Raising Mission-Minded Children
“Dear Lord, thank you for this food and for a good day today. Please help Daddy get home without any traffic and make my brother’s owie feel better. Also, please keep the kids in Mongolia safe, and help more of them hear about Jesus. Giving them a Bible to read would be good, too. Amen.”
I smiled at my 7 year old and her older brother said “good job,” and then the chaos of dinner ensued with the chatter, requests, and constant water refills. It was good. My mom heart swelled with joy at what I heard: the cultivation of mission-minded children!
Raising mission-minded children is something that has come to be very important to my husband and I in our parenting. We know that a Great Commission perspective in life is essential for followers of Christ. Whether their mission field ends up being in the home, the workplace, or across the world, we believe that nurturing mission-minded children with an eternal perspective early on is a priority!
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So, how do you raise mission-minded children? There are likely several ways, but this are the things we are doing in our home.
Read Missionary Biographies. We have an entire library of books, videos, and other resources all about past and current missionaries that we are enjoying as a family. Our kids know all about Amy Carmichael, Jim Elliot, George Muller, and more. You’d be surprised how much kids will learn and love about missionary stories! It gives them a peek into the lives of missionaries and the people they serve.
Support Missionaries in Prayer and Finances. Find a missionary family through your church or denomination that you can support by praying for them regularly and/or contributing financially. Your church may even have a short term mission opportunity you can help or participate in as a family!
Encourage Them to Be On Mission NOW. We all need to take a step back and realize that we are on mission right now, right where we are. As moms, we are reaching our children, our neighbors, and our hometown for Christ. The same is true for our children! When they understand that the mission field is here and now, everything changes and you will feel a sense of urgency and purpose as a family!
Be Encouraged and Equipped. One of my favorite resources is Harvest Ministry and Mission-Minded Families by Jon and Ann Dunagan. We first heard them at a local homeschool conference and were blown away by how encouraging and informative they were. They helped me to see our parenting as a mission field, and our family as a potentially powerful tool used by God to reach others. As the Dunagans say, “Missions is not just for missionaries; God’s call is for all.”
Resources for Raising Mission-Minded Children
Here are just a few of the resources to check out if you want to raise mission-minded:
Hero Tales: A Family Treasury of True Stories from the Lives of Christian Heroes by Dave and Neta Jackson
Hero Tales: A Family Treasury of True Stories from the Lives of Christian Heroes was the first missionary book we read as a family and one of the reasons why we love learning about missions so much! If you’re just starting, this is a great one to pick up as a read aloud.
YWAM Missionary and History Stories
The Christian Heroes Then and Now series is full of great read alouds or readers for older kids. These stories are well done, and there are audios and curriculum you can purchase as well.
- Christian Heroes book series
- Christian Heroes unit studies
- Christian Heroes audio books
- Heroes for Young Readers books
- Heros for Young Readers activity guides (4 books per guide – you can also order packs that come with a set of books, CD, and guides)
Torchlighters DVDs
We purchased the set of first 12 DVDs for Torchlighters, which are animated versions of missionary stories! These still need to be previewed a bit for younger kids, but we skipped a little and still enjoyed the entire thing with your young crowd. You can buy the DVDs in sets or individually.
The Brinkman Adventures
These audio series from Brinkman Adventures are VERY well done. Sort of like Jonathan Parks but for modern-day missionary stories. Highly recommend!
Homeschool Curriculum on Missions
Teaching With God’s Heart for the World by Ann Dunagan – a FREE mission-based unit study curriculum
FREE Christian Missionary Biography Notebooking Pages
I put together a set of missionary biography notebooking pages for our homeschool and I’m happy to share them with you! The notebooking pages can be used alone as a report or as a part of a unit study. Here is what’s included:
- Missionary profile
- Bible/Character
- Timeline
- Geography
- Culture
- Prayers
- Copywork space
- Free notes
Missionary / Discipleship Course for Kids
3-D Kids Course – This is an online mission-minded training course for Christian kids (about ages 6-12) who are “serious” about serving God. 3-D stands for “Daring Doing Disciples.”
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I love that this encourages prayer!
I would love some good resources to help me raise my kids to be missions-minded! My son was just asking me questions the other day that made me realize that I need to be more intentional about teaching them about missions!
I think I”m most interested in the possibility of my son considering the Mission Field, how it is always around, and how he can pray for those who do not know Jesus and for those working to spread Jesus’ message to those who don’t have it.
