Inspire your Kids (& Kid's Church) for Missions

[Ann Dunagan]

 

When we're truly mission-minded it won't be just a "side" issue of our family life and parenting and ministry. As we grow in our heart for missions, God's Great Commission will become a foundational ROCK of who we are and how we teach and train our kids.

 

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Dear Missional Outreach Network Friends,

 

James Nored asked me to share a few ideas about how we can develop a heart for missions in our children and our church's children's ministries.

 

James said, "I was wondering if you could write something for us on the topic of children being used for and participating in mission. It seems that we have not realized the impact that children can have in sharing Christ with others. I am also trying to show that things like children's ministry can be directly used for mission. Could you share some on this? I would appreciate it. Thanks!"

 

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Here's my answer:

 

If you have a heart for kids, if you have kids, or if you work with kids . . . AND if you have a heart for missions, these two passions will totally fit together.

 

Our family should "see" us modeling this mindset. It's not only what you say; it's what you do. Our kids and teenagers should notice how we prioritize our money-spending and what we're dreaming about (is it only "stuff" or are we praying and dreaming about "souls"?). They should "see" how we reach out and share the gospel of Jesus (not just in official "evangelism" events, but at times when we're in a check-out line at the grocery store or in a conversation with another parent by a soccer field). They should "see" us honoring visiting missionaries. And they should "see" that we truly about what's going on the world.

 

Here's a few starter ideas to incorporate a heart for missions with your kids (or kids ministry):

 

1. GET THE BIG VISION ON YOUR WALLS!!!

As we get God's heart for missions into OUR HEART and into our SOUL (into our mind, will and emotions), we'll keep this heart before us and before out kids. Put up a map. Put pictures of missionaries, and current mission newsletters on your fridge (or kid's church bulletin board). Add some missionary biographies or mission books to your coffee table. Read a mission story to your kids, or a current mission testimony. Read the world news . . . and show your kids that you care.

 

 ¹⁸Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.

 ¹⁹And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

 ²⁰And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:

 

 

2. GET A SPECIFIC VISION & DO SOMETHING!!!

(your own kids, or with your kids church or youth group), and think of something SPECIFIC you could do to help. It could be anything

Find out if your church missionaries have a specific need you could help with. Maybe you could buy clothes for 10 kids in a village. Maybe you could buy a bike or a motorbike for a national minister. Maybe you could support an orphan on a monthly basis. With kids, it's usually best to introduce a specific tangible project, so the kids can actually SEE their efforts are making a difference.

 

But don't make it harder than it needs to be. JUST DO SOMETHING!!! Do a project to buy 100 pairs of underwear for an orphanage. Make you could make a little thermometer poster and keep track of the progress. Maybe you could simply pass a jar at church and collect loose change. It's not hard. Just share a specific vision. Keep the vision before the kids. Work together, or individually toward the need. Give ideas to kids, but then RELEASE them to think of their own ideas about how we can make it happen. Keep sharing the need till its met.

 

PRAY about it. PRAY for for creative ideas. PRAY for diligence to help.

WORK HARD. GIVE.

 

. . then share the exciting report (with pictures if possible) about how the kids' effort made a difference. . . and then repeat with another need and vision.

 

It's like directions on a shampoo bottle. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

It's not hard. You just gotta do it.

 

 

 

Let's start a discussion here. -- I'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic. How are YOU incorporating a heart for world missions in your family and in your children's churches? What's something that's worked for you? What's been challenging in this matter? Or, have you ever thought about this?  ~Ann

 

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Here's a portion of a radio interview I recently had with Nancy Leigh DeMoss on Revive Our Hearts. We discussed a few specific ideas, and how our family and kids church took action. If you want to listen to the message, or read the full interview, click here.

 

 

 

ANN: When we look at Proverbs 31, we usually start in verse 10. Proverbs 31:10 begins, “Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies” (KJV). Well, if you read the whole thing in context, some of my favorite verses in the Bible are Proverbs 31:8-9, which say,

Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of those who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and the needy (NKJV). 

The Lord began working in my heart about the importance of opening up my mouth and sharing, pleading the cause. Being ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading though us. God is seeing the injustice in this world. He sees children who are dying. He sees all of these needs. He wants for us to open our mouth and plead the cause of the poor and the needy.

 

Nancy: And it goes on in Proverbs 31:20, “She opens her hands to poor, and reaches out her hands to the needy” (ESV). So she doesn’t just think about this. This isn't a burden she carries on her heart. It's something she actually does something about in some practical, tangible way to help to meet these needs of the needy and poor around her.

