Family missions—intentionally preparing children to be spiritual champions
- Oct 15, 2007 - comment
BALTIMORE, Md.— According to George Barna of the Barna Research Group, adults across America generally hold the belief that the nation’s children are inadequately prepared morally or spiritually for their future.
In fact, Barna’s research reveals that more than three out of every five parents believe that the younger generation is not ready to handle an increasingly complex and demanding future.
Researcher and author of Revolutionary Parents, Barna discovered that “few people have a well-defined philosophy that guides their every move.”
Accordingly, he asks, “When you ponder your life and legacy, what do you think about?”
In 2003, Barna wrote Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions after an attempt to discover what Christian churches were doing to effectively help children become serious followers of Jesus Christ.
His research made one fact indisputably clear: in assessing the impact of churches, schools and parents, it is the parents who have the most dramatic personal influence on a child, he said.
And what should be the goal of these “revolutionary parents?” He says, “raising a God-honoring human being.”
Barna takes this mission personally. To him, it is critical that he sees “a revolutionizing faith redefine the lives of [his own] children.”
Acknowledging his inclination to focus on grand outcomes in his life, he concedes that he initially missed the fact that “a spiritual revolution that takes place ‘out there’ is less significant in God’s eyes unless one can facilitate one ‘in here’—in our own hearts, first, and then in the lives of the people who live under the same roof as us.”
He explains, “Rather than worry about the commute and facilitating operational efficiencies at work, my obsession should be on the spiritual growth curve of each of my kids. Instead of being preoccupied with how my executive team will orchestrate certain deals and deliverables at work, my dominant focus should be on the paths to progress that need to be implemented with my daughters.”
He adds, “It has finally occurred to me that so much of what shapes my children’s lives is beyond my control that I have to do whatever I can to maximize those elements that are within my control.”
Those “elements” include spending time cultivating meaningful relationships with his children, teaching critical truths from the Bible, and choosing appropriate activities that reinforce godly principles on a consistent basis.
In the same way, Mandy Memmel from New Hope Community Church in Baltimore, Md., constantly looks for opportunities to teach truth to her three children, now ages ranging from 6-14.
Twice, she has taken them to Matamoros, Mexico, on a church missions trip to work with children in an orphanage and nearby villages. Though it required a lot of effort on her part, she wanted her children to grasp a vision for those in need and to have a heart for those who live in other places in the world.
Her youngest daughter Jolie was only four years old when they went to serve at a squatters’ camp, where Mexican families lived in small shacks assembled with leftover sheets of metal, pieces of wood and plastic. The dirt roads to the camps were in poor condition, often flooded, leaving deep, difficult crevasses.
Yet, “to Jolie, these children in Mexico were her friends,” Memmel said, noting that her preschooler couldn’t wait to go again. “Suddenly, they weren’t people who were far away from us. They were the ‘neighbors’ that Jesus tells us to love.”
Nine-year-old Jordan’s heart became more tender after her first mission trip. After returning, she had difficulty figuring out what she wanted for Christmas that year. Finally, she told her mom, “After going to Mexico, I realize that I don’t need anything.”
And teenager Joseph moved from being an observer to being one of the group’s worship leaders.
The missions experience has expanded their family’s vision for ministry from their immediate surroundings to the bigger world around them, Memmel said. Now, her kids can say, “Oh yeah! All I have to do is to get on the airplane and see my neighbors in another country!”
This point didn’t drive home to Memmel until she was an adult on her first overseas mission trip to Africa. “It’s exciting to know that my children are already learning how close the world is to us,” she said.
Notwithstanding, Memmel admits the experience is challenging.
“There is no down time for me,” she said, explaining that constant supervision in the foreign country was required. But as she watched her children play with the Mexican children, she realized the added effort brought immeasurable blessings.
To that end, the Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) hosts FamilyFest missions trips for families with children first grade and older in various U.S. cities.
On June 21-25, 2008, a FamilyFest will be held in Baltimore, Md. Families from all over the nation will be invited to come alongside local churches to do community service projects and evangelism projects.
“I think it is a wonderful opportunity for parents to model serving the Lord wherever we are, whenever we are, even on vacation,” shared Gayla Parker, WMU executive director and missionary for missions education and customization at the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware.
In addition to the mission projects, participants will enjoy special times of worship and Bible studies, she said. Families are encouraged to take advantage of the hotel’s special rates and come early or stay late to enjoy vacation sites in Baltimore, nearby Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, Pa.
“WMU’s mission is to challenge Christian believers to be radically involved in the work of God,” explained national WMU representative and FamilyFEST coordinator Kristy Carr. “We always say that missions is not a destination, it’s a journey. It’s about active compassion. And that’s exactly what this week is all about.”
Parker believes the experience will linger far beyond the week.
“Christ calls us to be his witness 24/7 as individuals, as families, and as a church,” she said. “FamilyFest helps make that happen.”
For more information about FamilyFest, visit www.wmu.com.
This article is reprinted from the October 2007 issue of Baptist LIFE, the news journal of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware.