Mission Giving: “Can’t you do just a little bit more?”
As Christian families, we need God’s perspective on finances, and a vision for how our resources can help to expand His kingdom – especially in tough times.
In our family’s living room, a small handcrafted treasure chest displays simple coins from around the world. Most of the pieces are dull and worn, while some a new and shiny. Our children often enjoy fingering the various francs from France, pulas from Botswana, and euros from Europe, to mention just a few. My favorite is an intricate gold-and-silver-colored piece from Italy, although, as with most of these coins, I have no idea of its worth. Some of the coins are no longer in circulation; some of the countries they’re from no longer exist. All are simply extra pocket change left over from years of past mission trips, each saved as little souvenirs and little reminders that money is only a temporary “little thing.” Each coin is (or was) valuable only because some government somewhere determined it would have value.
But money is also a “big thing” – and we can’t underestimate the importance of training our children to have a godly perspective toward money and financial stewardship.
Our money represents our life; our time, our talents, our education and experiences, and our priorities. In fact, if we really want to find out what is important to us, we can simply look back through our checkbooks and credit card statements over the past few months. Our true priorities are right there in black and white (or red!); and the numbers don’t lie.
It’s really very simple. If we have a heart for the Lord and for the lost, we will give our resources to glorify Him and to help spread His Gospel message; and if our children are raised with this perspective, it will affect their bottom-line attitude toward the purpose of money. Both parents and children need to acknowledge regularly that everything we have ultimately belongs to God: our life is God’s, our home (or bedroom) is God’s, our car (or bicycle, or special toy) is God’s, our money is God’s.
We’re all simply stewards of God’s “stuff.”During the Great Depression of the 1930s, J.G. Morrison urged Nazarenes to increase missionary support, as he earnestly pleaded:
“Can’t you do just a little bit more?”When times are tough, our families need to “sow in famine” (like Isaac in Genesis 26:12) and “lay up treasures in heaven” (like Jesus commanded in Matthew 6:20). Physical needs worldwide are greater than ever; orphan children desperately need help; sacrificing missionaries need continual support and prayers; and billions of people need to hear the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.
During today’s economic downturn, let’s do more for the needs of world missions. Let’s be faithful stewards of the many resources God has given us, and let’s encourage our children to participate.
As mission-minded families, let’s do just a little bit more.
This article by Ann Dunagan, is an excerpt from her newest book, The Mission-Minded Family – Releasing Your Family to God’s Destiny (Authentic Media). It is also published on The Christian Post’s “Better Parenting – Better Families” blog.
Exciting International Adventures!!!
Throughout the years, our family’s international travels have led to amusing encounters, humorous misunderstandings, and hilarious adventures. When we have an opportunity to share about world missions (especially when we’re talking with kids and teenagers) we often enjoy sharing a few of our funny missions stories or exciting adventures.
Being mission-minded is not boring!
Machu Picchu, Peru – South America
Right now, our oldest son, Patrick (who just completed his commission in the USMC, as a commanding officer in Ground Intelligence), is now on a ’round-the-world adventure (not as for military or missions work, but simply for a personal experience).
This week, he’s in South America; he just completed a 4-day trek to visit Machu Picchu in PERU . . . and we’re all curious where he’s heading next . . .
All across the globe . . .
In just a few days, Josh & Anna Dunagan (our son and daughter-in-law) will be heading to COSTA RICA, Central America — with Gospel Projects International — on a mission trip to distribute Bibles door-to-door with a missionary family, and to minister in street evangelism.
Our oldest daughter Christi (who is engaged to be married in June to Trae Childs — a third-generation missionary from NIGER — in West Africa) will be ministering with Ann at several DARING DAUGHTER events in March, to encourage teen girls for world missions.
and our college son Daniel (who is also engaged to be married in June to his sweetheart, Anna, and currently working in the ORU missions department) is excited about being a part a college mission outreach in June to GERMANY — in Europe.
Missions can be extremely fun!
Although international missions work often means adjusting to curious cuisine and challenging conditions, it can also be extremely fun. Our family has enjoyed Polynesian snorkeling, European museums, African safaris, Middle Eastern camel “excursions,” South American professional soccer games, and Australian boat rides. Take our word for it — or better yet, try it yourself — missions is definitely not boring!
