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).

Mis Ninas (My Little Girls)

Today, at the end of a two week missions trip to Nicaragua, my husband posted on their trip blog about how Charlotte has dealt with his being gone for so long. It is definitely worth reading. I want you to go over and catch the whole thing, so here is a teaser to peak your interest:

Our youngest daughter, Mary Mitchell (1 year 10 months old), has been missing me. Apparently, she gets up in the morning and points toward my bedroom door calling, "Dada," over and over. But, Charlotte (3 years 11 months old) tells her some variation of this: 

Daddy's not there. He's in Nicaragua being a missionary, telling mean people about Jesus. But, his love is still in your heart, so just hold your hand to your heart, and he'll be there with you. 

And if you know Charlotte, that's how she talks.

Visit Mission: Nagarote for the full post and to see why I'm a little teary eyed tonight as we wait for him to come home to us tomorrow.

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!)