 

Ann: There was this one time that my kids and I had done this major closet purging effort. We had gotten some sacks of clothes. The kids' closet was a major disaster area. I thought, "Okay, we are going to conquer the closets." So we took a couple days and organized the closets. W e picked up all the hangers. We had the giveaway pile and the throwaway pile. It was a major effort to get all these clothes organized.

It was shortly after that that I headed over to Uganda. I was doing this one women's conference, and there were children everywhere around that place that were naked. There was one little boy in particular that had this ripped up shirt. He was the same age as my son Daniel, who at that time was thirteen years old. This boy had a ripped up t-shirt, no shorts, and no underwear. When I would go by, he would pull his shirt down so I couldn't see. It just dug in my heart because I was thinking of even how proud I felt of my ridiculously conquered closets.

I went back to this little room I was staying in under the mosquito net, and I just said, “Lord, what do you want me to do?” I remember that God just dropped in my heart and said, “Ann, I am the one naked on these streets. Are you going to do something about it?” I just remember thinking, "What can I do?" We had a little bit of money, and we went and bought armloads of clothes. I thought, "This will be fun. We'll clothe all these little naked kids running around."

So our family started passing out these clothes and were trying to match up boy with boy clothes and girl with girl clothes. I thought this was a little, noble fun thing; this will be great. As we began, mothers came running from different areas of the village. Then word began to spread, and people came running, holding up little naked children, asking, "Can we have some of some of these clothes?" There was such a swarm of people around us that we ended up getting in the back of the truck. That didn't work. I ended up on top of the cab of the truck, trying to pass out these clothes.

What I thought was going to be a wonderful thing ended up in pathetic pandemonium. It did something deep in my heart where I thought, "You know, the Bible says, 'I was naked, and you didn't clothe me'" (Matthew 25:43). I just came home, and I got a bunch of kids' churches together with our own family to be a part of this. We thought, "What can we do to clothe the children in this village? All those kids that weren't able to get something." That was exciting.

 

Nancy: What did you do?

 

Ann: We did it. We clothed that village! We got a bunch of kids' churches together, put up these little thermometers, and said, "We're going to clothe a few of these villages. Who wants to come and help with $5 or $10?"

Our son, Daniel, during this particular time, God moved in his heart in a very real way. He had some savings. He had some money he was trying to save up so he could open up a checking account. He kept thinking about that little kid that was his age that didn’t have any shorts, only had one ripped up t-shirt and not even underwear. It just moved his heart in a very deep way. I remember, he went and dumped out all the money on his bed and came and gave us all of his savings and said, "I want to help those kids." It was exciting. It was something that God had moved in his heart.

 

 Nancy: So his faith is becoming his own faith, not just riding the spiritual coattails of his parents.

Ann: When God does something inside the hearts of our children, it is so precious.

[Ann Dunagan]

James,

I appreciated your specific invitation to share about something that's a BIG passion of my heart. I love kids and children's ministry, and MISSIONS. I'll add more ideas in future posts. This is a definite theme of both of my books,The Mission-Minded Child, and The Mission-Minded Family.

Something I'm actually working on right now is putting together a FREE 8-week study guide for small groups, to help mentor and inspire "regular" Christian families to get more of a passion for world missions. And by the way, If anyone here on Missional Outreach Network is interested in learning more about this missions & family mentoring possibility, I'd be happy to mail out a totally FREE set of both of my books, with FREE postage (for a limited time, perhaps just till the end of January). If anyone is interested, just send me a direct message with your mailing address and your ministry or church name.

 

 

[James Nored]

Ann, thank you so much for sharing these thoughts! I love these practical ideas, from having your kids look at a map and dream of a place to go on a mission trip, to letting them help you clear out clothes from the closet to give away.

 

I like this example that you give: Our son, Daniel, during this particular time, God moved in his heart in a very real way. He had some savings. He had some money he was trying to save up so he could open up a checking account. He kept thinking about that little kid that was his age that didn’t have any shorts, only had one ripped up t-shirt and not even underwear. It just moved his heart in a very deep way. I remember, he went and dumped out all the money on his bed and came and gave us all of his savings and said, "I want to help those kids." It was exciting. It was something that God had moved in his heart.

 

Serving in this kind of way helps our kids develop a heart for the lost and hurting in the world. Great stuff!