Four missions experiences on hearing the gospel and taking it to someone else.

Transcription

1 leader s guide Four missions experiences on hearing the gospel and taking it to someone else. Location: Asia Focus verse: So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ. Romans 10:17 Overall message: Christian workers in Asia are providing clean water to villages in Asia. By meeting needs, they also have the opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with people in the villages. Many have heard about His saving love for the first time, but that is not where this Good News stops! Those who have chosen to believe in Jesus are taking the gospel to other villages so many more people will have the chance to hear and put their faith in Jesus Christ. Before you begin: This resource is a collection of experiences to plug your kids into global missions. We hope you will take the ideas included here and expand your children s view of missions and their role in God s kingdom. This is a product of IMB, 3806 Monument Ave., Richmond, VA For comments or questions, contact Kids On Mission at IMB by calling (800) Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture referenced is from the Holman Christian Standard Bible, Copyright 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

2 Experience 1 Prepare From the DVD-ROM or kidsonmission.org, download and print the Asia map. For this missions experience, you will be doing a water relay. See the Water Relay section below for more detailed instruction. Gather enough disposable cups for each child in your group plus one extra cup, a roll of masking/painters tape or permanent marker. Introduction Ask the kids in your group to take a seat, close their eyes and to imagine themselves in the story you are about to tell them. Share the following with them: It is a very hot, sunny day. You and your friends have just finished playing a long game of soccer. You are in an open field where there is no shade and there is no breeze. You ve been playing for many hours and now you are sweaty, tired and very thirsty. Your skin is hot to the touch and your mouth is very, very dry. Instruct kids to open their eyes. Based on the story, what is one thing they wish they could have? (Help guide their responses by suggesting something water related a cold glass of water, a shower, a dip in the pool ) Help your children to understand that we have access to easily available, clean water but there are many people living in villages in Asia who do not. Share the Asia map to show the many countries in this region of the world. Christian workers are providing clean water through water filters and pumps so there will be access to clean water in these villages. While they are meeting the needs of the people, they are also sharing the Good News about Jesus Christ. Water relay If possible, take your group outside for a quick water relay. Choose a starting position and mark it with masking or painters tape. continued on next page

3 Experience 1 continued from previous page Place an empty, disposable cup at the opposite end of the starting position, making sure there s plenty of room for children to spread out. Place one child at the starting position. Then ask the next child to stand an arms length away. Continue positioning children until one child is an arm s length away from the empty bucket. * Assess the size of your group and decide if you want to split into several teams to compete or work together as one team. Give the child at the starting position a full cup of water and give each of the remaining children an empty cup. Instruct your team(s) that on your mark, the first child will pour her cup of water into the next person s cup. That one will pour hers into the next person s cup. They will continue doing this as fast as they can until the last person pours their water into the empty cup at the end of the line. Encourage them not to spill the water. The goal is to try to quickly get as much water into the last cup as possible. At the end of the relay, record how much water made it into the last cup by marking a line with a permanent marker or use a piece of the tape. If there was more than one team, decide who was the winner. If there was just one team, do the relay again to see if the record can be beaten. Passing it along After the relay, gather kids into a group and share that passing the water down the line wasn t easy, but it was absolutely necessary in order to get all the water into the last cup. Remind them that Christian workers in Asia are helping to provide clean water for villagers while passing along the Good News that Jesus came to save them. People who have chosen to believe and follow Jesus are also passing along that Good News to people in other villages! Passing the gospel along to others is not always easy work, but it s absolutely necessary in order that everyone will have the opportunity to hear. We all must keep it going! Pray Pray that many people in Asia without clean water will soon have access but most importantly that many will continue to hear and pass along the gospel to others.

4 Experience 2 Prepare From the DVD-ROM or kidsonmission.org, prepare to show the One Cup Asia video. Download and print the Keep it Going focus verse. Recap There are many people living in Asian villages who don t have clean water, but Christian workers are meeting this need by providing water filters and pumps. While they are providing clean water, they are also sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with people who have never heard. Many are hearing and are choosing to follow Jesus and they are taking His gospel to other villages. Water works Remind kids that you have been hearing about Christian workers in Asia who are providing clean water to villages there. How do you think they re doing this? Share that you are going to watch a short video that shows one way clean water is being provided and how meeting that need gives Christians the opportunity to share about Jesus in that village. Explain that there will be text in the video. Ask your class to read the words out loud together as they appear on the screen. *If your group is younger or not strong readers, you can read the words for them. Play the One Cup Asia video. After watching the video ask a volunteer to read the Keep it Going focus verse. Discuss the verse and the video with your group by asking the following: According to the Bible, how do people come to faith in Jesus Christ? (By hearing the Word of God.) What is the Word of God? (The Bible.) How are people hearing the Word of God in the video we just watched? (Christians are providing clean water and are able to share the Word of God with people in that village.) Share that there are many people in Asia who have not heard the Good News of Jesus Christ and the only way they will hear is if someone goes to tell them. Due to many challenges, sharing the gospel is not always welcome in many parts of Asia. Providing clean water also provides Christians access to share about Jesus. Those who hear the Word and choose to follow Him can take that Good News to others and to other villages! continued on next page

