Kids don’t stay kids! Even Jesus the kid grew up one day to become Jesus the adult (Luke 2:52). In fact, 10 years from now, the four-year-old kids we minister to will be teenagers and the preteens will be adults! This is why One Mission Kids helps to grow missionary hearts in kids because the future of missions depends on today’s kids understanding and answering God’s call (the Great Commission) to pray, give, and go.
Investing in the lives of kids is important, and I should know, because I am an adult MK. God used my parents and teachers, along with missionaries and mission conferences to invest in my life and grow my missionary heart. One of my earliest recollections of missions, beyond being an MK, was writing to a missionary in France for a church project. I must’ve been 6 or 7 years old at the time. She wrote me a postcard and even sent a gift, a pewter Eiffel tower. My parents often tell how this impacted me as a child, and everyone in my church knew it because I would always remind them to pray for our missionary in France. To this day, her gift sits on my desk at OMS as a reminder that investing in kids can change the world.
At a recent OMS prayer rally, my wife and I noticed a request being repeatedly voiced—the need for more missionaries. Once again, God reminded us, this is a continual need, not just for today, but until the One Mission is completed! That’s when we realized that we are the direct answer to prayers prayed decades ago. But, where will the answer to our prayers for tomorrow’s missionaries come from?
Future missionaries are found everywhere! They are living in our homes. They are sitting in our classrooms and our churches. They are attending our conferences and camps. They are our kids and they are God’s answer for the future of missions. This is why you and I play a vital role in equipping tomorrow’s missionaries today. Or, as we like to say at One Mission Kids, we’re helping grow missionary hearts.
Mr. Jason