What is a mission-minded child?
February 24, 2010 by Harvest Ministry
Filed under featured
FOLLOW CAELA’S 1st MISSION TRIP: March 1 - 11, mission-minded Caela Rose Dunagan (age 12) will be going on her first missionary adventure . . . to UGANDA, E. AFRICA!!! She will be accompanying her mom, Ann Dunagan, to checkup on hundreds of children at Harvest Ministry’s two orphanages (Osanidde Village and Guma Na Yesu Children’s Center) and to minister at a Village Women’s Conference.
Stay tuned for Caela’s personal mission updates on our twitter-feed (or see the side bar right here on this website for recent entries) -#CaelaOnMission.
A mission-minded child may want to become a missionary–or a teacher or a doctor or a newspaper reporter or a state governor or a pastor or a businessperson or an airplane pilot or an author or a florist or a mother–as long as its what God wants.
The following excerpt is a highlight from the introduction of The Mission-Minded Child - Raising a New Generation to Fulfill God’s Purpose (Authentic, 2007). Hope you enjoy it!
So, what is a mission-minded child?
A mission-minded child . . .
- dreams of fulfilling God’s destiny.
- prays for that next-door neighbor.
- A mission-minded child may want to become a missionary–or a teacher or a doctor or a newspaper reporter or a state governor or a pastor or a businessperson or an airplane pilot or an author or a florist or a mother–as long as its what God wants.
- is not a picky eater!
- takes home a photo magnet from the visiting missionary family and puts it on the kitchen refrigerator.
- is healthy, active, and adventurous.
- spends a summer night sleeping outside on the trampoline, gazes up at a sky filled with twinkling stars, and realizes God’s plan is infinitely bigger than his or her own backyard.
- imagines rollerblading on the Great Wall of China!
- recognizes the names of David Livingstone, Amy Carmichael, Hudson Taylor, and Loren Cunningham.
- knows how to use chopsticks.
- has a reputation for thoroughly enjoying the Bible sword drills and memory verse contests at church.
- puts extra money in the monthly missions offering and feels extra good inside.
- thinks it could be fun to sleep in a mud hut in Africa!
- reads all the way through the Bible by the age of ten (or eleven or twelve)–and is excited to start again!
- stares at the photos in the new geography textbook or magazine and imagines climbing to the top of that Egyptian pyramid, snorkeling in those tropical-blue waters, and giving a new outfit to that poor boy with the ripped-up shirt.
- befriends the new kid at school.
- thinks beyond the “box” of what’s merely expected and hopes to do something big, or something little, for God.
- wants to obey (even when no one is looking).
- loves Jesus!
For Christian parents and teachers, “world missions” is not just an extracurricular subject to teach our kids, it’s the core of our curriculum. Let’s raise the next generation to have a passion for God’s Great Commission. As Hudson Taylor (a famous missionary to China) often said, “The Great Commission is not an option to consider, it’s a command to obey.”
And how about adding to our list!!! How are you raising your children to have God’s heart for the world and His Great Commission, and in your childrens lives (in day-to-day routines and in your “where-the-rubber-meets-the-road” reality) what is it like to be a genuine mission-minded child in your experience?
Now it’s your turn:
A mission-minded child . . .
Mission-Minded Passports
November 10, 2009 by Harvest Ministry
Filed under featured
Have you considered traveling internationally or taking a family mission trip?
If you want to be a part of God’s Great Commission (Matthew 26:19 and Mark 16:15 – to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel”), here’s a little question with BIG implications:
DO YOU HAVE YOUR PASSPORTS YET?
I just wrote my first article for Heart of the Matter Online, a great homeschooling website. In this article I share instructions to make mission-minded “Passports” — as a fun craft project and learning tool (including a FREE pdf file with passport pages, and links to FREE international flag stamps). I also motivate families to go one step further and to apply for “real” passports. Come take a look! (And it would be wonderful if you could leave an encouraging comment on the Heart of the Matter site! We’re hoping to keep this door open to continue motivating as many homeschooling families as possible to get involved in world missions!)
Click here for PASSPORTS FOR MISSIONS (at Heart of the Matter Online)
Easy-to-make passport crafts are perfect for mission-minded Vacation Bible Schools, Christian school or homeschooling projects for art, Bible, or geography, children’s ministry or Sunday school classes, and for mission-minded families. Spread the word to others. It’s a tool that is available for FREE to motivate children for God’s Great Commission!
