MOPS is religious based?

Mrs.Greg

I looked into MOPS for the first time and all of them are based out of churches.  When I clicked on "get in touch", it took me to a page to enter my name and fill in what I wanted to know about that specific church.  Um... I'm not looking for a new church.   I'm just looking for a group to get together with so Lydia and I (and maybe the babies) can make a new friend or two.

Elimomma1

I'm in a MOPS group. I wasn't looking for a new church either.

Our group meets at a church the 1s and 3rd Thursdays of the month, I am not a member of the church nor have I felt pressured into joining their church.

I was looking for a place where DS and I could go so he could have time to interact and play with other little kids, and so I could have some time with other moms.

 

Mrs.Greg

Elimomma1:

I'm in a MOPS group. I wasn't looking for a new church either.

Our group meets at a church the 1s and 3rd Thursdays of the month, I am not a member of the church nor have I felt pressured into joining their church.

I was looking for a place where DS and I could go so he could have time to interact and play with other little kids, and so I could have some time with other moms.

Oh.  Good to know.  I thought it was odd that they assumed I wanted to attend the church but maybe it's no big deal.

Elimomma1

We have had a wonderful experience and love going! Eli loves to go play with his little friends. My best friend has a 6mo old son and she has joined our MOPS group, she gets to keep her DS in the room with the moms and a few other moms do the same with their little ones that aren't quite ready for the nursery/play room. 

If you are interested in MOPS I would call that church and ask them for information on MOPS. If it is anything like our group hopefully you won't feel pressured to join that church. I love MOPS and think it is a wonderful thing for SAHMs or moms with little ones in general.

 Hope this helps  

AmyNicole622

It is religious based but the church is only the host place. I'm a member but was never asked to join the church.

Elimomma1

Mrs.Greg:

Elimomma1:

I'm in a MOPS group. I wasn't looking for a new church either.

Our group meets at a church the 1s and 3rd Thursdays of the month, I am not a member of the church nor have I felt pressured into joining their church.

I was looking for a place where DS and I could go so he could have time to interact and play with other little kids, and so I could have some time with other moms.

Oh.  Good to know.  I thought it was odd that they assumed I wanted to attend the church but maybe it's no big deal.

 

lol I was hesitant to go at first for the same reason. But I am so glad I did!  

penguingrrl

I think it varies by your area. I went once with my cousin (in MD) and the entire experience was very strongly religious. They had a speaker who went on for 45 minutes about the importance of god and strictly following the bible in everything you do, especially raising your children. And the moms there were all nodding along and loving what she had to say.

It was not my cup of tea, so I haven't sought out a MOPS group since because that scared me off.

Arnegard

After living in ND for about 9 mo, I joined Moms Club and MOPS because I was so desperate for people contact.

My MOPS group was from 9-11 and did include a prayer I think.  The kids would go into chiuldcare rooms (we had the option to keep babies under 1 with us).  Alex would open the door and leave her room (she was almost 3) and find me.  Yeah, so much for trying to have adult convo.   Uhh...  Well, then Tay turned 1 and I put her in the childcare, which was right next to our room.  I could hear her cry through the walls - and Alex would excape and find me...

So....  while I liked the group, it was a flop.  9 am was too early for me to get my girls somewhere too.  We didn't actually get up and moving early until Alex started preschool.

Elimomma1

From the sounds of it the area you are in may make a big difference in the experience. 

I'm in one in IL. We meet from 9-11am. We close out the session with a prayer but it isn't something that is pushed on you, if you would rather not participate I have seen some moms head to the nursery to get their kids instead. Our group was formed after a SMART moms group had dwindled down and a mom in our group wanted to bring her experience from an IA MOPS meeting to our side of the river.

Our last month of meeting (3 of them) looked like is:

close to 9am start off with a lil breakfast, catch up with other moms in your group, speaker (nutritionalist from Hyvee), break up into the smaller groups chitchat, prayer requests then prayer. By then its 11 and I'm heading to pick up my son.

playgroup. Now this isn't an always thing... But since there were so many Thursdays that month we had an opportunity to go to the church where our mops group is and use the play place there. Our kids got to play like crazy and the moms sat around the play place and talked while keeping an eye on the kids. 

Christmas potluck... It had to be postponed til jan because of a snow storm. Everyone brought a lil something to eat and then we got to sit and talk.  

Cherryblossoms07

penguingrrl:

I think it varies by your area. I went once with my cousin in MD and the entire experience was very strongly religious. They had a speaker who went on for 45 minutes about the importance of god and strictly following the bible in everything you do, especially raising your children. And the moms there were all nodding along and loving what she had to say.It was not my cup of tea, so I haven't sought out a MOPS group since because that scared me off.

I had a similar experience. I was told they it was not overly religious, but when I attended the speaker was talking about how we could be better mothers in God's eyes, it opened and closed with a prayer, and the entire discussion that day was religious based. I haven't been back to one since.

Mom2Mack1

My MOPS group does not force anything on you.  The videos we watch have a small religious focus, and we do say a prayer before breakfast but that is it.  Our discussions are not focused on religion.

I love it!  Try one meeting and see how it goes.

+ASH+

My group is funded through my church, but welcomes all women (we have a lot of churches represented). For instance, the woman who organizes every meeting is a member of my church (Baptist) and we meet at our church, but the individual group leaders are Methodist, Presbyterian, etc. I'm sure there are a few ladies who don't attend any church, and that's fine (not known for certain because I haven't met everyone yet).

We open and close with a prayer, but that's the only nod to religion. Everything else is eating a brunch, ice-breaker games, listening to a speaker (anything from health and fitness one week to scrapbooking the next), breaking up into individual groups with questions (parenting challenge of the week, etc.) and then picking one person from each group to share their worst parenting moment of the week - we vote on our favorite. Pray and end of group. It's every other week.  

AmyNicole622

penguingrrl:

I think it varies by your area. I went once with my cousin (in MD) and the entire experience was very strongly religious. They had a speaker who went on for 45 minutes about the importance of god and strictly following the bible in everything you do, especially raising your children. And the moms there were all nodding along and loving what she had to say.

It was not my cup of tea, so I haven't sought out a MOPS group since because that scared me off.

 Ours is similar to this and since I'm Jewish sometimes it's a little weird. But I have to understand living in a small, very conservative area that's how it will be. Not every meeting is religious based though. We have subjects on baking/cooking, organizing, crafts, and my favorite mommy panel. They have older/experienced moms come in and let us ask question on parenting and such. 

I have to point out my SIL lived in a big city and she said hers was VERY light on the religion side. It probably depends on your area and who runs it. I would try it out and see how things go. It was a great way for me to meet other moms in my area.  

Mrs.Greg

ExpectantSteelerFan:

From what I understand, some are more religious based than others.If you're just looking to meet other moms and kids, have you tried looking on meetup.com for a mom's group in your area?nbsp; I now help run mine, and I LOVE it!

Oh yeah, I've heard of Meet Up but haven't looked into it yet. I'll have to do that. Thanks for the reminder!