Tag: teaching

Connecting Your VBS and Missions

Posted on by Emily Belvery

Vacation Bible School (VBS) is an enriching time to share with children about God, his love for his people throughout the Bible, and that same love that we experience today. Have you considered how your VBS might be an opportunity to further introduce children to God’s heart for the nations? 

Our missionaries often travel back to the States during the summer months and VBS would be a great opportunity to invite a missionary to tell stories of sharing God’s love around the world. Often, our mission partners recall how hearing the stories of those who served before them was a pivotal seed planting moment in their desire to go and serve globally. How might hosting a missionary at your VBS be an opportunity to inspire and disciple tomorrow’s cross-cultural missionaries? 

Other church VBS programs have connected with a missionary across distance: sharing video greetings from the missionary, learning about and praying for the ministry where the missionary serves, and even raising funds to support the missionary and their work. Kids love seeing their offerings go to help children just like them hear about Jesus for the first time!

Reach out to Emily Belvery to get connected to a missionary!

Additionally, we invite you to check out our kid-friendly resources which you can use to equip children to share the Gospel with those around them, learn about the global church, and support God’s mission through prayer. A few suggested resources to get you started:

  • What is a missionary?: In this video, mission partner Sarah Berta-Somogyi teaches young children about what it means to be an overseas missionary and the role we all have in telling others about Jesus. 
  • Missions-Themed Activities: Use these activities with kids to help them think about what God’s mission looks like and how they can be a part of it.
  • Kid’s Prayer Bookmarks: This printable resource includes a prayer request for each day of the week to keep children focused on praying for the global church and for God’s mission around the world.

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. – Proverbs 22:6

God of the nations, who said ‘let the little children come to me,’ we lift up churches, VBS leaders, and volunteers as they prepare to pour into young lives this summer. May you grant them the energy needed and the boldness to share your love with each kid who will participate. May children learn of your deep love for them, your Son Jesus, and how they can be a light to others right where you have them. Amen.

Hey, Teachers!

Posted on by Emily Belvery

When I was a language student in Taiwan, I remember a Japanese classmate telling me, “When people hear you’re a teacher, don’t they bow a little?” I laughed and said, “When Americans hear I’m a teacher, they say, ‘Why??’”

What is your why for going into education? Is it a favorite teacher who made you want to have the same impact on students? Is it a subject matter that you love and want to inspire students to love, too? Is teaching the family job, the natural choice when you come from a long line of Lutheran educators? Or is it a complete surprise to you and others that you’ve ended up a teacher?

Whether you’ve wanted to teach since you were a kid or are surprised to find yourself here, it is not an accident you ended up in education. Could it be God put you in this career so that you would be equipped to share the Gospel with students who every day walk into a Christian school somewhere around the world and hear about Jesus for the very first time?

What if this is why you’re a teacher?

On Fish Island in Cambodia – in the midst of a country that’s only 3% Christian – you can drive up to a beautiful property called Stronghold Cambodia and hear 50+ young children singing praise to Jesus, dozens who will come back for Sunday worship and many who are sharing Jesus with their families and having hard conversations with their parents about being baptized.

And yet – one of their classrooms stands empty and local children sit on a waiting list because they are short a missionary teacher.

In Taiwan, one of the biggest Lutheran schools in the world sits in the middle of a rural county with more gods than people. Every day 2000 middle and high schoolers – not to mention the kindergarten and elementary students who meet on another part of the campus (pictured above) – hear about a God who loves them and came to serve them, a God who doesn’t demand offerings and inspire fear like the idols that surround them, but a God who took on flesh for their salvation. Only perhaps 2% of these students are Christian coming into the school, but 10% are believers when they leave, and each year many more students come back to campus, 5 or 10 years removed from graduation, eager to tell their high school Bible teachers that they have now been baptized!

And yet – this year there was talk of staffing religion classes with non-Christians because they don’t have enough missionary teachers.

In Hong Kong, 22,000 students attend Lutheran schools, a group of students who are only perhaps 10% Christian but who know that in Lutheran schools they will receive a good education and perhaps get to learn English from a native speaker. These students learn in school that their worth does not come from the achievement or earning potential that define so much of this global financial hub but instead from Christ Jesus who gave His life for their salvation.

And yet – many of these schools are lacking missionary teachers to share the Gospel with students and other teachers who don’t yet know Jesus.

Is this why God called you into teaching? I don’t know for sure. But it might be… Why don’t you ask Him?

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!

Sing Along Video Resource

Posted on by Emily Belvery

All around the world, there are few things kids love more than music! Music connects our hearts with God in worship; crosses barriers of language, culture, and time period; and brings praise and glory to the God of every nation.

This is why MCN has put together a playlist of bilingual praise videos, allowing you to sing along with kids and MCN mission partners around the world. Learn a little bit about different languages as you worship Jesus with both new and familiar songs. 

Simple to use with subtitles included and fun for all ages, these videos are ideal for Sunday school classes, day school classrooms, chapels, and Vacation Bible School, too. With seven languages represented, there are a variety of choices. We would love to know which one is your favorite! 

Bonus: We also have an interactive PowerPoint to help you learn more about each location and the mission partners and ministry happening there!

Click to view this resource and more. 

Sing Along:

  1. English and Mandarin (Taiwan): “Behold Our God,” “ Jesus Loves Me” 
  2. English and Khmer (Cambodia): “Lord, I Lift Your Name on High” 
  3. English and Slovak (Slovakia): “You Have Been So Good to Me” 
  4. Spanish (Costa Rica): “ O Come to the Altar” 
  5. English and Hungarian (Hungary): “ Cornerstone,” “ Peace Like a River” 
  6. English and Tagalog (The Philippines): “This is the Day” 
  7. Bonus from Central Asia: “Mystery Song” 

Sing Along Playlist on Youtube