3 MISSIONS IN YOUR CHURCH AND HOME.

ENCOURAGING CHILDREN TO GIVE.

Events from former Christian Endeavour days could well be used today to challenge

The spirit of giving. We brought our coins to outline a map of Africa or China. Also on birthdays we gave a coin for each year, and I still remember the clink of the coins sliding to the bottom of the tin. This may be a fitting ceremony in the home.

Young people often say, ‘ I am a student. I don’t have much money.’ We lived on $12 a week, with 4 children, for six years when my husband studied for his medical degree. We lived simply, yet never lacked because of tithing for God.

I thank God for Mothers encouragement, as the lessons she taught filtered unto three generations.

TRAINING.

Many teenagers admit to no goals for the future. Therefore, they may be unable to make suitable subject choices for their High School education. Parental guidance wisely begins in the home at an early age.

While some children determine to be a nurse, a teacher, a doctor, a pilot, an engineer, a carpenter or computer expert, the majority may experience difficulty in choosing appropriate subjects at High School.

Talk with your children and gather information to enable him/her to picture the possibilities and professions where a christian can best serve the Lord. Work experience also proves a valuable guide.

A mother told me, ‘I didn’t know that my son was so practical.’

A child may develop a useful talent like woodwork or carpentry, dressmaking, engineering, mechanics, accountancy, or child care abilities Invite men and women in varying work circumstances to speak with your children of different careers. Youth groups could well invite an accountant, a nurse, a banker, a Bible teacher, evangelist, agriculturist, school teacher – the list is endless – to explain their work, and the God-given opportunities to share their faith in their professions.

One missionary society offers openings in 87 work situations. These facilitate entry into countries and support missionaries by releasing them for translation, teaching, preaching, and reaching the national people for God.

Encourage your children to recognise their abilities. Then from Scripture, ordered circumstances, and sensible reasoning discover how you or your child may prepare to serve God whether at home or abroad.

PERSONAL COMMITMENT.

Children are God’s special gifts to parents who may emulate Hannah when she said of Samuel, ‘As long as he lives, he shall be lent to the Lord.’ ( 1 Samuel 1:28)

It is natural to have ambitions for one’s family, yet commitment requires releasing our children to God. L E Maxwell, former Principal of Prairie Bible Institute , Canada, with a radiant face, once said that the sun never set on his six children. Each child answered God’s call to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.

As the years flash by, all parents enjoy the close proximity of their children. However, the Lord challenges us to willingly answer His call to encourage them to serve the Lord, whether here or world-wide

For the christian no division exists between spiritual and secular. We serve and honour God whether we preach the gospel in Africa, Asia, South America, or preparing the children’s sandwiches for lunch, washing their clothes, and ministering in the home.

Maybe the Lord will not call your children to an overseas field. However, God looks for parental willingness to answer His call to take the gospel to all nations. Relinquishing our children to God requires commitment and courage, and usually tears.

The world needs christians in business, teaching, medicine, and the factories, etc. but the greatest need is to make Christ known to the unreached peoples of the world. As God waited for Isaiah’s response, so He listens for us to say, ‘ through our family members, ‘Here am I, send me.’

The greatest encouragement to commitment to God flows into a home where the Bible is regularly taught , learned, and lived in the power of God’s Holy Spirit. There God is loved, and the Lord Jesus is accepted as Lord and Saviour. Backed by the prayers of loving parents, there is no limit to what God can do with a christian family. .

How does missionary interest rate in your home. From 1 – 10!