I get really excited at Christmas time. I love decorating, baking and gift wrapping, but I really love teaching my Sunday morning kiddos about the birth of our Savior. This month, as a kids’ team, we really wanted to give our Sunday mornings a missional focus. We decided on “Christmas in Africa”. For the past two Sundays and this coming one, we’ve talked all about the birth of Jesus, but also the importance to go and tell the world that He is the light of the world.

So how did we do this? We have two ministry partners at our church, The 25 Project and Naomi’s Village. The 25 Project works in Sierra Leone (as well as South Asia & the Dominican Republic) and Naomi’s Village works in Kenya. We exposed our children to these mission organizations and gave them hands-on ways to engage with them.

Our first Sunday we had them write cards to the children at Naomi’s Village. We hung up their pictures on a tree and children and their families could choose a child to write a Christmas Card to. I loved seeing all the different cards they brought in, from handmade to store bought. We told them to take the child’s picture and hang it on their tree at home, with the goal to pray for them throughout this Christmas season.

During this first Sunday we also had the founder and Executive Director of the 25 Project, Kent Jones, come teach our kids. He shared with them about the work they do and how it’s our job to be a light in dark places like Sierra Leone. Our second mission project was to collect soccer cleats for the boys supported by the 25 Project. In February, we’ll be able to share pictures of the boys in the cleats, showing our kids a concrete example of missional giving.

Finally, we celebrated our Happy Birthday Jesus Party still with an emphasis on “Christmas in Africa”. We read the Christmas story, played fun games and ate cupcakes, but my favorite part was the ornaments we had the kids make. We baked cinnamon applesauce ornaments in the shape of Africa and the kids decorated them during the party. It was another reminder for them to pray for our friends in Kenya & Sierra Leone. Later this week, I’ll share step by step instructions of how we made these precious ornaments (they smell amazing!).

I have really enjoyed the series this month. I love making missions real and tangible to our kids. If you have a way you’ve made missions tangible with your children’s ministry, please share! And let me know if you have questions about any of the ministries I mentioned in this post.

PS–Both organizations are AMAZING and if you’ve wanted to sponsor a child, these are the ministries to do it through! For The 25 Project click HERE and for Naomi’s Village click HERE.

Thanks for letting me share,