Use this lesson, Prayer for Children Far Away, to introduce your children’s ministry students to the world around them and the need for Christians to serve God’s needs in the mission field.
Children’s Lesson: Prayer for Children Far Away
Get Set To Serve
Arrange for a guest speaker to come and talk to your kids. The speaker should be someone who has done service or missionary work in another country, preferably a country with a culture quite different from our own.
If you can’t locate such a person, find someone who has traveled to another country on vacation or business. Explain that you want the kids to learn what life is like in that country, especially for the children who live there. Encourage the speaker to bring along photographs or artifacts from the country.
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Before class, print the “Prayer for Children Far Away” at the end of this article for your speaker and for each child. Fill in the country your speaker will discuss in the prayer. Consider serving a snack that is traditionally served in that country.
Gather the children together and say: Today we welcome a special guest.
Introduce the guest speaker, telling the kids that in just a few moments the speaker will share some interesting information with them. Then ask:
- How does news travel in our country today?
- How did the news of Jesus spread throughout the world?
Say: Before he went back to heaven, Jesus instructed his followers to go throughout the world and spread the good news that he is the Son of God. This is how the Christian church began. The followers of Jesus who traveled and told the good news were the first missionaries. One of those first missionaries was Paul. Paul went to many lands and told the people he met there about Jesus.
If you have been able to locate a map of Paul’s travels, show the map to the children. Then explain that parts of the New Testament tell us about Paul’s travels. Have a child read aloud Acts 21:1-6. Then say: This passage is fun for kids to hear because it tells how the children and their parents followed Paul out of the city. Ask:
- Why do you think they followed Paul?
- Do you think Paul liked meeting children from another land? Why or why not?
The Project
Introduce the guest speaker. After the speaker has finished his or her presentation, encourage the kids to ask questions. Then ask:
- How are the children’s lives in (name of country) different from your lives? How are they alike?
- Would you like to trade places with the children there? Explain.
Encourage kids to join you in saying thank you to the guest speaker. (You may want to have the kids write thank you notes to your speaker at another time.)
