Idea Bag for Promoting Missions

Emphasizing Missions in the Home:

1. Pray for missionaries and missions as a family.
2. Read and discuss missionary prayer letters.
3. Correspond by letter or e-mail with a missionary family. Encourage younger members to correspond with a missionary child.
4. Adopt a missionary family.
5. Read missionary books and biographies as a family.
6. Entertain missionary guests in your home.
7. Show an interest in the missions program of your local church.
8. Attend missionary meetings as a family.
9. Make giving to missions a family function.

Emphasizing Missions in Sunday School:

1. Pray for missions during the Sunday school class time.
2. Order an information packet about the current VBS project to be used in Vacation Bible School, Awana, or Sunday school.
3. Introduce and display missionary books.
4. Utilize available videos, cassette tapes, maps, pictures and other multimedia.
5. Present a short skit or role-play.
6. Arrange to have missionary speakers visit your class.
7. Assign students to report on a particular missionary, country, or problem they face.
8. Adopt a missionary child or national student for prayer, correspondence and encouragement.
9. Study a country: religions, dress, language, culture, climate. Make a model home, dress in foreign costume, serve typical snack food.
10. Assign interesting questions and projects for student research.
11. Include missionary songs in your music program (available from church and public libraries).
12. Play a game that children play in a different country.
13. Tell missionary stories. These are one of the most effective tools for encouraging missionary interest.

Praying for Missionaries:

1. Be informed. Learn facts about your missionary, their country, ministry and family.
2. Pray regularly for your missionary.
3. Pray that the Holy Spirit will lead your missionary to prepared hearts.
4. Pray for the children of missionaries.
5. Pray for the Lord of the Harvest to raise up more missionaries.
6. Keep praying!

Corresponding With Missionaries:

1. Take personal interest in the missionary. Read the prayer letters and learn what the missionary is doing. Become acquainted with family interests. Read articles and books about the missionary’s country and culture.
2. Ask for the Communications Guidelines when corresponding with workers in creative access countries.
3. Share about family and church activities, occasionally send clippings and recipes, answer personal and form letters the missionary has sent. Colorful stationery brightens the heart. Try some on your missionary!

Services to Missionaries:

1. Provide a “linen closet” for missionaries when they first return from the field. New linens, towels, kitchen items, cleaning agents, blankets, games, books, etc. are especially appreciated.
2. Send care packages to the missionaries’ college students or missionary kids.
3. Provide makeovers and hair stylists for the missionaries when they first return from the field.
4. Help the missionary find housing and transportation when they are in the U.S.

Promotion Ideas:

1. Strategically place bulletin boards that contain catchy captions, large pictures of missionaries, mission activity, and maps to remind people of our responsibility to share Christ with the regions beyond.
2. Highlight your missionaries, the countries where they serve, avenues of service, and mission projects. Enlist artistic people!
3. Telephone conversations can add an interesting touch to your missions emphasis. These conversations can be recorded or live, though this requires some planning.
4. Adopt a “Missionary of the Month.”
5. Provide bulletin inserts about your missionary.

Used by permission. http://www.efca.org/international/resources/index.html