Teaching Your Child to Pray: Missions (Part 1)

Some of you know my heart for missions.  Less than ten years ago I thought I was headed overseas, but God had other plans.  And I'm okay with that.  But my heart is still tender towards the work the Lord is doing in other parts of the world.  And I really want to instill that passion in my boys.


My husband and I are beyond blessed to be able to financially and prayerfully support some of my friends from college who are now overseas.  Our fridge is decorated with pictures of these lovely families, but the truth is, I haven't had a very good system in place to make sure that I'm praying for them consistently.


As I said last week, I want to make a more conscious effort with Isaac and Silas to pray with and for them, out loud, so that they see by example what prayer is.  I don't want it to be mysterious or unfamiliar.  I want them to see that it's talking to God and we can pray anytime, anywhere and it doesn't have to be done with special words.


God's Word tells us to pray for "the harvest" and those who are sent (Mt. 9:37-38).  And I know from experience that when I do, my heart is more sensitive to seeing the glory of God made known and glimpse the "bigger picture" a bit better.  It's not just about me or my my town or the United States.  It's about the glory of God being manifested throughout the entire world!


So, with the billions of people in the world, how do I bring praying for it down to a practical level in my life and the lives of my children?


Jen found this idea on Pinterest and I've been excited to use it ever since!  This creative lady painted a pot and wrote names of special people in their lives on craft sticks.  Her kids draw a name out of the pot at mealtime and pray for that person.  I thought it would be the perfect way to start praying for our missionaries!  

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I wanted to include the picture of the missionaries we pray for and I had planned to glue their picture to a craft stick and put it in a container.  But, sad day... I didn't want to spend money and I couldn't find a container that would work well anywhere in our home.  :(


I got these mailboxes in the dollar section at Target last year for a Valentine party and had an extra one, so I decided that we would turn it into a "Missionary Mailbox."

I trimmed all the pictures of missionaries so that they would fit inside.

I also wrote "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news" on one side.  I love the whole passage of Romans 10:14-15, but there wasn't enough room to fit all of it.

Each morning at breakfast, one of the boys gets to choose a card.  I tell them who the missionaries are and where they live and then we pray for them.  It's been a fun, practical reminder to pray for our missionaries.  We are going to continue to pick at least one missionary a day to pray for.  Hopefully we'll do more than that someday, but that's where we're at for now.


If you don't know any missionaries, many missions organizations offer profiles of missionaries that can be prayed for.  My initial goal as a freshman in college was to do Bible translation through an organization called Wycliffe.  Their site allows you to sign up to pray for missionaries (even choosing what country and job they have, if you have a preference).  If you're interested, you can go here to sign your family up as a prayer partner and begin getting to know someone across the world who is ministering to people and sharing the gospel!


Tomorrow I will share another way my family is incorporating praying for the world into our lives.  And we're doing a really fun giveaway with it!!!  I'm so excited about it and hope you'll come back and join us!  :)





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