Listening to Missionaries

I've always wanted to be one of those families who brings their kids into the church service with them. I want my girls to sit still, paying attention to the preacher or speaker, maybe drawing a picture of what they are listening too. All followed of course, by insightful conversations in which we share truths that we learned. But the truth is, either I don't have the patience for teaching them to sit still for that long or I don't want to be distracted from my own listening and worshipping.

However, I really want my kids to have a heart for missions. And I do want them to get to the point where they can sit still in church and behave appropriately. This weekend, I found a way to work on both of these goals.

Our church sends many missions teams out each summer and when they come back, they share about their trip during a Sunday evening service. These meetings are more casual and laid back and Bruce and I figured it would be a good time for Charlotte (almost 4) to come and sit with us.

We took in some children's bulletins for her to color and doodle on, as well as a sheet or two of blank paper. She listened to the missionaries share some stories, tuning out when they got kind of long or meandering, and then coming back as the speaker changed. We watched a video of pictures showing what it was like in Guatemala and Brazil, pointing out her Missions Friends teachers or her babysitter as missionaries. In my mind, this helps her see that she knows lots of people who are missionaries and that missions is normal, not something just for extreme Christians.

At one point, we suggested she draw a picture of what she was hearing. Our friend Sean was sharing about building houses in Guatemala, so that is what she drew.

When we got home and while we were enjoying a pre-bedtime snack, I asked her to share 3 things she learned from the meeting. This is what she told me:

1. You can make people feel better by giving them hugs (from Keilan, who worked with Zoe Church in San Paolo, Brazil during a Free Hugs event)
2. Being a friend means sharing pictures you draw of people (after the meeting, she gave Sean the picture she drew of him building a house)
3. Not all babies in the world have enough food to eat (the Guatemala team also worked in a malnutrition center sponsored by the FL Baptist Children's Homes).

Overall, despite the wiggles that seemed to be more prevalent in the second half, I was pretty proud of how Charlotte behaved. It really encouraged me to invite her to be more involved with "big church" now that she is getting more mature and better at obeying her parents. I'm glad I took a chance, stepped out of my box, and hope you will be encouraged to do something similar with your own preschooler (if you don't already).

Passport To India

Whether our children go to public, private, or home school, it is our responsibility to make sure they receive a biblical worldview. One way to do that is by avoiding the trap of being American-centric with the lessons we teach them. Earlier this week, Ida shared how she helps her kids love on local children, and now, I want to share with you a way to help them love on children in India, and learn about a whole new culture.


This week, Sonlight introduced My Passport to India. It is a 10 video curriculum designed to virtually experience India as if you were really there. You can work at it at whatever pace your schedule allows. It will help you and your family:

• Explore India's incredible, diverse culture, people and places
• Learn more about India with unique educational resources
• Meet the people God is using to bring the Gospel to India's 400+ million unreached
• Discover how you can reach boys and girls in India with the love of Jesus by supporting Children's Bible Clubs!

The more I look over My Passport to India, the more excited I get about this. I can see that the whole family, regardless of ages, can learn something from this. The free bonus content includes a family devotional, stories about children who have been to their local Children's Bible Club, and tons more. It might be too much information for most preschoolers, but it is still valuable reading as their parents so that we can learn more. Older children will definitely be able to take more of the information and pictures in. This would also make a good curriculum for a a children's missions program at church, maybe when the regular summer programming is on hiatus.

Not only will your children be able to see how kids in other countries live, they'll also be given an opportunity to raise money to help those kids attend a Children's Bible Club. It only costs $1 to send a child in India to these clubs and any money donated until September 5th will be matched by Sarita Holzman, the President of Sonlight (up to $100,000).

I'm signing my family up to participate. What about you? If you've been through any part of this, please leave a comment letting us know what you or your children thought.

Back To School Missions

Today's guest post is from my friend Ida, who blogs when it strikes her fancy or her heart is heavy at Eat, Drink, & Be Jesus.

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Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. Pretty, new school supplies are lining store shelves everywhere and I cannot wait to shop! My daughter’s, ages 4 and 2, are excited, too. Even dad is happy with this mini shopping spree!

We’re not shopping for ourselves or for our own kids. (Well...I’m sure I’ll get suckered into buying some new crayons for my own little ones.) We are all excited to go shopping for someone else!

Back to school sales offer the perfect opportunity for you and your little one’s to get involved in giving to families in need while not breaking your budget.

For as long as we have been married my husband and I have hosted some sort of “back to school bash”, collecting items for students in our community who need the help the most. This has gotten so much more fun since having children of our own!

Every year, with children in tow, we grab one of those “generic” school supply lists in the store of our choice. I let our 4 year old pick which list we are going to shop from, kindergarten, 2nd grade, 5th grade...it’s her choice. Once she has decided on a list, we pick out each item and this is where the fun begins for my kids. “8 folders” was on our list this year...to us adults it’s no big deal...we would simply grab 8 folders and carry on but for my 2 girls picking those 8 folders is a fun and exciting time. They get to choose the colors, the design, and they get to brush up on their counting skills and team work! So goes the rest of the list. They have a great time picking binders, crayons, markers, pencils, erasers, etc...

Before we shop, we talk about how Jesus wants us to “love your neighbor as yourself”. We pray and thank God for allowing us to love our neighbors, or the people in our community, through the giving of these supplies and we pray for the sweet kids who will get them. We commit our school supplies to a local ministry that my children are allowed to serve at. This way, we’re not just buying things (although this is just as big as a blessing!) but we are also able to take our kids to play with the other kids they are reaching out to.

This year’s school supply drive is hosted by our home group and the supplies we collect will benefit Carver Village, a local housing community that we have had the great privilege of serving at before. For more information on Carver, visit http://www.jessiegoodman.com/fr_carvervillage.cfm.

