[NOTE: This week’s guest post comes from Jessica Markwood. To learn more about Jessica, check out her bio at the end of today’s post.]
We often joke about praying for missionaries to rise up and spread the Gospel in this dark world … but that they’ll be someone else’s children. It’s difficult to wish our children into the sin-sick world where they risk disappointment, rejection, and their very lives. But it’s into that world that God sent His own Son, and the world into which God sends His children – perhaps your children – still. In a world increasingly harder to reach we must influence the youth in our lives to go increasingly farther. We must foster faith in them that carries Christ into the workplace, classroom, ghettoes, public sphere, and unreached ends of the earth. If we want children to grow in Christ we must prepare them to go for Christ.
Let them see you
The best way to encourage the young people in your life to live missionally is to set an example of living missionally. The only way to truly teach the Great Commission is to live it. Exemplifying a passion for God, dedication to prayer, drive toward evangelism, love for truth, submission to others, detachment from materialism, joy in living, and hope for Heaven will inspire the same in others.
Let them see God
The world doesn’t hold back any punches when it comes to living faithfully. Nothing challenges my faith more than encountering the struggles of a lost world. Regurgitating a family member’s faith doesn’t solve the problem of evil, eradicate poverty, save those who have never heard the gospel, explain the Trinity, or answer any number of difficult questions that the world asks. Children have to be personally transformed by the gospel before they can transform others with it. Raise them in spirit and in truth, but also to seek spirit and truth for themselves.
Let them see the world
Many of us are afraid of the world – for good reason. The news shows us war, pestilence, poverty, and corruption. But it’s far scarier than the media portrays. The world is terrifying because so much of it operates outside of the Kingdom of God. But for those within the Kingdom the world offers an incredible opportunity to bring hope to beautiful people of a despairing world. Families can neither shield children from the realities of the world nor paint a picture of the world bent on destruction. Children must be able to seek the good in the world, because they will never seek to save something they do not love. Just as God loved the world in such a way that He gave up his Son for it, so we must love the world enough to give up our children to advance Christ’s kingdom in it.
Let them experience diversity
Like a lot of other kids who were raised in the church, I grew up in a bubble. Everyone with whom I interact is just like me. Luckily, I had a pretty porous bubble that afforded me opportunities to interact with people of various worldviews. We are called to go into the world, but thanks to globalization, much of the world has come to us. Just outside the bubble stand people of various ages, backgrounds, economic brackets, ethnicities, political stances, sexual orientations, religious beliefs, and opinions. The experiences that expanded my comfort zone made the words “Muslim,” and “drug addict,” and “atheist” more than abstract groups of people. They are names. Those names are some of my biggest motivators to study Scripture, share Christ, and serve others. Effective missions are not fueled by intellect or obligation, but love.
Let them do what they love
We tend to limit our understanding of ministry. What’s so incredible about the body of Christ is that it doesn’t only function behind a pulpit, but also in the classroom, on the ball field, on social media, across the street, and across the world. I once thought the only thing I could do was teach children’s class, and let me tell you – children’s class is not my forte. As I grew I realized that there were infinite opportunities to minister to others doing things that I loved. The best way to ensure that your child loves ministry wherever they are is to teach them how to make ministries out of the things they love. Every passion is a way to reach a different group of people with a different service in a different way. Don’t put ministry in a box – make ministry their world.
Let them do the impossible
Nicholas Kristof, a non-religious human rights journalist, recently wrote an article about “Dr. Tom,” a Christian doctor diligently serving in the rural Nuba Mountains of South Sudan. Kristof notes, “…the people I’ve encountered over the years in the most impossible places – like Nuba, where anyone reasonable has fled – are disproportionately unreasonable because of their faith.” The Gospel often calls upon the unreasonable to attempt the unreasonable for a God who can do far beyond reason. Jesus, meek and mild, also calls for the extravagant. The faith to which we are called moves mountains into the sea, pushes camels through needle eyes, and prevails against the gates of hell. Let childlike faith pursue great things for God, even if they seem naïve or impossible. For what is impossible with man, and what you may think is impossible with your children, is possible with God.
If we’re going to raise children to be faithful, we must also raise them to be missional. Faith in Christ and participation in His mission are inseparable. As we strive to see the next generation progress and be better off than we are, may we not forget to mold people with faith that is stronger, influence that is wider, and love that is fiercer than ours – even when it scares us. Because the Great Commission is not only a command, but a promise from the omnipotent Lord to all who follow it. “And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
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Jessica Markwood is a student at Harding University and a member of the Lebanon Road church of Christ in Nashville. She has been on numerous mission trips in the states and around the world, and has a heart for missions. Check out her blog, “Rivers and Roads.”
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Photo background credit: sigmama on Creative Commons