Tag: School

10:02 Prayer Pause

Posted on by Emily Belvery

Luke 10:2 says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

We can see that the harvest is plentiful. Each day around the world, people living in darkness see the light of Christ and come to faith! Our mission partners share the Gospel with an average of 2,000 people each week! And here around us in the US, too, people are asking questions, curious about faith in an age of anxiety and uncertainty.

We can also see that the laborers are few. In many countries, MCN’s partner organizations are asking for more workers, and we estimate we could place 30 more mission partners in addition to the 50 we have in the field this school year. Here in the US, our churches and schools are facing vacancies and calling for more Gospel workers.

So, what does Jesus tell us to do? He could command his disciples to give or to go or to recruit. (And all of these are good things!) But instead Jesus’s exhortation is to pray. God is the Lord of the harvest. Every person who comes to faith does so by His work, and every worker who goes out to share the Gospel does so by His call and in His power.

Would you join us in praying at 10:02 each day for God to send out more workers for His harvest? Set an alarm and pray expectantly to God who is faithful to answer!

What can you pray for?

  • Pray for more cross-cultural missionaries to go where few people know Jesus.
  • Pray for more pastors, teachers, DCE’s, and other church workers to serve our churches in the US.
  • Pray for every Christian (including you!) to have and take opportunities to share the Gospel today.
  • Pray for young children who will be missionaries in the future, that God would be equipping and preparing them for this call.
  • Pray for retirees to be willing to use their retirement years for sharing the Gospel both in the US and overseas.
  • Pray for people currently considering or applying for missionary service that God would give them clarity and support.

How can you pray?

  • Are you a stay-at-home mom? Pray aloud with your kids each day.
  • Are you a classroom teacher? Take a moment out of your lesson to pray with your class.
  • Are you an office worker? Let your alarm go off, pray quietly, and see what conversations God might create through this daily practice.
  • Are you a church worker? Let a daily alarm remind you to pause from work and pray to the God who does all the work of His Church.
  • If you work in a place where an audible alarm isn’t an option, simply set a phone reminder and pray when you are able.

God of the Harvest,

Open our eyes to see the ripe harvest fields around us and throughout the world (Jn 4:35). Give us joyful expectation as we participate in your harvest, sharing the Gospel with those you’ve placed around us and trusting Your Spirit to work faith in those who don’t yet know You. Raise up more laborers to serve in the harvest fields of our country and to proclaim the Gospel across the world (Lk 10:2). Send out global missionaries to share the Good News of Jesus in places where there are few believers. And show each of us today what our role is in the Great Commission that we might together give, pray, send, or go so that people of all nations may hear and believe the Gospel.

Amen!

7 Ways to Connect Sunday School & Global Missions

Posted on by Emily Belvery

When I talk with churches about growing their global missions connections, I often hear either 1) That sounds great, but we have a lot going on and a lot of need right here in our own community or 2) Why don’t you talk to our mission committee? That’s what they do.

While there is truth in either response, the reality is that we do not have a God who places missions on the perimeter of His purposes but who from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 is all about mission, a God who is constantly on the move to seek and to save the lost from Adam and Eve hiding in the garden to each nation of the earth who will bring its riches into the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:24). 

Satan would love for the church to fear scarcity of resources, time, people, or attention and so narrow in on one facet of ministry to the exclusion of all others. But the same God who gave the Great Commission has given His Church every resource she needs to fulfill it here, there, and everywhere by His power.

In his book Is the Commission Still Great?, Steve Richardson writes,

“Churches that have a missions focus are centrifuges for the gospel. They send people out and keep growing, changing the world near and far for the glory of God. Churches that have a vision beyond their immediate surroundings tend to also have vibrant local ministries. But not all churches that focus on their own communities also have a global vision.”

And so MCN wants to help churches create a church culture of missions – not as an add on to all the busyness of the calendar but integrated into the church’s ministries so that a heart for Gospel proclamation and witness permeates everything we do as the Body of Christ from children’s education through retiree groups. 

And what better place to start than with our children?

Some seasons of the church year (Pentecost, we’re looking at you!) or Biblical stories (think, the call of Abraham or Jesus’s ascension) will lend themselves especially well to a missions focus, but any Scriptural lesson can be an opportunity to talk with kids about how being a follower of Jesus means being a Gospel proclaimer!