This looks like a great resource. I am homeschooling my 12 year old daughter and I am the founder and director of Eagle Wings Ranch. We rescue horses and use their rescue stories to tell the greatest rescue story of all – Christ’s rescue of our souls. I love finding ways to teach her about ministries all over the world.
so excited to possibly win this! Sounds so great!
Thank you for sharing about these on your blog! I am looking forward to trying some of these products.
This book looks great- I love that it rhymes and that it encourages our children in spreading the gospel message to others.
It’s a perfect length to read aloud in a classroom or at home.
I like the whimsical illustrations and the rhyming texts that these books have for little ones to understand God’s words.
beautiful pictures and rhyming words! This will be good!
It looks like it would interest children because of the color and be teaching as well.
I like that the book is illustrated by kids and is for kids. I think it helps them connect more with the story that way.
It is always a pleasure and encouragement to read your blog posts and discover new materials or learn about ideas to be a better mom, homemaker, and teacher! Having been on the foreign mission field for the past six years and now settling into life with little ones, it would be fantastic to receive this bundle! Thank you for your sharing your wisdom and hard work and that of others!
What an encouraging note, thank you Laura!
Looks cute! I like the pictures and the rhymes. 🙂
I like that this gives an appealing way to hold kids’ attention while parents share with them this idea.
While I am familiar with the Mission-Minded Child and Family books, I was excited to see “The Whole World Needs Jesus” book! I just love the illustrations – and the fact that they are done by a college student! Looks like a great resource! Thanks!
These books and the Dunagans resources look so helpful! Thank you for sharing!
Thank-you for the chance to win great resources!
I like the colorful pictures and the message.
It’s for little too!!!
I love the message as well as the illustrations!
My kids love it when i read out loud. A good story sparks the mind and teaches lessons much better than any home school ‘lecture’ I can give. This book would be a tool to bring in new ideas and reinforce the power of the gospel in a fun format.
I love that it is geared toward 4-8 year olds. Also, beautiful illistrations.
I love this takes church and christianity onto a global scale, far beyond our church and our country, emphasizing going, prayer, and giving.
I’m really excited about this book! Before I started homeschooling, I knew I wanted to make sharing the gospel and praying for the lost, and for those around the world an important part of their schooling and I haven’t been consistent about that. This book looks like it’s beautifully illustrated and I think the content will be great since it’s written by a mom who has focused so much of her energy on missions. ☺
Awesome resources!
Love everything about this book! Going to go buy it!! If I win a copy I’ll have an extra to give away. 🙂
My husband and I moved to Japan almost 8 years ago to serve as teachers in a private Christian school. During that time, we have had 2 boys. Now we are planning on moving back to the states. This book would be a great reminder that our time as missionaries really never ends. I hope that my boys also learn to love telling others about Jesus.
As a church planter in the pacific northwest and a homeschool mom, I would love to add these books to my collection!
I like that it is geared for younger children.
Wow this sounds great.
I cannot wait to teach my grandchildren all about missions! I have been introducing them to Missions their whole lives through my own personal works in missions, but I want to fully to bring it to life to them through other avenues…..what a blessing!
I am so excited to learn about this resource and use it in our family. We are currently studying about various people’s and cultures and how we can look for them with in our own community and minister to them. I believe this new resource is just what we need to move forward with our goals. So excited to start the journey on a mission-minded family!
The age range that the book is for fits perfectly for my kids. This would be a great book to inspire us to do more for God’s kingdom. Thank you!
I would love to win this!
This is great! Thank you for this chance at helping families become mission-minded!
I love that this book is geared toward 4-8 year olds as children are never too young to learn about missions.
The meter of the rhymes is reminiscent of the old Arch Bible Story books I loved as a child. Definitely going on my to-get list for my kids!
We have a bunch of children’s Christ-centered books, but none are primarily and specifically mission/evangelism focused. I love that this book is filling a needed void in Christian kid books!
I like the illustrations of the children’s book and the focus on the Great Commission!
The focus of this book is so important, and the rhyming scheme and illustrations look really engaging also.
It’s a great way to talk about this with children.
My kids are interested in missions. I think they would like these books.
Looking forward to reading these!
I love that the book is engaging for little ones and yet has such a strong message to help them think of others and how they can make a difference.
We are missionaries on the foreign field. Our oldest recently accepted Jesus Christ as her Saviour, and she has become a little missionary. She reminds us to give tracts to people at the market or when we are out and about. She is excited to tell others about the Lord Jesus Christ. She LOVES to read and I think these books would be great for her as well as our older children to help them learn more about missions not just here, but around the world.