5 Experience 2 continued from previous page Spread the Word Explain that you are going to practice spreading the Word using the Keep it Going focus verse. Review the verse one more time as a group then hand the printout to one volunteer. Instruct the volunteer to quietly read the verse to someone else, keeping the verse hidden from the rest of the group. The next person must listen carefully because she will quietly share the verse by memory with someone else in the group. Continue quietly spreading the Word by memory until everyone in your group has had a chance to hear and share. The last person will stand up and share the verse out loud with the class. Is the verse correct? If not, try spreading the Word again until the last person can share it correctly. Pray Pray for Christian workers in Asia to have many opportunities to share the Word with people who have not heard and that those who hear will come to faith in Jesus Christ. Ask God to give you and your children boldness to spread the Word to others as well.

6 Experience 3 Prepare From the DVD-ROM or kidsonmission.org, prepare to show the Every Village video. Download and print the Rekha and Sunil photos. Tape one of the photos to a wall and the other to an opposite wall. Recap There are many people living in villages in Asia who don t have clean water, but Christian workers are meeting this need by providing water filters and pumps. While they are providing clean water, they are also sharing the Good News about Jesus Christ with people who have never heard. Many are hearing and choosing to follow Jesus, and they are taking His gospel to other villages. Fixing pumps. Fixing hearts. Remind kids that you saw one way to provide clean water to villages in Asia was to give villagers water filters. Another way is by fixing broken water pumps. There are many villages in South Asia with water pumps that don t work. Christian workers are fixing pumps and telling people about Jesus. As a result, many people are choosing to love and follow Jesus. He is fixing their hearts! Share that you are going to play a video about the way God is working through believers in one part of South Asia. Show the Every Village video. That s exciting! After the video has ended, ask if anyone can remember the exciting things that have happened in South Asia. (India, a South Asian country, won the Cricket World Cup. Many in South Asian villages are hearing about Jesus for the first time. Many in the villages are choosing to follow Jesus and taking the gospel to others.) Instruct children in your group to raise their hands if they remember the first time they heard about Jesus. If you know of anyone in your group who has chosen to follow Jesus, ask if they would like to share how they felt when they first accepted Him as their Lord and Savior. Did they feel excited to share Jesus with others like the people in the video? continued on next page

7 Experience 3 continued from previous page Direct children to the Rekha and Sunil photos you ve placed on the walls. Remind kids that in the video you met Rekha and Sunil. Both heard about Jesus when Christian workers came to repair the water pump in their village and both chose to love and follow Him. Now that s exciting! Explain that we can play an exciting part of encouraging and supporting believers like Rekha and Sunil as they share the gospel in other villages by praying for them. If your group is large enough, split up into two groups. Instruct one group to gather around the Rekha photo and the other to gather around the Sunil photo. Ask for one volunteer in each group to read the caption below the photo out loud to their group. Then, spend time praying out loud together for the person in the photo. After a few minutes, instruct children to switch and gather near the other photo. End your time praying for the many in South Asia who are believing in Jesus and telling others about Him.

8 Experience 4 Prepare Plan to replay the One Cup Asia video. Gather glue or tape, a large poster board and enough disposable cups for each child in your group. Download and print the Eleven fives PDF. Cut the images out and glue or tape them to a large poster board. Place a sticky note on top of each image to hide the item pictured. Download and print the My thing handout. Cut into strips as the handout instructs. Recap There are many people living in villages in Asia who don t have clean water, but Christian workers are meeting this need by providing water filters and pumps. While they are providing clean water, they are also sharing the Good News about Jesus Christ with people who have never heard. Many are hearing and choosing to follow Jesus, and they are taking His gospel to other villages. Water value Ask the children in your group to share the ways you ve seen Christian workers provide clean water to people in villages in Asia. (They are providing water filters and fixing water pumps.) Share that it costs money to buy the parts to repair the pumps and to purchase the filters. Specifically, it costs $55 to provide a filter for one village home in Asia. Explain that $55 is not a lot of money when you break it down. Ask kids to direct their attention to the poster board you created using the Eleven fives PDF. Explain that eleven $5 bills equal $55. You can purchase a lot with $5! You will see just what $5 can buy. One at a time, request a volunteer to remove one sticky note from the poster board to reveal what they can buy for $5. After all the sticky notes have been removed, ask if any of the items revealed are things they or their families purchase. Do they think these are items they really need or could possibly live without? continued on next page

