Mini-Missionaries

                         

                                                                                             The photos below were drawn before we left by teams of siblings as they tried to envision what they

    thought their family would look like in El Salvador.  
(click on the picture for a closer look) 

                                                                          

I love the fact that this trip is a FAMILY mission trip. Parents and kids get to serve the Lord side by side as a family. I LOVE that! Did you know that almost half of this mission team is composed of kids!? Out of 27 people on the trip, there are 12 kids under the age of 12! Our airplane will be full of mini missionaries. This is a first for CCBC to bring so many kids on a trip overseas and I hope that it won’t be the last!

Even as children, if these kids are believers in Jesus, they are just as much called to the Great Commission as us adults. Jesus didn’t say, “Go and make disciple of all nations only if you are legally an adult over age 18…” No! I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the disciples Jesus was talking directly to at this moment were indeed under 18. In fact, the Bible is chock-full of examples of God using the youngest believers to further His kingdom. There is Samuel, King David, King Josiah, Mary the mother of Jesus, some of Jesus' disciples, and Paul's trainee Timothy, just to name a few. God has always used the young to make His name great!

If you have been a part of the children’s ministry at CCBC in any way, I just want to say thank you. As the kids on our trip have gone through CCBC’s children’s ministry, they have been trained well for the task ahead as they go to make disciples in El Salvador. In the children’s ministry, sharing the gospel with every single kid that walks through the doors is a huge priority. But it doesn’t stop after a kid becomes saved, that is when the discipleship begins. They are then trained in ways to share the gospel with others as mini-missionaries. They are given tools to use, such as evangecubes or color-coded bracelets, which help to tell the story of Salvation. For the kids going on our trip, sharing the gospel isn’t something new that they have to figure out. They are ready! In one of our meetings before the trip, we were practicing sharing the Gospel in front of everyone using an evangecube and one of our mini-missionaries explained it so well, so clearly, and so confidently.  She, and all the other kids, have been trained well by both their parents and their church.

I am so excited to see the ways in which God uses these children to further His kingdom in El Salvador. As a Mommy, I am especially excited to see how God uses the youngest member of our team, my 11 month old baby,to bring Him glory too! The kids will be able to minister in ways that adults wouldn’t be able to. They will better be able to connect to the Salvadorian children. The childlike faith may be the thing that encourages a grown-up if they have unsure faith. As we visit homes together as family units, we hope that the Salvadorian’s hearts will be softened toward us as we relate to them family to family. If strangers from another country came knocking on your door, wouldn’t you be more likely to listen to them if they had cute little kids by their side!? Of course! But not only will those kids be able to minister to the Salvadorians well, but I know they will be such examples to us grown-ups from Christ Chapel too.

I pray that 2 Timothy 4:12 becomes true for them:

 “Let no one despise you because of your youth, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”