Taking Kids "On Mission"

The church's International Missions Fair was this weekend. If you missed Friday night, don't miss it when it comes around again next year! The Missions team revamped the whole event to make it more interactive and family-friendly. And it worked!

But, if you missed Friday night or this weekend, you're not out of luck either. Not by a long shot. Missions has always been a strong emphasis at our church, and Nic Gilmour (our head missions dude) and I (the head children's guy) are committed to seeing more families catch the missions bug.

Why? Because kids aren't eventual Christians. If we wait for them to get through the toddler stage, the preschool stage, the preteen stage, high school...before we know it, they will end up with lives as busy as ours. And for many of us, missions is an add-on or an if-only: if only I had the money, if only I had the time, if only I wasn't so busy, if only I knew where to go.

The global mission of the church belongs to everyone. It's not the special province of a few super-Christians, and being missions-minded is not a spiritual gift! Missions needs to be woven into the normal Christian life.

One way to do that is to take your entire family on a missions adventure. And we've put together a booklet called "Mission: Possible! Stories of four families who answered the call to GO in 2014" that tells some of those "we did it" stories. I hope you'll pick one up at the church and be inspired by it.

The thing is, not everyone will go on an overseas mission trip with their kids. Some people can't (but - don't dismiss it too quickly; read "Mission: Possible!" first). Maybe you will; maybe you won't. But what if we broadened the definition of "missions work", to create multiple entry points for families who want to engage in service to others? A cross-cultural missions adventure does have some definite advantages, as it takes kids and parents out of their element - a 24/7 eye-opener. But what seems to be true about teenagers and young adults who have embraced missions is that there was a service ethic in their families while growing up. So serving in downtown San Diego isn't "less" than going overseas. What matters is the regularity of commitment. It demonstrates to kids that missions is normal; missions is what Christians do.

Over the next several months, you'll see us dreaming up and promoting these various entry points, because the good news is that there are lots of organizations already doing good work in the community; what they really need is you.