May 01, 1986 by Jane K.

Let's face it, missionaries are doing a great job! Eighty five per cent of them work where a church has been established. Unfortunately, 100,000 individuals will die every day never having heard of Jesus Christ, and another 100,000 will die every day who have had the opportunity, but were not exposed to Christ's teachings.

Paul took Christ's assignment with a vengeance, and did a spectacular job of witnessing and making believers of men. What he could have done with today's advanced technology boggles the mind! Think of the time saved and the ground covered, if he could have flown from country to country. Typewriters and computers could have typed, recorded, and/or translated sermons and letters making them available for today's use.

Each of us can make a commitment to do our share in helping to spread Gods Word both at home and to far' reaching corners of the world. We can pray, contribute money, lend encouragement through letters and tapes to people laboring in the missionary field, and we should never pass up a chance to witness.

What can Sunday School teachers do to alert their students to the importance of mission wart? Too often we consign missions education to a missionary committee, or an annual conference. Sunday school offers an opportunity to turn mission work into an on going experience. Here's an idea: encourage each child to select his or her favorite mission project

Effective mission projects extend for two or three months. Projects can be selected by a Sunday school mission board, the teachers, or the superintendent, but class members have hue or no voice in the matter. So when its time for a fresh mission project, don't be afraid to expend extra effort involving as many students as possible. Come to class armed with information about not one, but several mission projects. It may be doing something special for a missionary your church supports. It may be a mission church, an Indian reservation missionary, Bible translations: the list is endless. Discuss each proposed subject with your class, answering all the questions you can. Encourage youngsters to think and pray about three of the suggested mission projects during the coming week, and to select a personal favorite by the next Sunday.

When the following Sunday arrives, bring out a supply of all kinds of containers; from plastic tubs to styrofoam hamburger boxes, from wide, mouthed jars to small cardboard containers. Let each child select one container to decorate so that it becomes a personalized, custom made, mission project bank. Store the banks in a safe place during the week, but be sure to have them waiting for the mission offerings on a very visible table or shelf when the first children arrive each Sunday.

Not only do youngsters enjoy having a personal bank, but they like to see the offerings grow from Sunday to Sunday. You might suggest that the children keep a mission bank at home, in case parents or relatives would like to contribute. This provides a way for each child to share his knowledge of his chosen mission project, That knowledge is important. Encourage your class to do extra research on the mission projects they have chosen, and arrange class time forthem to share new information with classmates. By the end of the project your children will be much more knowledgeable about all three of the mission ministries bum listening and telling.

But the raising of mission consciousness need not end with the project itself. When the specified time finishes, send each child's money separately to the selected project. Enclose a stamped envelope with the child's name and address on from Add a brief note suggesting that a receipt and a return note be sent to the child, thus making missions more personal and meaningful. Patents should be informed that the child's name will be added to the mission's mailing list, and that the child will receive future reports and literature from that mission field. Best of all, children will learn how necessary and fruitful contributing to missions can be.

Be careful to deemphasize the amount each child gathers and sends since some will have more than others. The issue is interest, learning, and prayer, rather than the amount contributed,

Pew books on evangelism and/or mission work have been printed to help us prepare for this ministry. The Global Prayer Digest is a monthly periodical which furnishes information and encouragement through 'a daily discipline of teaming, praying, and giving help to people who do riot yet have a church in their own cultural or social setting". The Global Prayer Digest (U.S. Center for World Mission, Frontier Fellowship, 1605 Elizabeth Street, Pasadena, California 91104) makes an ideal teaching tool to keep world missions alive for youngsters.

One final point your eagerness and desire to share the importance of mission work is the best 'grabber' you can offer. Like most things in teaching, the teachear's own enthusiasm can be contagious.