My family is certainly not financially rich, especially with my husband recently being laid off from his job, but reaching out together as a family makes us realize that we are in fact very rich...in the things that really matter!

For only $11.00 even we, with our extremely tight budget, were able to purchase enough school supplies for a very special 4th grader. I pray my children will always remember these days of shopping, sharing, laughing, and giving.

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I'm now inspired to take my girls to the local supply store to get a backpack ready! And I don't think this is just for preschoolers. Older, school aged kids should enjoy this as well as they are picking out their own school supplies. 

If you plan on doing this as well, or already did, leave a comment and let us know about your experience shopping with your kids!

Leading By Example

One way to teach our children to be missional, is to lead by example. If our children see us doing missions, they will grow up thinking that it is normal and expected to do missions. Not all of us are called to serve as full time missionaries in another country, but many time we are given the opportunity to go and join full time missionaries in their work. And this can be highly beneficial for everyone in the family.

A little over two years ago, I wrote about the legacy of missions at my family blog:

Ever since Bruce and I decided to start a family, it has been our desire to create a legacy of missions for our children. We are always looking for opportunities to share missions with Charlotte. She was named after a missionary after all! Any cash gifts she has received in birthday or Christmas cards have been put into a missions fund for her. We have prayer cards for missionaries on our refrigerator. We talk often about people we know who are missionaries. We even pray that she might be called to serve as a missionary someday.

At the time, I was pregnant with Mary, so you could say we started this process from the womb with her. :)

At the top of Vulcano Masaya in Nicaragua, 2009

This summer, my husband was blessed with an invitation to return to Nicaragua (where we took Charlotte two years ago) to do some theological training. Even though we couldn't go with him, we have still been teaching Charlotte about what he is doing over there and why it is important.

So, my encouragement to you is this. If you feel called, try to take a missions trip to another country. Some trips are more conducive to allowing children than others. Be sure to talk to the trip coordinators to be sure they understand why you are bringing the children and how they can contribute to the purpose of the trip.

Our experience in Nicaragua showed us ways children can be helpful or benefit from being on the mission field:

• Babies and toddlers can open doors of conversation that might otherwise be closed. As we walked down the street as a family, people seemed more willing to engage us in conversation. The youngest member of our family was an entrance into small talk.
• Some toddlers have a natural fearlessness that makes it easy for them to walk up and talk to a stranger. This can help moms meet other moms while "on mission."
• Preschoolers are old enough to participate in distributing clothing and small toys to other children. This helps reinforce the concept of cheerful giving and starts to plant the seed that not everyone lives as comfortably as we do in America. 
• Elementary aged children can do all of what I've already listed as well as start to help out in a VBS type setting. By the time they get to third grade, they know the VBS drill and can lead by example, helping teachers pass out supplies, or showing their new friends how to do a craft.
• Middle and high school students can be more involved in direct evangelism (with adult supervision) and helping with construction projects. I know of one teenager who is the lead on a project to tile the floor of a church he's been on mission to for the last 3 summers. (He's even blogging about it at Project Nagarote: 2k11)

Of course, it's always our job as parents to make sure we are going to places safe and secure enough for children and that the rest of the team understands how, as parents, our work will be affected by the day to day caring of our children as well. For this reason, not every trip is going to be suitable for families. 

Have you taken your children on an overseas mission trip? Leave a comment and tell us about your trip. What advice would you have for parents thinking about doing the same thing?

(I know that I mostly talked about doing international missions in this post, but being missional should happen in our home towns too. Please subscribe so you'll be around when we talk about that too!)

Vacation Bible School as Missions

I have the privilege of going to an awesomely missional church. A friend pointed out recently that our church doesn't treat Vacation Bible School as just another project to be completed each summer. They truly see it as a mission to reach children and families in our community and in our church.

There are several ways they do this, but the main way they do it is by having people work who truly care about the kids who walk into our church every morning for Worship Rally (which is the opening session with songs, memory verse work, and a missions offering). Then, everything that is planned for the week, from decorations and lessons, all the way down to recreation time and snacks, is meant to show the kids the love of Jesus.

"How beautiful are the feet of those who carry the Gospel." Romans 10:15

Actual VBS worker's feet :)

As a mom who is also serving at VBS (with the middle school students this year, so fun!), my preschooler and toddler get to go. (Kids typically have to be going into kindergarten to attend.) I'm not sure how other churches do it, but at my church they get an age-appropriate, full-on VBS lesson too! Charlotte (almost 4) has a Bible verse to memorize each day. And even Mary's toddler class has a special music time just like the older kids.
All that being said, VBS is a great way to let other people help you pour the Gospel into the hearts of your children. And let's be honest, sometimes it seems our kids learn better from other people. I've met lots of adults who testify that they were saved because a VBS teacher took the time to talk to them about what it meant to be a follower of Christ.

Missions offering, girls vs boys

VBS doesn't just have to be a duty or obligation. Use it as a chance to teach your children to invite their school friends or the neighborhood kids they have so much fun playing with. Not only can your kid learn more about Jesus, they can start to work out what it means to reach out to friends and neighbors who might not know him. You can also use it as a chance to teach them about giving monetarily to the cause of missions. Every VBS I've ever been involved in collects change from children to support a missions cause. And they make a big deal about letting the kids come and put their loose change in the buckets. It's a real celebration!

And if you have teenagers and your church allows it, let them serve in VBS as helpers. They can serve snacks, help teach the recreation games, or work as assistant teachers. All of these are ways for them to not waste their summer sleeping in and avoiding chores.

Have you been to VBS yet this summer? Are you planning to go? Do you have any funny or poignant VBS memories? Share them in the comments so we can get to know you better.

Photo Credit: KBC VBS