This month’s mission may sound a little quiet, unexciting and frankly, boring. But can I tell you something? It may be one of the best things you’ll ever do with your kids.
So, what’s the mission?
I want you to pray.
That’s right, pray. I want you and your kiddos to huddle up every single day this month (or as best you can) and pray for someone else.
I want these missions to open my kids’ eyes to the world. I want them to recognize that life exists outside of themselves. So, we are going to be praying for the THUMB people. Have you heard of this?
It’s a way to remember different people groups around the world…
T is for Tribal
H is for Hindu
U is for Unreached
M is for Muslim
B is for Buddhist
So, I printed off a simple map and as we pray each day, we’re going to put our thumb print somewhere on the map. This morning, we added our first thumb prints and as a double whammy we now have inked thumbs to remind us to pray all day! I’m hoping this will be a constant reminder of God’s great love, how big the world is and how powerful our small prayers can be.
I also tried ordering these prayer cards from NavPress (the shipping was more than the cards, boo! and then the purchase wouldn’t even go through) with prayer prompts and information about each people group. They have a few up as digital downloads so I’m using them as a guide right now.
There are many other people and places to pray for, these are just the ones we’re doing this month. My friend, Jacquie from Echoing Him is our guest blogger this month. Click over to her site to see who she’s praying for and how she and her kids are accomplishing this mission!
OK! So, let’s recap: your mission this month is to pray for someone who needs to know Jesus! Spend time getting to know them and the specifics of how you can pray for them. Do a little google search or even contact someone at your church who might have information about missionaries and organizations your church supports.
And hey–during the month, as you pray or talk to your kids about this mission, snap a picture or two and link it up on our Monthly Mission page. You can even grab one of these cute buttons to add your your blog or website. I want us to feel like we have a team of friends doing this together–a little army of sweet little kiddos taking their requests to the Lord together!
So, who’s in?!
Hey Amanda-
Check out http://totallytots.homestead.com/TotsOnAMission.html. They had some info cards about various countries and things kiddos could pray about. I can’t say if it fits with THUMB, but it might be worth checking out since those prayer cards didn’t work for you.
Sweet. I knew there were other resources around. I think I’m going to the Christian bookstore today to see if there are any other books about prayer for the kids, too.
Thanks, Madonna! 🙂
a
Love this idea!!! So for those of us who love to follow your visual examples……can you link where you printed the map from?
Tricia: I got so frustrated this morning b/c not ONE of the maps I searched for was a full-sized page! Grrr! That’s why I didn’t link to it b/c it still wasn’t what I was hoping for.
This is the one I used. It’s from wikipedia: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/BlankMap-World-noborders.png
a
well no worries! thanks for the link!
Love this! I’ve never heard of THUMB before. We receive Prayer Point, a quarterly publication sent out through a prayer ministry of Samaritan’s Purse, and use that to pray for people around the world. Each week provides a little article about some of the work Samaritan’s Purse is doing around the world and provides prayer points, as well as Bible readings for each day. A couple years ago, I hung up a world map and we started putting glow in the dark stars on the locations we were praying for. It’s kind of cool because when the lights go out it’s like we can see God’s light shining through us all around the world. Here’s a post I wrote on it long ago: http://crayonwishesandpopsicledreams.com/day-11-be-the-person-that-you-want-your-child-to-be-compassion/
Cindy! Thank you for mentioning that. I get Prayer Point, too and thought about even linking it in this post. I LOVE the idea of the map and glow-in-the-dark stars! What a cool visual. Thanks for the inspiration!
a
Hey Amanda! First time to ever comment on a blog. I’m a Mom of three and a Children’s Minister. Wanted to let you know you can get THUMB cards for very inexpensive at the International Mission Board website. Look under children’s resources. You can also get great maps etc. Just ordered some for our church mission classes in preparation for next fall. There’s some great stuff there. I got one of the lost people-groups map to put up near our kitchen table as we try to be more intentional about praying. Keep the ideas and encouragement coming!
Thank you for directing me to IMB, Danta! I saw those on Pinterest while I was searching but could never get to an active link.
(And thanks for commenting on my blog for your first-ever time. *grin*)
a
Oh, and here’s the link if anyone wants it: http://imbresources.org/index.cfm/product/detail/prodID/2158
Thanks for the info! We just ordered some prayer cards!
Well, what timing…I read this blog entry last week and then at church on Sunday, they passed out little hand-shaped cards with 1) a name of a child in the church and 2) a name of a child in Uganda — that we could pray for every night! We got a “hand” for each of my daughters so we can prayer together for the 2 kids…one near and one far.
This will be a fun month! Thanks for the inspiration and motivation!
I love that idea! And how cool that your church did that for you guys. LOVE IT!
a