The illustrations and the focus – can’t wait to read it
I would love to win this to have to add to morning devotion. We need to start our children off early in life to be mission minded. Missions can be anywhere and our children are watching.
I think the rhyming aspect of this book will be great for young children. Giving children a missions mindset from a very young age is great. We’ve done some of the things you mentioned in your article with our children over the years, and this book would have helped also. It would be great for Sunday School classes too.
Book looks very interesting for young children!
Love the message, which is easily forgotten in our self-centered American culture. The big pages are great too!
Love that it is a family read aloud about the Great Commission! Of course the rhyming is a plus
Perfect to read when we talk about our missions offering!
My husband and I are taking a Discipleship class. I have so much to learn and understand about the Gospel! And my 13 year old has said she feels called to be a missionary! I have a friend who is a local missionary and she said she felt called at a young age too! I have already been praying for my heart. I will be checking out these resources so I can learn more and they can too on how to share the Gospel.
I have one kiddo who has wanted to be a missionary for years. I think we’d all enjoy this book, though.
Any biblical based book is great.
I love the rhyming text and colorful pictures.
I love the pictures and that is is simple to understand.
I have always had a heart for Missions. To be able to share this love and compassion with my children would be absolutely wonderful. They have a heart like their daddy to help and love others. And this would be absolutely wonderful to share with them.
What a great resource for helping kids catch a vision for the great commission!
As a stay-at-home homeschooling mom, I’m struggling to introduce my kids to the world at large. I need some resources!
Praying now that these resources will be useful in raising more laborers for the plentiful harvest at home and around the world. Thank you, Tauna, especially for sharing the free resources from this website. I’ve already won something!
so excited about this! They look wonderful!
These Mission resources look very interesting. I think this may be the first time Ive heard of them. I’m eager to find out more.
I love how this encourages our children to share the message! Thank you for another awesome resource!
This is so my heart for my kids!! They are a little young for the Operation World materials, so this book really seems great because it is age appropriate.
These books sound great! we’re always looking for help in getting our children to consider the need for Missions and especially hour it can be done at any age!
These look like some great resources- thank you! I would also recommend another book “Becoming a World Changing Family: Fun and Innovative Ways to Spread the Good News” by Donna S. Thomas.
I love how it is gospel focused. SO important!
I think anything that will make our children more aware of the world outside our country is great!
What’s not to like about this book? Anything to give my kids a love for missions!
Besides being interested in the topic of missions, I can’t wait to see those beautiful illustrations.
I liked what I could see of the illustrations.
The book looks like a great way to encourage and teach kids to share their faith and spread God’s Word to everyone that needs it! Thanks for introducing me to these resources!
This looks like something to help raise the kids’ awareness about others. Great resource!
I am in the process of planning my 10th Music camp. We try to incorporate a Mission focus. I would love to have more resources not only for this camp, but also for my two young children to help gain a greater focus and desire for missions.
This will help my son to better understand what his uncle and aunt do. They are missionaries in the Philippines. I believe my son has a calling on his life and he may be the next missionary in our family.
This looks like a great book to read to my youngest. She loves to be read to and would love the beautiful pictures as well. My husband works for MFW and my oldest two children read lots of the missionary biographies they have. I would also love to read The Mission Minded Family!
Mission Minded Family and actually the other two books look great too! Thanks for spreading the news of this resource.
i like that it teaches children that they have a role in spreading the gospel. 🙂
I love this idea! It’s hard to convince my children that there are kids out there who don’t know Jesus, who don’t get to go to church every week, whose parents don’t read them Bible stories every night.
The colors and pictures
As a missionary, it’s so important to me to instill the readiness to reach those around us into my children. I would love to have this resource for myself and for the churches that we have planted overseas.
The diversity in the book and illustrations are beautiful!
I love the pictures.
I love that it is teaching and encouraging our children to live the great commission!
I understand this post is a few years old but I was wondering if you know how to obtain a copy of “The Whole World Needs Jesus” as the link you provided takes me to a site who’s link does not work. I have googled and suched used book resailers without result. thanks
Hi Michelle! I asked the author for you. Here’s what she said:
“It’s all sold out at the moment. We’re looking into publishing options, for two coordinating books, The Whole World Needs Jesus and a second kids book, The Fishless Fisherman. Both are focused on Global Missions and the Great Commission, for ages 4-8.”