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[kristen]

I just wanted to share with you all our newest project for the coming year. Each September we start our secret sisters theme over again. This year we are doing something a little different. It will be called "Secret Sisters of Encouragement". Kind of the same idea as before but this time we are not obligated to buy little gifts all the time. We will have a secret prayer partner and if there are any special requests we will post them on a special bulliten board in the ladies bathroom. Kind of a private prayer board. It will be placed out of reach of little hands , of course. If we have a special need we will put our own name on the outside of the request and then our secret sister will take it and pray for that. Of course there will still be little notes of encouragement and birthday cards and such. We made the change because so many could not afford all the gift buying and it was not easy for them. We will still pass out a form thay asks for Names and Anniversary and B-Days and favorite colors and desserts and flowers etc just so if you can and want to you can remember these days with a little something.
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I enjoy this sight so much. I look at it daily

[Guest]

what a neat idea!!!
That sounds like the answer to those little gifts that so many can't afford being the reason so many stay away from the secret sister thing altogether.
The name is encouraging, the bulletin board in the bathroom is neat, I just think the whole thing sounds great!
We have not yet begun a program such as sec.sis. in our church and I have been thinking alot about it, maybe this is the way to go with it.
Thanks for sharing with us.

[Prov31wannabe]

That's a wonderful alternative to the gift-buying.
And it focuses on the purpose behind Secret Sisters beautifully....prayer and encouragement.

I absolutely love the idea behind Secret Sisters--but have seen it go downhill quickly.
The last Sec. Sis. program (with all the gift buying, etc.) I participated in saw ladies standing over the gift table examining and commenting over the gifts---and some of the comments were truly ugly.
It was sad.
That was 3 years ago and they haven't had any type of Secr. Sis. program since.....
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Colossians 1:27 ...."Christ in you, the hope of glory."

[creativ4]

We just starting attending a church where they do have Secret Sisters, but I too have seen it go down hill and heard the same type of comments as Prov31wannabe was talking about, or sometimes those ladies that aren't there at the beginning of the Secret Sister year are left out completely. And face it, we've all got different budgets so gift giving does become an issue no matter how many times someone says, "well, it's all what you can afford!" Not my favorite line. I personally like Prayer Sisters or the Encouragement Sisters best. I know a lot of churches are beginning to limit it to prayers, cards, flowers, and food or homemade goodies, and no purchased gifts, which I think is a good thing.

Kristen, I love the bathroom bulletin board idea! That's great
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Creative Ladies Ministry
https://www.creativeladiesministry.com
A place to uplift and encourage you---sprinkled with fun!

[vanilla]

I just absolutly love this idea! I can't wait to share it with our ladies.
On our last message board I shared with you what happened at the last
church I was at that did the Secret Sister thing. But for those of you that missed it,
The woman I was to get gifts for was always complaining about what she got. I went out of my way to make her think everything was coming from a particular person, so she felt pretty safe coming to me and complaining about her gifts. "I don't like the color" "why would she get me that" etc.etc. This went on the whole year. Imagine her surprise and embarrassment when the day came to reveal who we were and she found out I was the one who gave her those things that she had complained to me about the whole year. The good thing that came out of it is that I think she learned a good lesson!
These are just the kinds of things that could be avoided by doing it the way it is stated here, prayer sisters, sisters of encouragement, I really, really like this idea!
~Vanilla~