More about our family’s international mission ADVENTURES
Balancing Missions & Family
How can we balance our passion for missions with our hearts for our homes? Do we have to choose between “raising our kids” and “reaching the lost”—or is it possible to do both?
As parents, we’re called to raise our kids; and as Christians, we’re called to reach the lost. We really can’t fulfill one of these callings, if we choose to neglect the other.
As I was writing The Mission-Minded Family, I felt especially led to evaluate the homes and family-lives of well-known missionaries. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long to realize that many missionary heroes with families were not heroes of the family. Some of the most prominent names in mission history had horrible problems at home; while other leaders (such as William and Catherine Booth of the Salvation Army or Hudson and Maria Taylor) found a powerful ministry-family balance.
As I began to delve deeper into these examples, I searched for clues and common-denominators for those godly world-changing leaders who had God-glorifying homes. And I believe I found the key. It’s PRAYER. The men and women of God who focused primarily on seeking the Lord and their personal devotion to Him (rather than focusing on a merely a successful ministry) seemed to find God’s divine balance for each day. As a result, not only did their ministries glorify God, but their families did as well.
Author and international minister Dr. David Shibley says, “The normal Christian life is anything but balanced, as popularly defined . . . The normal Christian life is high risk and high joy. The normal Christian life releases the temporal to embrace the eternal . . . God is not calling us to win the world and, in the process, lose our families. But I have known those who so enshrined family life and were so protective of “quality time” that the children never saw the kind of consuming love that made their parents’ faith attractive to them. Some have lost their children, not because they weren’t at their soccer games or didn’t take family vacations, but because they never transmitted a loyalty to Jesus that went deep enough to interrupt personal preferences.”
I want my family to have that kind of consuming love, with high risk and high joy. I want to live out my faith in a way that is not only attractive, but also compelling and irresistible! I want to be moved by the passions of God’s heart—and for my kids to take these godly passions to a deeper level. I want to hand off the baton to my descendants, and have them run faster and farther than I ever did.
Let’s raise our kids; let’s reach the lost; and let’s challenge the next generation to live for God with even greater boldness, wisdom, and effectiveness. Through Christ, all things are possible.
A Special Day with the Children
Jon just returned from a wonderful time with the kids at Harvest Ministry’s orphanage. We had a special “SPORTS DAY” to celebrate the end of the school term, with all kinds of races, cultural contests, singing, and dancing. This 4-minute video includes special praise reports about two special kids: Justine & Eliman. Justine is now excelling at KING’S COLLEGE; she ranks in the top academic percentile in the nation; and in this exclusive secondary school, she ranks #5 out of all of these top 77 students which is a huge “boost” to all of the children and to our school and teachers!. Eliman recently had surgery on his CLUB FOOT – He used to be called the little “lame boy” but now he can walk and RUN! Praise Jesus! God has a huge love for orphans, and so do we!
Thank you for loving these precious children! Please keep everyone in your prayers!
Mentor Families with a FREE study guide
We see a great need to motivate Christian families for local and international missions. Harvest Ministry has put together a 4-week study guide utilizing our mission-minded set: The Mission-Minded Child, Mission-Minded Family and/or The Scarlet Cord.
MISSION-MINDED Study Guide!
Mission-Minded Families – Small Group Study Guide
Suggested value: $9.99
Available now: FREE
FREE 4-week study guide Download NOW.
(30 pages. PDF format.) Click here < < < ---
The study, designed for small groups and mentoring (for church home groups, women’s studies, families, or personal use – FREE – for a limited time).
This guide utilizes The Mission-Minded Child, The Mission-Minded Family and/or The Scarlet Cord: Nothing but the Blood of Jesus
If you are leading a small group, be sure to see The Mission-Minded Child + The Mission-Minded Family + The Scarlet Cord Our 3-Book SPECIAL — CLICK HERE
See also our new vision for Family Leadership Online!
“Missions is not just for missionaries;
God’s call is for all!”
— Jon & Ann Dunagan, The Mission-Minded Family
Girls Dorm at GUMA!
