photo by Staralee
Our family supports, both financially and in prayer, a couple of missionary families. One is located in Brooklyn, New York where they strive to connect with thousands of people just within the one block radius around their apartment. Another is a couple living in northern Africa, ministering primarily to a Muslim population.
My husband has a specific connection to the family in Brooklyn. He grew up in the same area and understands the diversity and resistance to the Word in that community. Our family met the other couple as they visited our church while on furlough. We talked extensively about life in north Africa and received some materials from them about that area of the world.
What’s been neat, though, is the ongoing relationship we’ve developed with them by reading their newsletters and studying the ministry materials we received. These families may be hundreds, or even thousands of miles away, but we’ve gotten to know them just a little bit better through the sharing of their news.
But there’s been an added benefit for our children. The missionary newsletters we receive have initiated points of discussion about all sorts of things - culture, the impact of tradition on thinking, approaches to spreading the gospel, and evaluating our own efforts at demonstrating the light of Christ to those around us.
This past Sunday, while sitting around the lunch table after church, we read aloud the newsletter from our friends in Brooklyn. Here’s what our children learned about: Hasidic Jews and their tradition and culture, what the Torah is in comparison to our Bible, the requirement to memorize the Torah prior to Bar Mitzvah (Rachel: the whole thing?!), praying blessing upon neighbors in each direction using Numbers 6:24-26, and how God can use the smallest opportunity as a catalyst for opening doors if we are just obedient enough to walk through.
I encourage you to connect with a missionary as another “tool” for teaching your child about Jesus. Not only can you support them with your dollars and prayers, but your children will have incredible role models who will share insight and communicate faith in action in real, tangible ways.
Is your family involved with a missionary somewhere? Tell us how you keep up to date with what they’re doing.
My husband has a specific connection to the family in Brooklyn. He grew up in the same area and understands the diversity and resistance to the Word in that community. Our family met the other couple as they visited our church while on furlough. We talked extensively about life in north Africa and received some materials from them about that area of the world.
What’s been neat, though, is the ongoing relationship we’ve developed with them by reading their newsletters and studying the ministry materials we received. These families may be hundreds, or even thousands of miles away, but we’ve gotten to know them just a little bit better through the sharing of their news.
But there’s been an added benefit for our children. The missionary newsletters we receive have initiated points of discussion about all sorts of things - culture, the impact of tradition on thinking, approaches to spreading the gospel, and evaluating our own efforts at demonstrating the light of Christ to those around us.
This past Sunday, while sitting around the lunch table after church, we read aloud the newsletter from our friends in Brooklyn. Here’s what our children learned about: Hasidic Jews and their tradition and culture, what the Torah is in comparison to our Bible, the requirement to memorize the Torah prior to Bar Mitzvah (Rachel: the whole thing?!), praying blessing upon neighbors in each direction using Numbers 6:24-26, and how God can use the smallest opportunity as a catalyst for opening doors if we are just obedient enough to walk through.
I encourage you to connect with a missionary as another “tool” for teaching your child about Jesus. Not only can you support them with your dollars and prayers, but your children will have incredible role models who will share insight and communicate faith in action in real, tangible ways.
Is your family involved with a missionary somewhere? Tell us how you keep up to date with what they’re doing.
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