A Place of Safety and Belonging

Amy Cate Smith returned home from her freshman year at Auburn 10 years ago and started a small group with 20 girls and their moms.

She surrounded herself with girls she used to babysit – and friends of theirs, providing them a place where they felt safe to be who they were without judgment, a common place for them to gather. A place where social media couldn’t label them based on their appearance, clothes, or even where they attended school and church.

The focus of Girl Talk Ministries for the rising sixth-grade through high school senior girls is simple: having a relationship with Jesus.

The ministry aims to teach girls that He is the only place they will find satisfaction. It is about being in a place outside of school with other girls who want Jesus as they do—a place where they are all sisters of Christ.

The sisters, and Girl Talk Ministries, have grown from 20 to hundreds worldwide, including summer Bible Study groups, The Girl Talk Podcast, and Girl Talk Live on their YouTube channel.

“It’s Jesus,” Smith answered when asked about the growth. “Girl Talk is just a safe place for them to be. We try bringing them in to have fun and to point them to Jesus. They can just come and be themselves.”

Girl Talk’s mission is to equip moms and girls in Christ-centered communities through a relationship with Jesus and a relationship with each other, aligning lives with Biblical truth and their identity in Him. The ministry launches, disciples, and grows Christ-centered communities of girls and moms in cities worldwide – including in Honduras and Mozambique – while staying connected to the ministry as a whole.

When we truly know Jesus, we know who we are and who we were created to be. With this relationship, we can grow in relationships with each other as we seek to know Jesus and love others the way He did.

The ministry tripled in size its first summer, and as it continued growing, Lindsey Reed Curl heard about Amy and the Bible study she was leading and couldn’t wait for her daughter, Emi, to be old enough to join. So it wasn’t long after that Amy and Lindsey connected – both their hearts and their dreams – to reach moms and girls in a way to empower them to live their best lives walking and talking with Jesus every day.

“The Lord … so naturally and perfectly put Lindsey right in the spot He really had always had for her from the beginning of Girl Talk,” Smith said. “I wouldn’t be where I am in Girl Talk, or my personal life and walk with Jesus, if it weren’t for her, and that is because of the years – almost 20 years to be exact – she spent in her prayer closest with Jesus.

“Her prayers before and after He brought us together is what catapulted Girl Talk into all God has had for us to grow and disciple girls and moms at the highest level of intimacy and power with Holy Spirit. There is nothing about Girl Talk now that is not everything to do with Jesus in me, Lindsey, and her four girls. Girl Talk is spearheaded by the six of us for every single girl and mom out there who knows there is more to life than just getting by. We were not created to survive, we were created to thrive in all God designed us for, and I will live the rest of my life declaring that and making sure every girl and mom knows it.”

Believers are called to grow the kingdom and love everyone like Jesus did and live according to His word, Curl said.

Girl Talk “creates the common ground for the girls to come together where there are no labels. Girls Talk is important because it teaches the truth of the gospel and a biblical identity and biblical worldview,” Curl said. “What I like to bring to Girl Talk is the how-to: what does it look like to be a follower of Jesus, when the culture and the world tell you what else is important.”

This is especially important as the two women watch girls walk through the ministry, who face a self-focused world in which social media influences decisions. That influence, Smith said, has only increased since Girl Talk Ministries began.

“We’re trying to equip the girls and moms how to use what God has given us with his Holy Spirit and scripture to live the abundant life Jesus has given us,” Curl said.

Currently, the ministry is developing a three-year curriculum focused on aspects of the heart: worship, identity, prayer, relationships, joy, fear, serving, spiritual warfare, and purpose.

“We all struggle with (these) major heart issues,” Curl said. “Girls can jump into this study at any time. Ideally, once we are finished developing this, a girl would start the summer before her sixth-grade year, and the curriculum would last for three semesters over three years. This is not a fast process.”

There are girls in 21 cities across Alabama who participate in Girl Talk Ministries, and girls have graduated and are walking out their faith at colleges, including Mississippi State, Alabama, Ole Miss, Samford, Mississippi College, Auburn, and Troy.

Smith is a former girls’ minister at First Baptist Church. She left her position there in 2019 to oversee Girl Talk full-time. Ten years ago, she had no idea how Girl Talk would spread – in Bible study numbers and beyond.

“We’ve had several girls start Bible studies at their schools,” Smith said. “While they’re in Girl Talk in middle school and high school, they are starting it at their schools. In college, we’re seeing a temptation with alcohol and in their relationships with guys, and they are finding the same group of friends at college from Girl Talk and staying out of temptation. It has been good to see what they’ve been able to stand against because of Girl Talk.”

What’s Next:
They are planning an anniversary dinner as Girl Talk Ministries
approaches its 10th anniversary. Details can soon be found on
the GTM website (https://www.girltalkministries.info) and their
Instagram page @girltalkministries_

Get in touch:
Email: info.girltalkministries@gmail.com
Facebook: Girl Talk Ministries

Kym Klass is a contributing writer and Communications Director of the Media Ministry at Frazer Church in Montgomery.