Ways to get your children involved in Missions

Hey there!

We are planning for a new segment to connect with our children and engage them in missions. We hope that our parents and teachers will find the materials useful. If you have other helpful resources to share, please let us know.

Are you trying to get your children involved in missions? Here are some ways to help you get started.

(A) Pray

When your children say their prayers, encourage them to pray for people who do not know Jesus. To help them get started, they can use these simple prayers to pray for the world in the next five days:

Day 1: Dear God, please help all the people that don’t know You, learn that they are made by You and created to love You. Help me show my friends that they are made by You and that You love them. Amen.

Day 2: Dear God, thank You for always being for me. That means You always do what’s best for me, even when life is sad. Please be with all the people who have never heard about You. Help them hear how You are for them! Amen.

Day 3: Dear God, thank You for always being with me. Please be with people in the world who don’t know You. Please help them know that You are with them always! Amen.

Day 4: Dear God, thank You that Your plan was always for Jesus to rise again so You could draw everyone to Yourself. Please be with all the people in the world that don’t know about Jesus. Please help them hear about You! Please help me tell my friends about You too. Amen.

Day 5: Dear God, thank You for making me with a purpose a mind. Help me use my talents and gifts to praise You and let other people know about You. Amen.

(B) Teach

You can teach your children that there are many people who have not heard the Gospel. Jesus wants His followers to tell other people about Him.

You can tell the stories of missionaries in the New Testament, like Philip (Acts 8), Paul (Acts 13), and Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18).

You can also share about how Jesus cared for people in physical need as well, by healing them, providing food and commanding His followers to take care of the poor.

(C) Suggest

Let your children suggest ideas to help missionaries or to help the people whom missionaries serve. And, as much as possible, respond positively to their thoughts. Some possible ideas are:

- Raising funds by selling handicraft or snacks, and donating the money.

- Giving a toy to a new friend who has just moved to the neighbourhood.

- Writing letters to a missionary kid, and let him/her know that we are praying for him/her.

(D) Do

Make missions tangible by putting faces to names. Here are some ways you can make it tangible for your children and give them the opportunity to participate in missions:

- Pray for missionaries and their families by name.

- Sponsor a child as a family or class.

- Write letters to a missionary family.

- Make a care package for a missionary kid.

- Save money to donate to missions.

- Volunteer at a local food pantry, or visit a local nursing home.

When faced with the reality that there are people in need in the world, it is comforting toknow there is something we can do about it, no matter our age. Teaching our children about the needs of the world, and their ability to help, helps them grow up with an awareness of God’s command to share the Gospel and serve those in need.

(Source: https://team.org/blog/kids-involved-in-missions)