Looking for an activity for the next women’s time at your church or in your college ministry? Here is a great topic, activity, and craft that is perfect for a women’s event! No matter the crafting ability of each attendee, this activity will be empowering and turn out beautifully. We all believe lies, and we all need to shatter them.
Crafting brings women together and provides an opportunity to introduce Jesus to non-believers. My sophomore year of college we had a craft night with our Cru Bible study. One of the girls in the group asked her roommate if she wanted to come to a craft night. She was a non-believer, but loved to craft so she said, “Yes!” The look on her face was priceless when she realized that we would have a little devotion time before we crafted. I’m not saying we should hijack our non-believing friends into coming to craft night, but what a fun and inviting way to introduce them to the gospel. The story even has a great ending. The girl, now one of my good friends, continued coming to our Bible study. At the end of the semester, she made the decision to give her life to Jesus.
Jesus can bring anyone to him however he wants, even through crafting.
SHATTERING THE LIES WE BELIEVE CRAFT ACTIVITY
WHAT YOU NEED:
- Glass (We used left over glass from frames from a previous craft night two years ago. Always keep your leftover supplies!)
- Paint (Cheap craft paint works well, but acrylic is best.)
- Black sharpies
- Paint brushes
- Cups and water for brushes
- Hammers and nails
- Gloves
- 2 Gallon zip lock bags
- Glue
- Mod Podge
DIRECTIONS:
STEP 1: SET UP
- Set up the crafting space. We covered our table in brown paper bags just to make sure no paint got onto the table and then set out the paint, brushes, water, and canvases.
STEP 2: PAINT
- As the ladies start arriving, lead them to the crafting table. We had a small space to work with, so we had to paint in shifts. Give each lady a canvas and a piece of glass. Have them paint both as soon as they get there, so that they will be dry after the devotional time.
- I decided to keep the craft a surprise. The ladies knew we were talking about the lies we believe, but they did not know how this tied into the craft. I wanted it to remain a secret in order to make shattering the lies more powerful.
- Have the women paint the canvas one solid color and paint the glass as many colors as they want. I suggested 4-5. The girls were confused on how to paint the glass since the end result was still a surprise. To inspire them, I instructed them to pick colors that would stand out against the canvas but would still complement each other. Reassure them over and over that no matter what, the end result will look beautiful. Every single one, no matter how it was painted, looked great in the end. Some ladies painted patterns: stripes, spirals, and zig-zags. Some painted solid colors in a mosaic way. (When explaining, try to not use the word mosaic. I feared this would give away the craft.)
STEP 3: LET DRY AND BREAK FOR YOUR TALK
- After all the girls finished painting, we set the canvas and glass aside and had our talk about believing lies. If you need inspiration for what to talk about, check out my blog post series about believing lies: Shattering the Lies We Believe (Part 1): What Are Lies?, (Part 2): Where Do Lies Come From?, and (Part 3): How Can We Break Free?
STEP 4: BRING THE LIES TO LIGHT
- After my talk, I told the girls, “Tonight we are taking away satan’s power. We are going to shatter the lies because they have no power over us. We are going to write down all the lies we believe on the piece of glass you painted.”
- We passed out each girls’ piece of glass, sharpies, and then gave them time to write the lies they believed down. It is important that the whole sheet of glass be filled. To fill the glass, they can rewrite lies or write common lies that other women believe. In my talk, I gave some examples of lies we believe. I re-read the list to help the ladies find inspiration.
- Here are some of those examples of lies we believe: God is not enough, God should fix my problems, I have to perform to be loved and accepted, I need a boyfriend, It is okay to date a non-Christian, I can’t overcome my sin, I’m not valuable, God has forgotten about me, Sex outside of marriage is okay, My past can’t be forgiven, I’m not beautiful, and Getting married will solve all my problems.
STEP 5: SHATTER THE LIES
- Place each piece of glass in a 2 gallon zip lock bag. Zip it up and then place it in another 2 gallon zip lock bag. Give the ladies each one nail and hammer to shatter the lies they believe. We found that it works best if they hit the glass in 3 different places. If they still have some larger pieces, then they can hit those again to make them smaller.
STEP 6: REDEMPTION
- God takes our lie believing selves and redeems us. We get to do the same thing by using the broken pieces of glass to create a mosaic cross. The cross is strong enough to transform our lives and free us from believing lies.
- Make sure everyone is wearing gloves as they remove the glass pieces from the bag. Use strong clear tacky glue to ensure the pieces will stay on the canvas. Then use mod podge to cover the cross and canvas. Make sure the glue gets into the cracks. If you have never used mod podge before, it will dry clear.
