One of the things I'm really excited about doing as an
overseas missionary is finding ways to help our supporters and prayer partners
expose their children to missions. Here's what I mean. I deeply believe that the best way to help a
child understand what Christian life can and should look like, is to show him
and practice it with them. Through this,
forming a personal relationship with God will come more naturally to him. Similarly, I think that through having a
regular and authentic exposure to worldwide missions, children can more
naturally see how God would have them personally participate in the great
commission.
When I was a child, my mother made a point of showing us
pictures of missionaries who were serving God around the world and praying with
us for them. I can still see in my
mind's eye some of the pictures she showed us, and I'm so thankful for this
early exposure to missions. But today,
with the technology we have readily accessible, there are so many more ways
that children can get to know what God is doing through His people around the
world.
I'm still thinking through different ways to do this, but
here are a few of my ideas.
·
Videos of family life. Through sharing occasional videos of the
things that we do as a missionary family, and that Finn does as a missionary
kid, our friends' kids back in the states can become familiar with what
missionary life can be like.
·
Skype calls.
With families who would like to do this, I would love to utilize skype
occasionally to stay in touch and share prayer requests.
·
Pictures - I think most of our supporters have a
copy of our prayer card with our picture, so that they can show their children
who we are and pray for us, but I also plan to have photos of all of our
supporter's family's as well, so that Finn can get to know them as well and
pray for them. Maybe we'll make a
supporter wall!
·
As Finn gets older and makes Peruvian friends
who need to know Jesus, I hope that we can find ways for him to share this
prayer request with our supporter's children.
Perhaps this will prompt children in the states to pray for and reach
out to their own friends with the gospel.
·
Visits - of course I would absolutely love for
some of our friends to come visit us as a family and see our lives and ministry
first hand!
·
Pen pals (e-mail pals?) - I'm not going to say
that I'll force this on my children, but if any of them have a leaning toward
this, I'd love for Finn and any future children to correspond in writing with
children in the states! I think this
could help children here understand more about missionary kids, and conversely,
it could help my children better understand children growing up in the states!
·
I'd love any other suggestions or ideas you all
might have too! Maybe some of you have
already found ways to expose your children to what other friends are doing on
the mission field.
All of this is a ministry of itself that I would really,
really love to have, and I pray that God will enable me (and our friends and
supporters) to follow through on it! Let
me know if you're interested!
- Laura Dougherty
- Laura Dougherty
