M I N I S T RY | P R O F I L E
Identity and Impact Girls Ministries helps girls discover who they are in Christ By GEORGE P. WOOD
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f you are interested in in uencing a nation of young girls, call us back. That message from the ssemblies of God national office grabbed im harp s attention. It began a series of conversations that led to her appointment as ational Girls Ministries director on March , . In that role, harp leads the ellowship s discipleship efforts among young girls. ational Girls Ministries was founded in 1 5 . Its stated goal is to see every girl moving toward a deep relationship with esus Christ, and to reali e her importance and potential in the kingdom of God. bout 15 of all G adherents in the . . nearly 5 , people are girls aged 1 and under. The main focus of Girls Ministries is M act Clubs, a weekly, church based discipleship pro gram for first through fifth grade girls. Girls Ministries also sponsors annual events and publishes topical resources.
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harp s team is revising and e panding Girls Ministries curriculum offerings. In addition, Girls Ministries is working closely with other national G ministries to provide girls consistent spiritual formation opportunities as they age. e should be a bridge between children, youth, and adult ministries to make sure we re not losing people in the gaps, harp says. The scope and responsibilities of Girls Ministries wasn t the reason harp accepted the invitation to lead, however. Instead, she says it was her concerns about the culture in which girls are growing up. s an e ample, harp notes the increase in youth identifying as LGBT. In a 1 Gallup poll of . . adults, 1 of Gen respondents (born 1 or later) identified as LGBT, up from 11 ust four years earlier. (By comparison, of the . . adult population as a whole identifies as LGBT. ) Many social analysts attribute this uptick to increasing acceptance of se ual minorities. It may
