FAQ

Check out the Online Resources within each curriculum for great song ideas for worship during club or for GEMS Sunday.

Member Clubs have full access to GEMS Sunday resources. Contact hello@gemsgc.org to confirm your membership status and receive access.

• Visit GEMS ReFresh for help on recruiting counselors, including Cindy Bultema’s session Help! We Need More Volunteers! and Kim Hofstra’s 6 R’s of Recruitment.
• You can be creative when it comes to thanking your GEMS leaders! Check out the Large Group Resource Book for ideas. Club Coordinators (CC), visit our Club Coordinator Facebook Group, where CC’s regularly share their creative ideas.

Check out GEMS curriculum for great ideas for a GEMS Christmas party.

Check out the Large Group Resource Book! Lesson One includes many great ideas for season kickoff. Use elements from the Monthly Fun Nights or the Family Celebration for a great closing night program.

• We understand that not all churches or Christian organizations will always be able to afford GEMS curriculum. In response, GEMS offers the Support-a-Club Scholarship through the Sisterhood Fund.
  • Clubs may apply for the GEMS Support-A-Club Scholarship to assist with a portion of a club’s expenses for one year. This may include reduced curriculum costs and/or assistance in meeting annual dues and offering obligations.
• Club Coordinators can request assistance by calling the Global Office or fill out Support-A-Club form and email it to hello@gemsgc.org.
• If you are interested in supporting the Sisterhood Fund, please contact the Global Office.

Check out the great end of year fun nights included in the Annual Theme Resource Book. The evening includes a devotional, and ideas for each age group to show what they’ve learned throughout the year.

A volunteer previously made GEMS banners for clubs who requested it each year. After years of service, she has retired from making banners. Clubs are free to make their own banner. Or check out our Theme materials for a poster.

There are many options to display your badges! Within the GEMS Store, we sell scrapbooks, blue scarves, and white scarves. Some clubs choose to display badges on tote bags or find their own creative way to display badges.

The parent letter is included in the Online Resources. Activities are included in the Large Group Resource Book, including service projects and fun nights. Pictures of the crafts are available on the GEMS Pinterest board.

The Theme Song is available within the Online Resources or within a Curriculum Starter Kit. 

The Large Group Bible Lessons are found in the Large Group Resource Book for each lesson. The Small Group Leader’s Guide contains everything a leader needs to facilitate a meaningful small group time, including a welcome activity, Bible memory work, discussion questions, leaders’ helps for the GEMS Journals (girls’ lessons), craft instructions, and prayer guides. Girls’ Lessons are the GEMS Journals. Engaging and interactive age-appropriate girls’ lessons including discussion questions, quizzes, Bible memory games, activities, and a poster.

The GEMS logo is available for download in our Resources section here. The Theme logo is available within the Online Resources for each curriculum.

GEMS has many promotional materials available! You may find promotional materials in our store here. Items available include community fliers, brochures, and a promotional poster. You may also direct parents and the community to the Why GEMS page on our website.

Your offering is due to the Global Office by December 31 of each year. The offering form is mailed to Club Coordinators each August. If you do not have your offering form, click here to download one or call us at 616.616.4367  or email hello@gemsgc.org.

Dues are $4 per girl annually, due to the Global Office by November 15 each year. The dues form is available to Club Coordinators in the August mailing each year or on our Club Coordinator page. If you do not have the dues form, check out the Club Coordinator page or call us at 616.616.4367  or email hello@gemsgc.org.

The GEMS Global Office sends a form to Club Coordinators each summer that must be completed and returned by the end of September. If you have lost your form or need to make additional changes, please call us at 616.616.4367 or email hello@gemsgc.org.

First, thank you! Your prayers for the ministry matter! To join the team and receive monthly prayer letters, please complete the form here.

The annual dues is $4.00 per girl. Each year it is due by November 15th.

GEMS Clubs come in many sizes! You may start with as few as two to three girls or you may have a couple hundred! You’ll want to have one small group leader for every 6-8 girls.

Most clubs meet in the sponsoring church or Christian organization and utilize classroom space as well as larger meeting spaces. Some clubs also use community centers and shared spaces through home school associations.

Clubs must have a sponsoring church or Christian organization. The meeting location may be worked out with your church or organization. Most clubs meet in the church or organization’s meeting areas.

Your church or Christian organization is responsible for providing insurance protection for your club as well as providing proper background checks for your leaders. You may order our booklet Protecting the Children…Protecting our Volunteers for safety guidelines and instruction.

GEMS Clubs are developed for girls in first through eighth grades. A leadership-training curriculum for high school-aged girls is also available. While materials are produced for each of these levels, you are free to determine the specific age-range your club will offer.