Providing a Safe Place for the Teenage Girls
UGANDA, EAST AFRICA — This past year, God provided for Harvest Ministry to build a beautiful new high school for the older orphan youth at Guma Na Yesu (Keep with Jesus) Children’s Center in Mbabara, Uganda — Kingdom Vocational Secondary School.
What a joy this has been and such an answer to prayer!
Our Next Project at Guma: A Girls Dorm!
Now, our next LOVING ORPHANS project in Uganda is to provide a safe place for 150 teenage girls to live: a new girls DORM building!
How you can help:
Giving toward this need is a great opportunity to make a lasting difference in the lives of many orphan girls and youth.
- This GIRLS DORM will provide a SAFE and close PLACE for teenage orphan girls to live, in a caring Christian environment, with daily prayer and spiritual support.
- The addition of a NEW BUILDING to sleep 150 students will be a long-term blessing to all of Guma Na Yesu Children’s Center.
- In addition to providing housing for our older teenage orphan girls, this DORM building will make it possible for Christian students from the community (who desire to attend a Christian high school and who will be paying for their education and housing) to live on campus. This will help to provide ongoing income to the Loving Orphan ministry and enable the national ministers and school to become increasingly self-sufficient in years to come. It’s a huge blessing and very important for our long-term vision.
A testimony from one girl . . .
“I’m an orphan, but now I’m okay. I study well. I sleep well. And I thank God because of this Bible. I was having a desire in my heart and prayed to God for a Bible just this size . . . and God has done it for me.”— Jolly Casandi
Did you know?
Every day, over 5,760
more children become orphans.
Every 2.2 seconds,
another orphan ages out of the system
with no family and no home.
This orphan project will provide a safe and joyful place
for 150 high school girls to live
while they are receiving a quality Christian education.
“For in you the orphan finds mercy.”
–Hosea 14:3
Location: Mbarara, Uganda — East Africa
The Vision: A Dorm for 150 Teen Girls
Equipping the Dorm — Beds, Mattresses, Pillows!!!
Inside the building, we will need to provide bunk beds,
mattresses and pillows for each of the teen girls.Bunk Bed: $35/person
Mattress: $30/person
Pillow: $3/person
The total cost per girl will be about $68/person.This building will provide safe and loving housing for 150 teen girls.
(This photo shows some younger boys at Guma Na Yesu – Keep With Jesus – Children’s Center, to give a visual of the bunk beds, pillows and mattresses needed for the DORM.)
How YOU Can Help:
SUPPORT LOVING ORPHANS in EAST AFRICA
EXCITING NEWS!!! — During this dorm project, all LOVING ORPHANS gifts to Harvest Ministry will be matched by a loving sponsor, until the building is complete. It’s a great time to see your mission giving DOUBLED to help orphans.(To give online, click ADD TO CART below. You can designate any amount.)
Or, if you prefer, you can send your MISSION GIFT for LOVING ORPHANS in the mail.
Write checks to HARVEST MINISTRY and put “Loving Orphans — Uganda Dorm Project” on the memo line. All mission gifts for this project will be doubled.)
Send to:
Harvest Ministry
PO Box 727
Hood River, OR 97031Please keep this project in your prayers!
GOD BLESS YOU!!!
Sharing the LOVE of Jesus . . . in Costa Rica!
Today, Josh & Anna Dunagan are flying to COSTA RICA on an exciting new mission adventure . . . to share the love of Jesus in Central America!
This past year, Josh & Anna started a children’s home in India, launched a remote Bible school, and began supporting four full-time national ministers. Now, they’re branching out into new countries and with increased vision to expand the Kingdom of God and to bring light into dark areas. And just recently (in January, 2012), these awesome young mission-minded newlyweds launched out from Harvest Ministry to establish a new mission called GOSPEL PROJECTS INTERNATIONAL.
Mission to Costa Rica – in Central America
On this mission in Costa Rica, Josh & Anna will minister to people on the streets and distribute Bibles door-to-door (working with our missionary friends Steve & Elizabeth Gilroy). As they were getting ready to go, Anna wrote:
As we prepare to leave for our trip to Costa Rica, we are so excited to see how the Lord will use us to minister to the lost and hurting and most of all, win souls for the Kingdom of God! Please keep us in your prayers, we will be meeting up with a missionary family in Costa Rica to: help with a Bible distribution program and minister to ladies who have been trapped in prostitution and human trafficking.
