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How do you teach your children in your ministry about missions? It seems that with the current “drop-out” rate of youth in the church, it is now more important than ever to cultivate a love for the gospel with our children. I try to discuss a significant missionary every now and then when discussion allows, but must confess that right now I am not intentionally teaching about missions work.
I know that there are quality missions curriculums available. Truth be told, I have found that simply reading a biography of a missionary is best for me as I will have more information to disperse at various times than if I were to “go by the book.” What do you think? How have you, if you have at all, been intentionally teaching about missions? What works best for you? Who do you highlight?
Related posts:
- 10 Ways To Teach Children About Missions
- Missionary Stories For Kids
- How Do You Teach Kids To Be Saved?
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Great to read. I am glad to find such good recommendations.
Thanks everyone. May God bless all His work!
We have had an event we call Mission Adventure. I was concerned that we were not reaching the 4 and 5 year olds. So I had our creative person make a prop that looked like the inside of a plane. We put little chairs inside and set it up in the hall of our children’s area at church. We would simulate a plane ride. They would get out into a different country set up in that room. They would take the rest of the journey through the countries pretending to drive, fly, take trains or walk. Each room would have missionaries we supported there. They would decorate the room to look like things from that country. They would tell the children about how the kids in that country lived and what the missionaries were doing to reach them. Each room would have a different experiential activity for them to do. They smelled smells, tasted thing, did things. It was a huge success. At the beginning in the plane we would tell them about local outreach options before we took off. The flight attendant was our local outreach director. The first room the came into before they boarded the plane was made to look like a gate at the airport. They had passports with interesting facts and prayer needs from each country. As they went to each country they got stamps on their passports. It was alot of work but sooooo worth it.
I was wondering if anyone did missions education that not only told the stories of missionaries but actively involved children in local Missions. I think the stories and penny raisers are great but are short on teaching children the importance of being the church and going into the world and being missionaries. As a homeschooled child raised in traditional conservative Baptist church missionaries became almost fictional story book characters and when we would have a missionary come in they took over a service and took more time than they were given, had poor speaking skills and were uninteresting. I want my kids to be excited about what God is doing around the world locally and abroad.
With young kids, I put a large cloth world map on the floor. The kids and I march around the world singing (to the tune of the Farmer in the Dell).. Go round and round the world. Go round and round the world. Telling people about Jesus round and round the world… then I have one of the kids choose a country and we put that countries name in the song- telling people about Jesus in (name of country)…and then we pray for that country and missionaries there
With older kids I use the prayer cards from Joshua project and play games…(1) hand out a card to each kid and have them find someone with something in common on their card and pray as pairs, (2) use the cards for a bingo like game and everytime you get 3 in a row you pray for one of the peopl groups on your board, (3) divide cards into major religions and pray for one religion at a time, etc.
I teach an age range of K-5th grade and it is sometimes hard to teach about missions on a wide level but I have been reading a personal devotional book called Extreme Devotion and it talks about people all over the world who were martyered for Chirst. It is amazing and I have decided to use some of these stories to reach the kids and make them think of how they can reach out to others. We are working on several outreach projects such as writing letters to service men and women, nursing home cards, and sending donations to missions every month. I have a real passion for outreach and I want to inspire these young people to do the same. The book I was talking about is from the Voice of the Martyrs. It has really made me stop and think, and to be thankful for what I am able to do.
Amazing I read the same book in March and it opened my eyes to alot of things and has set my heart on missions. I want to learn how to actively involve my kids right now, right here in our community. Thanks for the wonderful tips and how do I find out where to send letters for service men and women. I’m really new at this but I totally trust God.
Don’t forget the Johnstone’s books for children! There are 2 volumes. They have a story about children from all over the world – unreached mainly – and have specific prayer points you can then pray over for children in that country. I found one on Amazon in the used section: http://www.amazon.com/You-Can-Change-World-Learning/dp/0310205654
all these ideas are great! I am so excited!
We have done a few of the Torchlighter series movies on missionaries in our beginning of a missions emphasis. The kids really enjoy them but they can get a little scary for kids. The kids really loved the one about Eric Liddell. We are going to invite a few current missionaries in this summer and also put pictures up of current in the field and past missionaries that are well known. We are also going to do the Rice Bowls campaign which you can learn more about at ricebowls.com, I believe.
I homeschool and use Sonlight Curriculum which includes lots of wonderful missionary biographies. My kids have loved all the biographies written by Geoff and Janet Benge as well as the Rani series by Ron Snell.
In our church I run a children’s reading program in conjunction with the church library directly before our annual mission conference. I pick a theme each year: one year we did Time Travel and they had to read stories about missionaries from the time of the apostles through the centuries to the 21st century. They get prizes for their achievements and this helps keep them motivated and reading.
Something I have done with 2 to 5 year olds is purchase very cheap knapsacks. Each child is given one and together as a group we pack the knapsack with things that missionaries need, such as: water bottles, small tubes of toothpaste, fishy crackers, clothing, dishes (Dollar store) and of course, a Bible. I purchased a small Bible for under $2.00 from our local Christian bookstore.
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