Blessings to you!
Ann
FREE Mission Resources for Your Family!
August 22, 2009 by Harvest Ministry
Filed under FREE Resources
At Harvest Ministry, we want to motivate you for missions - and help get your prepared, with your bags “packed-and-ready” for whatever God has planned!
(Also, check-out Ann’s books 
and other Mission-Minded Family Resources!!!)
Freebie #1
Take the 40-Day Mission-Minded FAMILY CHALLENGE!
FREE online mission class with Ann Dunagan - Click here!
In just 4-5 minutes per day you and your family will be encouraged to focus on God’s Great Commandment (to love God and love others) and God’s Great Commission. Progress a lesson a day - Monday through Friday - for eight weeks, or your own pace. Or gather a few families, and encourage others in the challenge!
“It’s eight weeks to becoming more effective . . . for eternity!”
Freebie #2
M.A.P.S. for KIDS! - Missions Adventure Preparation School
FREE Vacation Bible School Curriculum - Click here!
Take a week of the summer to train your church kids for missions! Your missionaries-in-training will “travel” on M.A.P.S. for KIDS International Airlines (with their own “passports”) and through customs officials to learn about the world and famous missionary heroes. They’ll taste international foods, experience daring adventures, make fun crafts, learn how to share the Gospel and pray for the lost, and get ministry training in perhaps puppetry, worship, drama, or how to use the EvangeCube!
“Missions is not just for missionaries! God’s call is for all!”
Freebie #3
Teaching With God’s Heart for the World
FREE 1-year day-by-day homeschool unit study curriculum - Click here!
While your kids are young, devote a year of your homeschooling commitment to establishing in your family a life-long foundational commitment to God’s Great Commission. This one or two-year study presents a whirlwind tour all-throughout-history and all-around-the-world. You will learn the importance of developing a personal devotional life with the Lord and how to develop more of God’s heart for the world and the lost.
“Impart God’s Heart . . . for the World!”
Freebie #4
FREE Homeschool Folder-Charts!
FREE tool to help kids be self-motivated in homeschool - Click here!
This helpful organizational tool is designed for use with the Teaching With God’s Heart for the World Curriculum (although it can also be used with your own curriculum). The feature article includes insight, based on 19 years of first-hand experience, about how to continue in your homeschooling commitment for the “long-haul” (if that’s what God wants for your family) by encouraging your children to become self-motivated and self-disciplined.
Freebie #5
FREE Mission “Passports”!
FREE craft project - to make “Mission-Minded” Passports - Click here!
A great learning tool. FREE PDF files and how-to instructions to make fun passport crafts to encourage children in missions, with a link to FREE coordinating international flag stickers.
FREE Homeschool Curriculum . . . and More!
August 20, 2009 by Harvest Ministry
Filed under FREE Resources
Teaching With God’s Heart for the World
By Ann Dunagan - Illustrated by Brenda Whitmeyer
Publisher: Family Mission-Vision EnterprisesAnn wrote this two-volume world missions curriculum (with over 500 pages) several years ago to assist homeschooling families and Christian educators (in both church settings and in Christian schools) to impart a fervent heart for world missions into the next generation.
The curriculum includes 160 day-by-day teaching plans, missionary highlights, motivational mission stories, crafts, songs, prayer projects, and hundreds of ways to incorporate a passion for the lost into nearly every subject (including Bible Study, Family Devotions, Reading, Writing, Geography, History, Art, Science, and even highlights for Math).
The curriculum presents a “whirlwind tour” of God’s enduring passion for missions, all-the-way-through-history and all-across-the-globe. Using weekly unit-studies, this curriculum is created to be used over a one-year school year, although it can be easily adapted to be used throughout two years. It can be used as a core curriculum guide (for elementary children), or as a supplement to another curriculum. It is written especially for elementary grade levels, but it can also be used for the whole family to study missions together.
Click here for a review on TWGHW by the Old Schoolhouse Magazine
Click here to download VOLUME 1 - Part 1 - FREE!!!
- FILE SIZE: 9.76 MB - 64 pages
- SECTION I - Welcome: Table of Contents, Dedication, Introduction, Suggested Weekly Schedule, Using the Library and Media.
