May 24, 2013

Getting our kids to leave church (for missions)

by Kevin Butler

How interested or involved are your children in missions?

How interested or involved is your church?

Wouldn’t it be great if we could get all of our members to be outward-focused and mission-minded at an early age?

The website “ministry-to-children.com” ran the following ideas for families to help kids love missions:

1. Pray for missionaries.

2. Read missionary biographies to your children.

3. Support missionaries financially as a family.

4. Find a missionary kid pen-pal for your child.

5. Welcome missionaries into your home.

6. Take risks as a family.

7. Encourage the traits that missionaries need.

8. Teach your children to be world Christians.

9. Read missionary prayer letters to your children.

10. Use missions fact books and resources.

Besides these thoughts, “ministry-to-children” asked for feedback then shared even more practical ideas from readers. They are worth a look.

 

Have you or your children heard of the “10/40 Window”? It’s been described as an invisible rectangle that extends from a latitude of 10 to 40 degrees north of the equator. Within the “window” are North Africa, the Middle East, India, Asia, and some parts of Russia.

When you look at those regions, you begin to realize that they’re crowded with about two-thirds of the world’s population. And, sadly, most of the poorest people in the world are found there.

Many live on less than $2 a day. They have little money for food or health care. Life expectancy is lower than in many other parts of the world.

Each of these countries in the “10/40 Window” have some Christian believers, but most people there follow other religions. They may practice Tribal religions, Hinduism, Islam, or Buddhism. Some are Atheists and believe in no God at all.

Thinking of those unreached people groups, the organization “stand4kids” has shared an easy way to remember to pray for these people.

 

 

Using the acronym “THUMB” each of the five fingers stands for one group.

 

T = Tribal

H = Hindu

U = Unreligious (Atheist)

M = Muslim

B = Buddhist

 

Let’s lift our hands together and pray for people in the 10/40 Window. May we all serve as missionaries to those who need to learn about the true God.