As I mentioned in my last post, Global Missions has really been on my mind and heart recently, so I’ve joined forces with two amazing bloggers to do a series of posts on developing a missions mindset within the home.
This week our focus is on ways to teach or emphasize missions in our own homes.
When I began researching for materials on missions to use with our four children (ages 4 through 13) in the home, I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of options available! I’ve compiled a list of favorite finds to share with you all.
8 Resources for Teaching Missions to Kids
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1. Growing Up Wild DVD series
The Wild brothers even have their own blog! So far, we have only watched the video clips available on the website, but we plan to purchase or borrow a DVD or two from this series. This method of teaching missions works well for antsy learners. 🙂
2. Caravan Friends website – is about the peoples of Asia – a country in the most unreached sector of the world. I love this website for teaching missions, and so did my four children (ages four to thirteen)! It is colorful and aesthetically pleasing. The characters they have created help teach children about different areas of Asia, and my children really connected with them.
The videos were interesting to watch and after watching one only twice, my seven-year old was spouting off facts about the people groups there. The stories are easy to read and not too long. In fact, I had our seven-year old read several to his younger siblings and he was able.
The website also includes resources for parents and teachers who are teaching missions, such as printables, coloring pages, and other suggested activities (seriously, check out the activities tab for some amazing ideas), etc. This would be the perfect site for someone wanting to lead a class on Missions for children, for a free homeschool curriculum resource, or for Children’s Church, Sunday School, AWANA, Vacation Bible School, etc.
3. Trailblazer Books by Dave and Neta Jackson
Right now we are nearly finished with the Samuel Morris story, and we have requests to read more of it nearly every day. It’s one book that I have actually been tempted to read more of on my own, even! Our four-year-old twins will usually only sit for one chapter at a time, but older children could easily read several chapters. I was happy to find that amazon carries used copies of volumes that contain 5 stories each! We bought several volumes for less than $20. The volume pictured below features Harriet Tubman, but it also has 4 other biographies in it. 🙂
4. Kids on Mission website – this website is put out by the International Missions Board of the Southern Baptist denomination. Kids on Mission offers a subscription that will provide you with a quarterly release on DVD. However, according to the website, if you are willing to download the files from the internet directly, you can access them for free! Under the prayer tab, there are even prayer requests from missionary kids themselves. What a unique resource for teaching missions. 🙂
5. New Tribes Mission – is the organization that my parents worked through as missionaries to Papua New Guinea (PNG). On their website you will find individual missionary pages and newsletters, as well as general information. While this website is designed for adults rather than children, I included it because they often upload new videos from various tribes around the world. I know my children enjoy seeing what it’s really like on the mission field or hearing about missions from tribal people themselves.
*One note of caution: not all stories are appropriate for all ages. Be sure to preview the videos before showing them to your children. Also, NTM publishes a magazine full of brief missionary stories that we often read to our children. This resource, NTM@Work, is completely free. All that is required of you is to go to the website to sign up for it! 🙂
6. Torchlighter DVD series – is very similar to the Trailblazer books in that it focuses on missionaries and other heroes of the Faith, but in a dvd format rather than a book format. This series features people like Corrie Ten Boom, Augustine, and others who help spread the Good News.
Our kids’ favorites so far are the Amy Carmichael story and the Jim Elliot story. Each animated feature is about 30 minutes in length. What better way to learn about missions than to hear the biographies of those who suffered for the faith, but impacted the world because of it! 🙂
7. Windows on the World – is a curriculum that focuses on specific people groups, and their culture and beliefs. Some of the information is factual in nature, but there are also stories about the people who live there and ways for children to pray for that particular group. This is an amazing resources for teaching missions with a global perspective.
8. Missionary Stories With the Millers
As I shared previously, I sometimes struggle with the question of “Am I doing enough?”
But I know that this is a good start, to teach my children of the great need. (It doesn’t hurt for me to learn more about the various people groups in need, either!)
Who knows?
We could be raising the next generation of missionaries right within our own homes!
The next post in the bloghop can be found over at Love Notes . Sarah shared more about engaging our children’s hearts in missions in Missional M&Ms!
If you have a tried and true resource for teaching Missions at home, would you please share with us in the comments? Thanks!
Jen 🙂
Also sharing this post with: Hive Resources, Grace and Truth
*This post makes use of affiliate links. For more information, please visit Being Confident of This’s About page. Thank you for supporting this blog!