THE FINAL PRODUCT!
At the end, each women will have a beautiful cross that will remind them that the cross is powerful enough to shatter the lies we believe.
Don’t forget to check out the posts in the 3 part series
- Shattering the Lies We Believe (Part 1): What Are Lies?
- Shattering the Lies We Believe (Part 2): Where Do Lies Come From?
- Shattering the Lies We Believe (Part 3): How Can We Break Free?
Kathryn Shirey
at (10 years ago)What a fun and meaningful craft! Definitely going to file this away as an idea for our women’s group.
joypedrow
at (10 years ago)Thanks Kathryn! If you have any questions, feel free to ask! Also send some photos of the end results!
Kristi
at (9 years ago)what a great idea! Can you tell me how long it took everything to dry so I will know how much time to allow for my meeting?
joypedrow
at (9 years ago)Thanks Kristi!
We had our girls paint the canvas and glass as soon as they arrived. That allowed for everything to dry during the talk which was about 30 minutes. After that they could glue on the glass pieces. The glass will need all night to dry, but the women can talk them home still wet. Take pictures of your finished projects! I would love to see them.
Fonda
at (9 years ago)LOVE this. What a powerful visual! Found you on Pinterest 🙂
joypedrow
at (9 years ago)Hi Fonda! Glad you found us on Pinterest. Welcome to the community!
Missy
at (9 years ago)What size glass and canvas?
joypedrow
at (9 years ago)Hi Missy, you can use any size you want. We used the glass from 8×11 but you can use any size. And the same goes for the canvas – it just depends on how large you want to make them =]
Valerie Lam
at (8 years ago)We did this yesterday and had a great time and heart felt devotionals and came out with some amazing arrive work. We decided to mix the leftover glass and next time create a bigger piece for our fellowship hall.
joypedrow
at (8 years ago)Valerie! Thank you for sharing that we me. So fun! Do you have any photos you can share? Tag Joy Skarka Ministries on Facebook or Instagram. We would love to see the art! Glad it went so well =]
Amy
at (8 years ago)Love the idea! Any other material that we could use other than glass?
joypedrow
at (8 years ago)Hi Amy, I have never tried with anything else, but you could use paper and rip the paper and then glue it to the canvas?
Glenda
at (8 years ago)Thank!!!! i did we our church , we had very good time. was amazing we love it.
joypedrow
at (8 years ago)I’m so glad!!! DO you have photos?? Post them on social media and tag me. I would love to see them!
Glenda
at (8 years ago)we put it in Facebook Casa de Oracion y Restauracion , we include the kids thank you again
ms. ferrell
at (7 years ago)Im looking for a one day Craft outing for our Women’s Win group in Detroit, can you please help me out. Craft no knitting.
Sherri Harding
at (7 years ago)We will likely be doing a project based on this at a women’s retreat in early May. My question is this, what kind of gloves will protect the hands but be nimble enough to pick up pieces of glass say the size of a dime?
joypedrow
at (7 years ago)Awesome! One of the girl’s dad is a dentist and gave us gloves. I’m not sure what kind they were, but they worked great! They were thin and no one got cut.
Sherri Harding
at (7 years ago)How can I send a picture of the finished project? Little mosiac crosses.
joypedrow
at (7 years ago)I would love to see them! Post a photo on Instagram or Twitter and tag me @joypedrow =]
Terri
at (7 years ago)I love this idea and decided to try it before our next women’s meeting. The mod podge wiped the permanent marker off the glass. I used a Sharpie. What did I do wrong?
joypedrow
at (7 years ago)Hi Terri, make sure to place the side with the writing on it upside down on top of the canvas. It’s okay if you can’t read the words.
Terri
at (7 years ago)Thanks for your response. We will be doing it Saturday and maybe we shouldn’t be able to read them anymore. The words would be backwards anyway.
joypedrow
at (7 years ago)Yep! That is part of it! Post some photos on Instagram or Twitter and Tag me! =] @joypedrow
Julie Pfeifer
at (6 years ago)This is wonderful! I’ve pinned this and plan to do it at our next retreat. Thank yoU!
joypedrow
at (6 years ago)Awesome! Tag me in photos on social media. I love to see the women’s art!
Jackzy
at (6 years ago)Hi, I’m wondering if we’re able to make this project in a much smaller scale.. for example a 4×6 and a 5×7 canvas ?
joypedrow
at (6 years ago)hmm I think you could! It may be hard to shape the cross out of the glass when it is that small.
Jackzy
at (6 years ago)Okay, Thank you for your response! We will be doing it this Saturday with our women’s group!