Does your family talk about the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20)?
The Bible tells us to “go” and “make disciples” of “all nations.” Surely we should be doing this wherever we are planted: discipling our kids, loving our neighbors, investing in our church. These are marching orders for every Christian and every church.
Yet notice something: can we “make disciples” of “all nations” if we don’t “go”? We need missions to fulfill the Great Commission!
Absolutely, each of us should focus on living faithfully in the location God has appointed for us (1 Cor. 7:17-24). Yet missions—intentionally crossing ethnic, linguistic, or geographic barriers to evangelize, gather into churches, and disciple those who otherwise would not have had access—is the job of every believer because the Great Commission is the job of every believer.
Only a handful will go and become missionaries. But it takes an entire local church to send, support, and sustain a missionary. As John Piper says, we’re either: (1) goers, (2) senders, or (3) disobedient. How can we help our children become one of the first two instead of the third?
1. Pray
My schedule reflects my priorities. This reality holds true for prayer. If my prayer life consists only of spur-of-the-moment prayers, I will tend to pray less frequently and about whatever happens to be on my mind. Missions usually doesn’t make the cut unless something puts missions on my mind.
That’s why I recommend scheduling a regular time when your family can pray for missionaries. Our time is dinner. Our church issues a yearly prayer guide for our missionaries that we work through over and over. You can also find different missions needs and unreached people groups listed daily for prayer at Operation World and Joshua Project.
2. Give
If your schedule reflects your priorities, so do your finances. How can you carve out resources to sacrificially give to those sacrificing to do good work (3 John 7-8)? If you don’t know who to support, focus on those your church already supports. Then, include the whole family as you continue to support these workers. Work these missionaries prominently into your prayer rotation, send a video to their kids, invite them over when they are in the States, and help your children carve out some of their finances to send a special offering.
3. Receive
Missionaries regularly come back for stateside assignment. These are great opportunities to expose your children and others to their work. Consider inviting them to your small group to give an update. Ask about any additional needs they have and see if you can meet them. In time, your children will become used to having missionaries around!
4. Visit
When your children are old enough, see if you can visit your missionaries. Most churches do short-term trips to find ways to support work the missionaries are already doing. Our church calls them “vision trips” since, apart from encouraging missionaries, their primary focus is to give those going on the trips a vision for missions work. Anecdotally, I hear of many missionaries who trace their initial desire back to a vision trip.
5. Read
Finally, one easy way to keep missions on your family’s mind is by reading missionary biographies. Children’s books, audiobooks, and full-size books abound and can often be found at your local library. These stories will inspire your family to remember Christ’s worth and the lengths people have gone to spread God’s name to the ends of the earth.
If we do not intentionally place missions before our eyes, we will likely forget. The needs in front of us are so real. And the needs in far-off places seem so abstract. Yet by intentionally and sacrificially building in rhythms you can help your children become Great Commission-minded.