Here are 7 practical ways to integrate a global missions focus into your church’s Sunday school and other children’s ministry:

  1. Have each class adopt a missionary.
    1. Several MCN partner churches have connected each of their children’s classes with a missionary on the field. Teachers can then very easily share monthly missionary newsletters with their class and pray at the start or end of class for this missionary and those they serve.
    2. Classes can connect with the missionary face-to-face (see #2) or encourage them in their service by sending cards or email notes of blessing.
    3. If a family has students in multiple classes, they then have multiple missionaries for their family to adopt in prayer.
  2. Zoom with a missionary or have them visit.
    1. Whether you have one missionary your church supports or one for each class, missionary visits can have a powerful impact on students. Many of our current missionaries recall listening to missionary presentations as a child and thinking, “I want to do that some day!”
    2. Zoom and other video platforms make it super easy to connect with a missionary on the field and let students “meet” them and hear about how God is working in another place and culture.
  3. Connect your class with a class of kids overseas.
    1. Many of MCN’s mission partners are in teaching roles through schools, churches, or after school programs and would be happy to connect their students with American students whether through an exchange of letters, emails, or video messages. 
    2. Let your students put a face to missions, connect with people across cultures, learn from global Christians, and participate in sharing their faith with kids on the other side of the world who don’t yet know Jesus.
  4. Take a missions offering.
    1. While financial support is never the primary goal of a Sunday School missions connection, it is meaningful to children to be able to participate in sending a missionary. 
    2. Whether you take a small offering in Sunday school opening, set a class goal to raise a certain amount, or find ways the missionary you support could be aided with item donations, children will remember the powerful feeling of making a difference and participating in God’s global mission.
  5. Use bilingual sing-a-long videos from missionaries.
    1. MCN’s collection of bilingual sing-a-long videos allows students to worship with kids and missionaries from around the world and get a taste of worship in another language.
    2. It’s powerful to be reminded that the church is much bigger than one congregation, state, country, or language group!
  6. Let kids experience aspects of life in another country.
    1. MCN has collections of crafts and games from various countries where our missionaries serve. You may also have an international grocery store nearby where you could buy snacks or drinks from another country for students to try (always a hit!).
    2. Whether you want to focus on one location or survey a few, this is a tangible way for students to interact with another culture and talk about the need for Gospel proclamation in that place.
  7. Pray, pray, pray!
    1. The most powerful way children (and adults!) can participate in the Great Commission is to pray. The Mission is God’s, each believer is God’s servant, and all the power to bring others to faith belongs to our God.
    2. MCN has numerous prayer resources for use in a classroom including missionary prayer cards (found on mission partner’s individual webpages), 5-day regional prayer guides (just search “prayer guide” to see them all), prayer bookmarks, and a monthly prayer calendar.

Back in Steve Richardson’s powerful book, he reflects on watching his own children grow and says,

“I wonder how we are conveying an eternal value system to the next generation. What greater gift can we give the children we love than the assurance that their lives are part of a grand, God-glorifying mission to bless the peoples of the world? What more could we hope for than to see them devote their lives to Great Commission service in whatever ways God opens up for them?”

Let us know how we can help your church give this gift to your children – or share with us ways your church is doing this that others could learn from. We’d love to hear from you!

Together in His Mission!

Could You Commit to a Week of Prayer?

Posted on by Emily Belvery

If you ask any MCN mission partner what they need most or ask MCN’s leadership what our biggest need is, the response will be prayer. Not funds or personnel or training or church support. Although all of those things are important, nothing is greater than the need for prayer.

When Jesus looked at the ripe harvest fields around him (see Mt. 9:37-38), his response was to tell the disciples to… Go? Mobilize? Raise support? … Nope. Pray.

But where to begin? 

We know prayer for missions, missionaries, and the ripe harvest fields of the world is important but with so many people who don’t yet know the Savior, where do we start?

I want to suggest that you start with one country and one week. Commit a week of prayer for one location where MCN mission partners serve and see how God will work in your heart to develop a love for these people and how He will work in that place through your prayers on their behalf. 

MCN’s 5-day prayer guides contain five specific prayer requests provided by mission partners as relevant to the region and context in which they serve. Could you lift up these needs one by one throughout the coming week?

Could you pray for relationships and against spiritual warfare in Costa Rica?

Could you pray against economic and family struggles and for a growing church in East Asia?

Could you pray for young people and Lutheran schools in Hungary?

Choose one prayer guide here (search “prayer guide” in the search bar to see them all) to get started – and next week pick another! And think about who you could invite to pray along with you…

  1. Parents, pray with your children over dinner, using a world map to show them where this country is.
  2. Teachers, pray with your school class day by day or pray with a Sunday school class and invite them to take a guide home for the week ahead.
  3. Pray with a friend or spouse on an evening walk.
  4. Invite a long distance friend to pray with you and text each other about the day’s request.