Fun missions activities for the whole family
1 Plug your child into praying for missionaries. Daily prayer calendars are available from WMU® and from LifeWay. Or sign up for NAMB’s PrayerConnect e-newsletter at
www.namb.net/prayer. Prayer calendars can be used to pray for missionaries by name, people group or ministry assignment.
2 Read missionary biographies with your children.
3 Send a missionary kid a “Birthday in a Box.” Include fun things like stickers, candy, activity books, etc.
4 Support missionaries financially as a family. Give to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® . Decide with your family on a goal amount to give. Have fun searching for extra change or set up a lemonade stand and donate your money to the offering.
5 Host a missionary family during an annual church missions conference. Spending time with missionaries in your home is one of the best ways to expose your children to missions.
6 Encourage a missionary or church planter family. Help your children write letters to them. Learn about where they serve and keep up with current events in that location. Pray for a particular need each day of the week. Visit
www.namb.net/missionaries.
In the summer, consider hosting a backyard Bible club for neighborhood children. Be sure to include recreation time, a Bible story, refreshments and crafts. Have the kids make sock puppets with yarn hair and button eyes. You can construct a simple puppet stage out of a large cardboard box or string a dark sheet up between two trees. Let the kids take turns acting out Bible stories using their puppets as the Bible characters.
Don’t forget to teach your children how to share the gospel with their friends. This should be a natural outpouring of God’s work in their lives.
Teach missions in your church. Use missions education material to teach preschoolers, children and youth how God is working throughout North America and around the world.
Take a family mission trip. Many opportunities exist for families to participate in missions together. Consider helping a church planter with a sports camp or VBS during the summer. Or find a local church planter and commit one weekend a month to go and help with Sunday worship services. (See story on pages 30-33 for more ideas.)
My son, Evan, is three and a half. His vocabulary is growing. He’s questioning everything. Currently, his favorite word is “Why?” I love to hear him call me Daddy. I smile as he talks without taking a breath without really saying anything. However, none of that compares to what I will experience when he accepts Christ as his personal Savior. I am laying the foundation for that now. OM
M. Steve Heartsill is the managing editor for Royal Ambassadors and Challengers at national WMU. He lives in Chelsea, Ala., with his wife, Tonya, son Evan, and overly pampered dog Peanut.
24 Fall 2011 •
onmission.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52