- SECTION II - Building a Foundation for Missions: Our Call, Our Biblical Basis, Our Heritage, Our Missionary Examples
- FILE SIZE: 7.69 MB - 54 pages
- SECTION III - TOOLS FOR TEACHING: General Teaching Helps (with Bible Memory), Music and Missionary Songs, International Holidays,
- Teaching History (and making time lines), Geography and World Maps, Missionary Passport
FILE SIZE: 10.20 MB - 72 pages SECTION IV - DAILY LESSON PLANS: Week 1 - The Gospel We Preach and Personal Prayer, Weeks 2-3 - Our Biblical Basis for Missions (Old Testament - Israel, New Testament - Roman Empire) Weeks 4-7: Medieval Europe, Crusades and Holy Wars, Renaissance and Reformation, Exploration and Colonialization (NOTE: Day 1 is missing in the file. Please CLICK HERE for DAY 1.)
FILE SIZE: 9.57 MB - 64 pages SECTION IV (cont.) - Weeks 8-14: WORLD MISSIONS AROUND THE GLOBE - Western Europe (home of early missionaries), Eastern Europe (the iron curtain and open doors), North America, Quakers and Pilgrims (Thanksgiving Week), Latin America, Asia (Hinduism)
- FILE SIZE: 14.55 MB - 68 pages
- SECTION IV (cont.) - Weeks 15-16 : Far East Asia (Buddhism) and The 10/40 Window
- AVAILABLE MISSION RESOURCES - Extensive reviews and photos of many mission-minded family resources.
Click here to download VOLUME 2 - Part 1 - FREE!!!
- FILE SIZE: 12.93 MB - 72 pages
- Section 1
- FILE SIZE: 11.08 MB - 74 pages
- Section 2
- FILE SIZE: 10.49 MB - 64 pages
- Section 3
- FILE SIZE: 12.84 MB - 76 pages
- Section 4
- FILE SIZE: 16.87 MB - 72 pages
- Section 5
Note: If you’re searching for “Teaching With God’s Heart for the World” as a full curriculum in a two-volume spiral binding printed set, look here.
MORE HELP: Learn more about how you and your kids can make a FREE File-Folder Weekly To-Do Chart - to use with this Teaching With God’s Heart for the World curriculum -
Ann’s Books & Mission-Minded Resources
August 20, 2009 by Harvest Ministry
Filed under FREE Resources, Mission-Minded Books
Books for Families and Children:
Click on each book cover for more information.
IMPACT FAMILIES FOR WORLD MISSIONS
The Mission-Minded Child and The Mission-Minded Family
Both books are now available in BOXES of 12 and CASES of 44 (TMMC) & 48 (TMMF)
to help you & your church or ministry to IMPACT families for MISSIONS!
Free Teaching Materials and Curriculum:
(Mission-Minded Curriculum for Homeschool Families, Churches, & Christian Schools)
Be sure to see all of our FREE Mission-Minded Family Resources!
Articles & Devotionals:
On-Line articles:
- @ Crosswalk.com - Training Teens On-Target - Part I
- @ Crosswalk.com - Training Teens On-Target - Part II
- @ Crosswalk.com - Striking Balance as a Mission-Minded Family
- @ Crosswalk.com - God Has a Mission for Your Family (By Whitney Hopler, featuring Ann’s book, The Mission-Minded Family)
- @ The Christian Post - “Better Parents, Better Families” - Ann is a regular feature writer for this national and international on-line news source.
- @ The International Faith Telegraph - World Christian News & Missions News - Ann has contributed several mission articles for this missions news source.
Example of Ann’s speaking and preaching:
- OCEANetwork - Homeschooling Workshop: “Playing the College Game - Winning Admissions and Scholarships . . . for God’s Glory!”
- OCEANetwork - Homeschooling Workshop: “The Mission-Minded Homeschool - Releasing Your Family to God’s Destiny”
The Challenge: DAY 35 - Get Ready to GO! #5
July 24, 2009 by Harvest Ministry
Filed under 40-Day Mission-Minded Challenge Videos
The EvangeCube
Welcome to DAY 35 of the 40-Day Mission-Minded FAMILY CHALLENGE!
Today’s focus is getting your family ready to GO is learning to use a witnessing tool called the “EvangeCube.” This effective Gospel evangelism tool is effective and fun to use (for all ages), and sometimes called the “Jesus Film” of one-on-one evangelism.
C’mon . . . Take the Challenge!