Most clubs meet for two hours every week or every other week from August/September through April or May.

Please view this message, Four Essential Pieces To Structuring Your Club Meeting. Available on our GEMS ReFresh website.

Club Coordinators are responsible for organizing the club. Leaders (historically called Counselors) lead small groups of girls and may help with other areas of the club including crafts, devotionals, or worship. GEMS leaders are women of faith who desire to live radically faithful lives for Christ—acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with Him. They are women who understand the call outlined in Titus 2 and desire to build relationships with girls in order to mentor them and show them what it means to live God-honoring lives.

• Each program level (Grades 1-3, Grades 4-6, and for Grades 7-8) has age-appropriate curriculum choices. Once you determine the age-range your specific club will offer, you can investigate the options that would work best for you.
• If you’re NEW to GEMS, use the LOVED. curriculum before any other! And if your club hasn’t utilized the LOVED. study yet, do so next. In this study, girls discover God’s unfailing love and their Truth-filled identity in Christ. The curriculum includes 16 Bible teachings, seven monthly Fun Nights, and eight LOVED. Challenges. The materials are age-appropriate for Grades 1-3, 4-6, and 7-8.

Parents love GEMS! They appreciate that their daughters have a safe, nurturing environment in which to learn, grow, and discuss the tough issues they face every day. They see the benefits of the relationships their daughters form with their Savior and with the women and girls at club. Parents also love the big group and family events offered through GEMS and the opportunities they provide to have important faith-related conversations with their kids.

Yes, we recommend the following boys’ programs:

• Cadets provides churches with ministry programs that will enable them to effectively share Christ’s love with boys in their church and community.
• C.I.A. (Christ In Action) Boys Club seeks to help boys connect deeper with God, learn and understand the Gospel and grow into men who live out their lives in passionate response to the Good News.
• Christian Service Brigade equips men of the church to take an active role in leading, mentoring, and developing boys and young men.

• Uphold and seek to accomplish the mission of this ministry—to help bring girls into a living, dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ.
• Embrace and hold as truth our Statement of Faith.
• Provide for regular and consistent Bible study in club by utilizing the materials produced by GEMS Girls’ Clubs.
• Provide Christ-inspired and Christ-directed leadership to the girls in club through the prayerful selection, supervision, and support of mentors (counselors).
• Ensure that the club meets regularly throughout a designated season.
• Support the GEMS ministry through regular and consistent prayer.
• Support GEMS financially by ensuring annual club dues ($4.00 per girl) are sent to the GEMS Global Office.
• Support the ministry of GEMS financially by collecting and forwarding to the GEMS Global Office one annual offering.

• Provide Christ-inspired and Christ-directed leadership to the overall ministry.
• Develop effective, inspiring program materials for girls and their mentors (counselors) that are biblically-based and culturally-relevant.
• Organize, plan, and provide multiple training opportunities for mentors (counselors) each year so they can be prepared and fully equipped to lead.
• Regularly pray for the girls and counselors in GEMS Clubs everywhere.

All materials that are back ordered will ship as soon as they are in stock, but please note that special order shirts are subject to availability and may take 4 to 6 weeks before shipping.

Contact the Global Office with any questions. Call 616.616.4367 or email hello@gemsgc.org

As a non-profit ministry, we are unable to offer free pickups. All of your purchases are with a purpose and help girls everywhere know of God’s love.

Pickup cost is 2% of the merchandise subtotal with a minimum charge of $3.50. Please allow 24 hours for us to prepare your order.

Pickup for US Clubs at our Grand Rapids Service Center. Hours Monday to Friday 8 – 4:30 pm.

Pick up for Canadian Clubs at our Canadian Supply Center. Hours Monday to Friday 8 – 5 pm. Please contact gems@dejong.com or call 519.424.9007 to arrange to pick up.

As a non-profit ministry, we are unable to offer free shipping. All of your purchases are with a purpose and help girls everywhere know of God’s love.

The shipping cost is 10% of the merchandise subtotal with a minimum charge of $5 USD and $5.50 CAD.

For rush shipments, please email hello@gemsgc.org after you place your order and include your order number when requesting a rush shipment. To help us ensure the order is delivered on time, please include the date you need your order by. There will be an additional $25 to $30 Premium Rush Fee added to the shipping cost of your order. This allows your order to be placed at Premium Priority above others, and for our shipping department to select an option of shipping that will most likely get your order to you within 2 business days.

A merchandise credit will be issued for goods returned in saleable condition within 45 days of the shipping date. For special order items returned, a $5.00 US, $8.00 CAD re-stocking fee will be charged.

Curriculum items are not returnable.