“How Can You Be on Mission Inside & Outside the Church Walls?”

Childhood Discipleship

• Make Missions Discipleship a rotation at your church for preschoolers and children. For example: on Wednesday nights or Sunday evenings. These are all resources I have used. 
  • https://wmu.com/missions-discipleship/ 
  • https://www.wmustore.com/missions-resources 
  • https://www.namb.net/evangelism/for-children/ 
  • https://www.namb.net/resources/
  • https://www.texasroyalambassadors.com/resources
  • https://www.wmutx.org/missions-discipleship
  • https://www.imb.org/for-churches/
• Invite church members who have been missionaries or have gone on mission trips to speak to the preschoolers and children. I have found they love hearing and asking questions about various parts of the world, seeing clothing and items from other countries, playing country specific games, seeing pictures of animals/houses/churches/etc. and eating food from different parts of the world. I allow for 30 minutes. It keeps their attention and is an easier ask. 
• Take time to pray for missionaries, persecuted Christians and the lost. Pick a time each day to pray personally. Pick times to share requests and pray with preschoolers and children. The leaders at my church incorporate a short prayer time each week in class. Also, allow children to lead the prayer time. A child praying is one of the sweetest gifts. 
  • Consider picking an area of lost people groups to pray for https://www.imb.org/people-and-places/ 
  • Pray Luke 10:2 at 10:02 a.m. “He told them, ‘The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.’” 
  • Pray for persecuted Christians “Open Doors” https://www.opendoors.org/en-US/persecution/countries/ and “The Voice of the Martyrs” https://www.icommittopray.com/ 
  • Know specific prayer requests from missionaries https://www.imb.org/pray/ and https://www.namb.net/pray/ 
• Pick a missions offering for preschoolers and children to give to. 
  • Collect Operation Christmas Child toys and supplies. One year, we took the church bus and went to Dollar Tree. We gave the children a budget and had them shop in groups. They had a fun time, learned about spending and got to take ownership of their boxes. https://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/
  • Give towards the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering in December. The children at my church serve hot chocolate at the Christmas parade and donations go towards the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Children have also made baked goods on a Wednesday night in December for church members to pick some goodies and donate towards LMCO. 
  • Make food donations towards a local food pantry a competition. Our church has had the “Ice Cream Bowl- Boys vs. Girls.” Our church food pantry told us their biggest needs. Those items got extra points, but we collected any food items. At the end of the month, we celebrated with ice cream. The group that had the most points got their ice cream first. 
  • Collect new shoes for Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls https://www.buckner.org/shoes-for-orphan-souls 
  • Collect boys’ and girls’ underwear for a local homeless shelter. Call it the “Undy 200” or whatever your number goal is. 
  • Pick a ministry your church is already involved with and have your VBS offering go towards that ministry. 
• Have mission projects for families throughout the year. 
  • Pack meals for children in need with Feed My Starving Children https://www.fmsc.org/get-involved/volunteer/
  • Help pack shoes for Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls https://www.buckner.org/shoes/volunteer 
  • Serve a meal at a local homeless shelter. 
  • Host a trash clean-up and prayer walk around the church or in a neighborhood. As you pick up trash pray at strategic points or places. 
  • See if any schools in your community could use food bags for students to take home on the weekends and during the summer. Fill bags with non-perishable items like beef jerky, mac & cheese cups and granola bars. Children that receive free lunches might have limited access to food on the weekends or in the summer. Include information about your church in the bags. 
• Encourage church members to wear church t-shirts when they are out in the community (yourself included). I am amazed how many times a waiter has asked me about the shirt I am wearing. It’s an easy way to talk about the ministry, the church and your faith. 
• Invite people in your community to your church or church events. A personal invite is still the best way. Model this for families. 

Use your creativity to best fit your church. Pray for God’s guidance and pray God gives you opportunities to be on mission inside and outside the church (Matthew 28:18-20). 

by Lezah Maitland, Minister of Children, FBC Allen on July 10, 2024