Matthew 22:39

Author Brennan Manning brilliantly wrote, “The litmus test of our love for God is our love for our neighbor.” Love is sobering because it asks us to care for all people; even our enemies are made in the image of God and are worthy of dignity and respect. Loving our enemies is not an endorsement of what they do, it is an affirmation of who they are — God’s beloved. And mercy triumphs over judgment. This year we will practice loving people who annoy us, offend us, or overlook us. We’ll not take ourselves so seriously but instead go out of our way to do kind things for other people, especially if they don’t know it was us. Even when it takes some extra energy, we will celebrate each other’s victories and carry one another’s burdens. We will engage other people with open hearts and go to extremes to love well because we have a God who shows us how it’s done.

MAKE LOVE YOUR LEGACY.
Let all that you do be done in love. – 1 Corinthians 16:14

Your legacy is what people remember when you leave a place. Whether that place is your kid’s room at bedtime, your house each morning, or this earth. It’s the stories your great-great grandkids will hear about you. Here is why this is so important: Love is contagious not just from person-to-person but also from generation to generation. It might be maddening to think about “leaving a legacy” when the little ones around you demand every ounce of your energy, but sometimes it is essential to look a little farther out, decide how you want to be remembered and what matters most to you, and take small intentional steps to make it happen. It’s asking the question, “If I want love to be my legacy, how do I want to live today?” It doesn’t have to be anything big; in fact, it usually starts in small ways. Clean up your home in love. Prepare dinner in love. Do your work in love. Play with LEGOs in love. Doing everything in love becomes a little more challenging with the harder aspects of daily life: Move through a traffic jam in love. Strongly disagree with someone in love. Discipline your kids in love, resolve conflict in love, engage in social media in love. These small moments … This is where legacy is born.

This is the year of big things. Love is starting to fling open doors, and when love comes into the room, no one is safe.

Comfort zones crumble,
Relationships are born,
Fear is cast out,
Whimsy is restored,
Perspectives shift,
Ready or not, here it comes …