Frequently Asked Questions

Mom to Mom is a Biblically based, seeker-friendly parenting program designed to offer a potential bridge into the church. It is organized around the "Titus 2" concept of older women teaching and encouraging younger women in their relationships with their husbands and children. The three-year curriculum was written by Linda Anderson, a well-known speaker and teacher here in New England.

Curriculum: Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) meetings consist of local guest speakers teaching on a variety of topics, with an emphasis on crafts at every other meeting. Mom to Mom (MTM) offers a three-year core curriculum that is intentional, Biblically-based, and seeker-friendly, supplemented occasionally by local guest teachers.

Audience: MOPS is for mothers of preschoolers only; moms graduate when their youngest child goes to first grade. MTM is for all moms regardless of their children’s ages.

Leaders: MOPS small groups are led by young moms, with some input (depending on the group) from MOPS mentors (older, more experienced moms). Many groups have one mentor for the entire chapter; others have a mentor present in each individual small group. MTM small groups are led by Titus 2 women (older, more experienced "mentor" moms) who both facilitate the discussion and shepherd the young moms. There is a Titus 2 leader for each small group.

Frequency of meetings: MOPS chapters usually meet twice a month. MTM usually meets weekly. (In our experience, the frequency of meetings makes a big difference in the effectiveness and depth of relationship-building and bonding in groups.)

Costs: MOPS International charges each chapter an annual charter fee plus $19.95 per year per mom who registers. MTM Ministries charges each chapter for materials only. (Individual MOPS and MTM chapters may pass on, as they deem necessary, both these charges and childcare costs.)

We usually work within a two-hour time frame. Our teaching leader lectures to the entire group for 40 to 45 minutes. We have a brief coffee and snack time of 15 minutes. Everyone spends the remaining hour in their small groups discussing the topic of the lecture. The Titus 2 leaders (who lead these small groups) meet for a time of prayer before the moms arrive and then meet again after the moms leave for a short "debriefing" time.

Each mom is assigned to a small discussion group for the year. A Titus 2 leader facilitates each group, which we try to keep to a maximum number of 11 moms. It is in the ongoing participation in these small groups where we see the strong bonds of friendships and support relationships forged among the moms. The Titus 2 leaders commit to being in touch with their women between Mom to Mom meetings, which helps to develop the strong sense of community within each small group as well as among the groups at large.

This depends on the needs of your group. Most groups meet weekly, following the school calendar. Some groups choose to meet semimonthly or monthly.

The curriculum and supporting leader guides are the only expense. Most Mom to Mom programs collect some kind of dues from the member moms to defray their own program expenses, but we don't ask you to send us any dues or fees for running a Mom to Mom program.

There are three components to the curriculum:

1. a "text" book, which includes the text of the lectures, a study guide, and an extensive bibliography
2. a video series, in which Linda Anderson gives an energetic and engaging presentation of the lessons
3. a member's notebook, which includes lesson outlines, discussion questions, the "Reflections" cards with the best nuggets from each lesson, plus a "Read and Grow" assignment from scripture and a practical assignment for each week

Our materials are written from a strong Biblical basis, accepting the Bible as God's Word to us; they do not assume Biblical knowledge on the part of the learner but rather use Biblical truth as a foundation for very practical teaching on parenting. Linda Anderson's perspective as author is that of an evangelical Protestant Christian, but the moms who attend come from a wide range of Protestant and Catholic traditions. Thus the material has been designed to be useful for moms from many different traditions. Whether or not it would be usable for someone who is Jewish would depend on the individual; the material is rooted in Christian belief, but practical applications could surely be transferable to a degree.

There are two guides that will help you begin:

1. the Teaching Leader's Guide, which walks you through the steps of starting your program as well as providing you with an extensive annotated bibliography, and
2. a Titus 2 Leader's Guide, which presents practical suggestions for starting and facilitating the small groups.

If you have some older moms who want to join you in this effort, we would encourage you to set up your program based on the structure we use. If there is no one who wants to be the teaching leader, you can use the video series for your lesson presentation. If you do have someone who wants to be the teaching leader, she will probably want to use the text book as the basis of her lessons. Whichever way you choose to present the lesson, you will want each of your members to have her own notebook. You will also benefit from having a copy of the Titus 2 Leader's Guide for each of your "older" moms and one copy of the Teaching Leader's Guide.

If you don't have the luxury of some "older" moms and you are a group of moms at about the same stage in your parenting, you will still benefit from using these materials. You will find it easiest to use the video series in conjunction with the Member's Notebook. You may have a group of moms who would prefer to use the text book as the basis of the study. In that case, each member should have a copy of the text book, and you can base the group discussions around the questions in the study guide at the end of the book. The Member's Notebook would then be an optional component — nice to have but not absolutely necessary!

We recommend a leadership team made up of a Teaching Leader, the Titus 2 leaders (the number of these is dependent on the number of moms in your group), the Coordinator(s), the Registrar, and the Childcare Coordinators. We have found that the most important contribution of all these leaders is to commit to praying for the Mom to Mom program!

We look for workers almost everywhere: the senior citizens in the congregation, au pairs whose "charges" are in school, college students who don't have morning classes the day of Mom to Mom, former Mom to Mom members, grandmothers of children in the program, retired teachers, school bus drivers, elementary school aides who don't work on Mom to Mom days, high school students who are being home-schooled, our custodians' wives, moms with school-aged kids who are looking for "mother's hours" in a job, etc. Just look everywhere!

We have found that often the childcare workers want to bring their friends with them, and in every case thus far, the worker has brought someone who truly fits into the job. During the past nine years, we have had a few men (retirement age) and some students, but the majority of the workers are women who like working with children and who recognize the great value of the program. Not all of the workers belong to our church, but we are careful to have at least one of our church members in each classroom. We do pay the workers. We do have a training session that we require each worker to attend; they are reimbursed for this time. We ask them to be with us for two and one half hours a morning: 15 minutes for set-up, two hours of Mom to Mom sessions, and 15 minutes for clean-up.

Most of our childcare resources come from the moms, and from contributions made by church members who recognize the worth of the program and want to see it thrive. This latter group has been instrumental in the success of the program — through their financial contributions, yes, but even more so through their prayer support. It took us a while to realize that their prayer support was the more important. Even though a person couldn't actually be with us on our meeting day, he or she could be a vital member of our group either through financial support or prayer support or both! We would encourage you to explore every avenue you can imagine to offer opportunities to others to join you in this ministry.

We have recieved wonderful feedback over the years. The two comments about Mom to Mom we hear over and over from our moms are "It has strengthened my walk with the Lord," and "It provides a wonderful opportunity for me to bring my non-churched friends to church." If you would like to read some of the other comments we have gotten, or give some of your own, please stop by our guestbook. And may God bless you as you work for His kingdom!