Including Children in Missions

 We have all heard the statement, “children learn best when they are actively involved in the process.” Many times we talk about mission opportunities. We challenge
children to tell their friends and family members about Jesus. We encourage them to invite their friends to church. We may even challenge them to pray for and give to
support missions. When was the last time you allowed your children to participate in actual mission opportunities?

Here’s several ways to include children in missions and mission education:

1. Skype with missionaries around the world.  Allow the children to ask questions as they talk with the missionaries.
2. Plan “family-friendly” mission trips where children are encouraged to participate with their parents.
3. Offer backyard Bible clubs in the children’s neighborhoods so the children can invite their neighborhood friends.
4. Provide fundraisers where the children can work and raise funds to support missions.
5. Encourage the children to research and report about mission efforts around the world.
6. Provide opportunities for children to eat various ethnic foods and interview people from different parts of the world.
7. Include preteens on international mission trips. Children in other parts of the world love to hear about life in the United States.
8. Visit nursing homes and retirement centers to sing, perform puppet shows, distribute gifts and cookies, or use other ways to connect the children with the individuals living in these centers. (Warn the children ahead of time what they will see and experience.)

As you plan mission opportunities, guide the children to understand missions is not just something that happens around the world. Missions can happen on their own streets, in their own schools, and sometime in their own homes.

Got other ways to include children in missions? Share your ideas with all of us.