9 Experience 4 continued from previous page Share that clean water is something we all need to have life on this earth and Jesus is someone we all need to have eternal life in heaven. Challenge the children in your group to think about things they d be willing to live without. The money saved could be given to supply water filters to villages in Asia so that Christian workers can meet needs and share the gospel of Jesus Christ. One thing Explain to your group that you are going to watch the One Cup Asia video again and, like last time, you want them to read (or shout) the words they see on the screen. Play the video. As soon as the video ends, share that one thing can make a BIG difference. In villages in Asia one cup of water is meeting a need. Meeting the need is also providing Christian workers the opportunity to share God s Word with the people there. Hand each child a cutout from the My thing handout and ask them to fill in the blank with one thing they will prayerfully consider doing this week to make a BIG difference for Jesus. Can they share the gospel of Jesus Christ with a friend? Is there a need they could meet for someone? Perhaps they could mow the lawn for a neighbor or help a friend at school with their homework? Instruct them to fill in the blank with their commitment for the week. Once their blank has been filled in, have them glue or tape their commitment to the side of a disposable cup and encourage them to use this cup as their water cup for the week. It will serve as a reminder that God can use them to share the gospel with others. Pray Ask God to help you accomplish your commitment for the week and to guide each of you as you consider the ways you can be used to reach people at home and in villages in Asia.

10 Going Further More ideas using this theme Download and print the Keep it Going parent letter. Give to parents so they can help kids extend their missions experiences through family activities. Plan a One Cup of Water China fundraising challenge. Challenge your children and their families to sacrificially give $55 to provide a water filter through the One Cup of Water China project through OneLife Kids: Plan an evangelism training time with your church and your children s family so your kids will be able to boldly keep the gospel message going to friends and people in their community. Resources like LifeWay s, Leading a child to Christ ( are excellent for training. You can also look for helpful evangelism tools like the Cross Gospel Tract for kids found at IMB s store. ( org/index.cfm/product/detail/prodid/4387/page/1) Don t forget to visit kidsonmission.org for more activities and KOM experiences you might have missed. Also, like us on Facebook and see how other churches are using KOM.

11 Keep it Going Asia map MONGOLIA CHINA SOUTH KOREA JAPAN PAKISTAN NEPAL BHUTAN INDIA BANGLADESH MYANMAR (BURMA) LAOS TAIWAN THAILAND VIETNAM CAMBODIA PHILIPPINES SRI LANKA MALDIVES MALAYSIA BRUNEI INDONESIA TIMOR LESTE

12 Keep it Going focus verse So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ. Romans 10:17

13 Keep it Going Rekha and Sunil photos Rekha chose to follow Jesus Christ and is a new believer in her village. She and her family are sharing the gospel in other villages. Ask God to give them boldness to share His Good News and to protect them as they go.

14 Keep it Going Rekha and Sunil photos When Sunil heard about Jesus, he chose Him as his Lord and Savior and was baptized. Now Sunil is telling more people about Jesus in 11 different villages! Ask God that those hearing the gospel will also choose to follow Jesus and be baptized.

15 Eleven fives What can five dollars buy? Directions: Cut out each image and glue or tape to a large poster board. Then cover each image with a sticky note. restaurant meal large latte reading book a pair of socks

16 Eleven fives bag of fruit small toy a small pizza ear buds or headphones

17 Eleven fives t-shirt movie theatre food sunglasses/accessories

18 My thing Directions: Cut enough strips for each child in your group. Remember my thing this week will be to Remember my thing this week will be to Remember my thing this week will be to Remember my thing this week will be to

19 parent letter Dear Parents, Here s what your kids have been learning in Kids On Mission! Christian workers in Asia are providing clean water to villages in Asia. By meeting needs, they also have the opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with people in the villages. Many have heard about His saving love for the first time, but that is not where this Good News stops! Those who have chosen to believe in Jesus are taking the gospel to other villages so many more people will have the chance to hear and put their faith in Jesus Christ. Here s a fun family challenge: choose one day to plan to drink only water at every meal and between meals. As you drink the water, remember to pray that many people in Asia without clean water will soon have access, but most importantly that many will continue to hear and pass along the gospel to others. Through the verses in Romans 10:17, (So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.) your Kids On Mission have also been learning the importance of sharing God s Word with others so that they might have faith in His Son Jesus. Take some time to share with your children how you came to faith in Jesus Christ. If you ve already done this, don t worry. It s a story worth repeating and passing on! Visit kidsonmission.org to watch videos from the Keep it Going missions experiences. These are free to watch from the website. Thank you for your part in getting your Kids On Mission!