District Children's Missions Rally

[Wilson L. Deaton]

Diana Long (NazNetter Jon Long's wife) and I took nine kids to a district children's missions rally today. It made for a lengthy day: Including the drive we were gone from 8:30 to 5:30.

The rally was great featuring Nazarene Missionaries James and Joy Johnson of the Asia Pacific Region (specifically Samoa, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Austrialia, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Solomon Islands).

The rally was arranged something like VBS where the kids were divided by age and then moved from area to area for time with the missionary, games, story, and a craft. All this plus joint meetings at beginning, end, and for lunch.

The whole event was arranged around the theme, "Great Mission Mystery." The kids were given the assignment of discovering the answer to the question, "Why do missionaries do what they do?"

I had a great time spending time with an age group I don't have as much contact with. We have some awesome kids here in Kenosha!!!

Wilson

[David Cash]

I'm grateful that I was raised in a missions-oriented environment. Even though most of us aren't going overseas anytime soon, it is really good that the church is exposing kids to missions.

As an aside, have you ever thought of the cultural heritage church kids pick up that they might not get from the world? Where else can a five-year old go and listen to a man or woman talking about what it's like to live in Mozambique, Haiti, or Siberia? (And yes, even if the talk is boring, the tiger skins, arrowheads, and witchdoctor hats do get kid's attention.) Where else can a schoolboy go and hear a native minister from another land come and speak? It helps generate a global consciousness and love for people in other cultures among other things. And that's not even getting into the important part of teaching the young ones the importance of world evangelism.

David Cash