- Recommended Mission Resources: - More about the EvangeCube
Simply Share Jesus - How to effectively use the EvangeCube- Today’s Mission Quote: “As long as there are millions destitute of the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it will be impossible for me to devote time and energy to those who have both.”" - J. L. Ewen
- Geography Quiz at lizardpoint.com: EUROPE,
- Memory Verses - Learn the Bible verses for the EvangeCube
- Today’s 5-minute online video
The Challenge: DAY 34 - Get Ready to GO! #4
July 23, 2009 by Harvest Ministry
Filed under 40-Day Mission-Minded Challenge Videos
The Gospel Colors
Welcome to DAY 34 of the 40-Day Mission-Minded FAMILY CHALLENGE!
A common children’s witnessing tool is using the “Five Colors” - gold (God wants us to live forever with Him in heaven), black (all have sinned), red (salvation is only possible through the blood of Jesus), white (by God’s grace and faith we can receive forgiveness from sin), and green (God want us to GROW and to GO).
C’mon . . . Take the Challenge!
- Recommended Mission Resources: - The Five Colors, Good News for Children
- Today’s Mission Quote: “This generation of Christians is responsible for this generation of souls on the earth.” - Keith Green
- Geography Quiz at lizardpoint.com: EUROPE,
- Memory Verses - Learn the Bible verses for the Five Colors
- Today’s 5-minute online video
The Challenge: DAY 20 - Beatitudes #5
July 3, 2009 by Harvest Ministry
Filed under 40-Day Mission-Minded Challenge Videos
The PERSECUTED
Welcome to DAY 20 of the 40-Day Mission-Minded FAMILY CHALLENGE!
Today, we are finishing-up our memorizing of the BEATITUDES from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, continuing with Matthew 5, verses 9-10. Today, our mission-minded emphasis is being a PEACEMAKER (we bring the “Gospel of Peace”) and being willing to be PERSECUTED for righteousness.
C’mon . . . Take the Challenge!
- Recommended Mission Resources:
Teaching With God’s Heart for the World, and Voice of the Martyrs - be sure to sign up for their FREE newsletter, and check out their FREE book, Tortured for Christ.- “I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light” - Missionary Quote by John Keith Falconer. Among missionaries, Falconer’s life is often overlooked; yet he greatly impacted the development of early twentieth-century Christian mission to Islam - (1856-87).
- Geography Quiz at lizardpoint.com: REVIEW
OCEANS & CONTINENTS, ASIA,MIDDLE EAST,AFRICA,- Memory Verse: Matthew 5:9-10
- Today’s 5-minute online video
The Challenge: DAY 19 - Beatitudes #4
July 2, 2009 by Harvest Ministry
Filed under 40-Day Mission-Minded Challenge Videos
The MERCIFUL
Welcome to DAY 19 of the 40-Day Mission-Minded FAMILY CHALLENGE!
As we are continuing with our memorizing of the BEATITUDES - with a mission-minded focus - from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, continuing with Matthew 5, verses 7-8. Today, our mission emphasis is being MERCIFUL and PURE in HEART.
C’mon . . . Take the Challenge!
- Recommended Mission Resources:
The Mission-Minded Child, The Mission-Minded Family- Missionary Quote by Ralph Winter - U.S. Center for World Missions
- Geography Quiz at lizardpoint.com: AFRICA
- Memory Verse: Matthew 5:7-8
- Today’s 5-minute online video
The Challenge: DAY 18 - Beatitudes #3
July 1, 2009 by Harvest Ministry
Filed under 40-Day Mission-Minded Challenge Videos
The MEEK
Welcome to DAY 18 of the 40-Day Mission-Minded FAMILY CHALLENGE!
Today’s focus is on being MEEK and being HUNGRY and THIRSTY for righteousness. Throughout this 4th week, we are working through learning and memorizing the BEATITUDES from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, continuing with Matthew 5, verses 5-6.
C’mon . . . Take the Challenge!
- Recommended Mission Resources: The Mission-Minded Child, The Mission-Minded Family, and our FREE - M.A.P.S. for KIDS - Vacation Bible School Curriculum.
- Missionary Quote by Hudson Taylor Also, special feature video about the importance of Bible translation - by Wycliffe Bible Translators
- Geography Quiz at lizardpoint.com: AFRICA
- Memory Verse: Matthew 5:5-6
- Today’s 5-minute online video
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