A program for pregnant and breastfeeding mothers will be held this Saturday, Aug. 8, at the Forest Park Mall on Roosevelt Road. The event’s theme is Breastfeeding Mothers Raising Children with Generational IMPACT, and the host is Minister Angelique and Precious Jewels Moms Ministries. The program is scheduled to run from 11:30 a.m. till 4:30 p.m.
Participants will receive the same kind of information about breastfeeding that is presented at La Leche League events. Minister Angelique has a Master of Science degree in nursing, is a board-certified lactation consultant and has been working with breastfeeding mothers for 20 years.
“The event will include food, fun and fellowship,” she said, adding, “What makes us unique is that we show the moms the Word of God in everything we do.” For example, early on in the program is a segment called “Sister Got a Word for YOU” in which she will share a Scripture passage with the audience.
“It’s short,” she said, “and won’t be a sermon.”
A demonstration called “Make up for Mommy” will show how looking good can be tied to God’s word. There will be a demonstration on how to use cosmetics, but “what many women are doing with makeup is painting themselves externally. God wants us to look nice, but having him inside is what attracts people to us.”
The minister said she has had a passion for teaching breastfeeding and supporting nursing mothers for a long time. When she was seven months pregnant, she went to a La Leche League session and breastfed her two now-adult sons. She led her first mom’s group in 1994.
What changed her career into a ministry was getting involved with Living Word Christian Center in 2008. Seeing that the church, located in the Forest Park mall, had a designated room for nursing mothers got her attention. It was the first church she had ever attended that had a special place just for moms who are breastfeeding.
Inspired by Pastor Winston and Living Word, she started a ministry called Precious Jewels Moms Ministries. When a mother enters a Precious Jewels meeting, she hears Christian music playing and Minister Angelique shares a Scripture passage.
“Sometimes moms are struggling within themselves,” she said. “They don’t know who they are. I share a verse with them, like Psalm 139:14 — ‘You are fearfully and wonderfully made’ — and then make them repeat it. When we introduce ourselves, we say ‘I am precious [the mom’s name] and this is my baby, my jewel [the baby’s name].
The mission statement of the Precious Jewels Moms Ministry is “To globally equip, empower, and exhort women through teaching, preaching, and training on biblical principles to become Christ embodied wives and mothers (Titus 2:4-5).
Minister Angelique said the latest research shows that African American women breastfeed their babies as much as women in other racial groups. A more significant factor, she said, is a woman’s socio-economic status.
Saturday’s event is the second year in a row that Minister Angelique has hosted the program, and she hopes to make it an annual event. Right now, she said, “it’s definitely a mommy thing.” She explained that there is a Bible verse that says “iron sharpens iron,” meaning that having just women together who are on the same journey of mothering is a powerful thing. She hopes eventually to have a parallel session going on at the same time in which “another minister talks to men about fatherhood.”
Registration is limited. Send an email to info@preciousjewelsmomsministries.org. Entrance to the event, which is sponsored by Health Restoration, is through the Royal Christian Book Store, located at 7610 Roosevelt Road in the Forest Park mall.
