Mini-Missionaries in Discovery Land

In Discovery Land, we want the message of God and his gospel to reach every child. Key to that goal is communicating that the gospel is for every child, no matter where or when they are born. When promoting missions, we seek to create in the children a vision of how they can be a part of Jesus’ Great Commission. To this end, we’ve sought several opportunities to present missions at the elementary school age, and hope to expand to other age groups.

First, we’ve given the 1st-5th graders the opportunity to sponsor children through Compassion International and Covenant Mercies. We show pictures of the kids and discuss their home countries, pray for them, and write to them. The sponsored children have written back to the class many times, and this always brings big smiles. Our children are building faith as they see how their participation has an impact on the sponsored children’s lives.

Next, we introduced the class to a local mission called Every Day Is Christmas. The children took three consecutive Sundays to bless EDIC, and the final Sunday children donated money and new unwrapped toys to be used in the EDIC store. Though children did not know who benefitted from their giving, we helped them understand that they were blessing families right in our own city.

With our new curriculum, The Gospel Project, the children are being taught how the entire Bible points to Jesus. Part of this excellent curriculum is a weekly video about individuals living out the Great Commission all around the world. The missions emphasis helps the class learn how the whole of their lives can also point to Jesus. Through stories told by missionaries of all ages and stages across the world, the children learn that being a missionary can be as simple as passing out water bottles, to leaving possessions behind and traveling to remote places of the world.

As the children in Discovery Land learn that they can be a part of God’s mission to people near and far, we are excited about the Lord’s work in fulfilling his promises through these young missionaries at CLC.