Please keep them in prayer!
You can read more about Josh & Anna’s mission to Costa Rica – – – > >
on their recent GPI news update.
The Challenge: DAY 10 – God’s Commands #5
His TRUTH
Welcome to DAY 10 of the 40-Day Mission-Minded FAMILY CHALLENGE!
Today your family will learn the HAND COMMANDS (finger motions) for the Ten Commandments #9 and #10 – about being truthful (not lying, or bearing false witness against our neighbor), and not coveting.
Day 10 of the 40-Day Mission-Minded FAMILY CHALLENGE – daily encouragement to become more effective for eternity. Today focuses on Commandments #9 & #10, with the HAND COMMANDS, along with surrendering everything to follow Jesus.
C’mon . . . Take the Challenge!
- Recommended Mission Resource: M.A.P.S. for KIDS – Missions Adventure Preparation School – a FREE Mission-Minded Vacation Bible School Curriculum
- HAND COMMANDS – The Ten Commandments for Little Ones
- Missionary Quote by Keith Green
- Geography Quiz at lizardpoint.com: MIDDLE EAST
- Memory Verse: Matthew 19:21 (read in context: Matthew 19:16-22)
A few questions for feedback:
Discuss Commandment #9 – As a family, do you speak God’s TRUTH? Are there times that you may tell only “part” of the truth, or mislead others by not giving full information? Do you ever struggle with lying or being deceptive? (Does your mind ever ponder or “camp too long” on lies of the enemy? Do you ever think about these lies, or speak them to others, even to yourself, rather than God’s TRUTH?)
Commandment #10 – What does it mean to “covet”? Sometimes, by merely going “window shopping” too often, or browsing through store catalogs too frequently, it can lead to “coveting” unneccesary things. As a family, discuss being content with what you have. (And would you be willing to be content if God asked your family to live a simpler life for His purposes?) Discuss the story of Jesus and the rich young ruler: What did Jesus ask of this man? Has God ever presented you with “one thing” to surrender? If God asks anything (or everything!!!) of you, don’t go away sad. Respond to Jesus, and follow Him fully!!!
Our HMFI Vision (with a video testimony)
Harvest Ministry Fellowship International (HMFI) is a missions outreach of Harvest Ministry, to SERVE remote village churches and ministers.
Listen to a video testimony from a national pastor from Uganda, East Africa. Pastor Frank is a HMFI Zone Leader who helps oversee village pastors. He shares how the vision and fellowship of HMFI has been a blessing to him and to his congregation and community.
Harvest Ministry Fellowship International
H.M.F.I. is an international fellowship of Christian ministers and churches.
The vision of this non-denominational fellowship is to provide members with ministry accountability and identity, spiritual covering, fellowship with other ministers, and training for godly leadership. The purpose of H.M.F.I. is to unite ministers and churches to more effectively advance God’s Kingdom.
The Challenge: DAY 9 – God’s Commands #4
His DESTINY
Welcome back to DAY 9 of the 40-Day Mission-Minded FAMILY CHALLENGE!
Today your family will learn the HAND COMMANDS (finger motions) for Commandments #7 and #8 – about keeping thoughts and actions pure (not committing adultery or “allowing” it into your home via movies or other media!!) and not stealing.
C’mon . . . Take the Challenge!
- Recommended Mission Resource: The Mission-Minded Family
- HAND COMMANDS – The Ten Commandments for Little Ones
- Missionary Quote by William Carey
- Geography Quiz at lizardpoint.com: MIDDLE EAST
- Memory Verse: Romans 12:1-2
A few questions for feedback:
Discuss Commandment #7 – As a family, how are you keeping your thoughts and actions pure? Do you have standards and guards over the media entering your home? Do you have boundaries (even for moms and dads) to protect marriage purity (such as not being alone with someone of the opposite gender, guarding unnecessary phone conversations or copying-in your spouse on emails or online networking)? Are each of your kids and teens guarding God’s best (in their thoughts, actions, and modesty) for their future spouse and marriage? How?? (Do you know of resources that have helped your family in this area? If so, let us know. It’s important for mission-minded training!!!! For teens, it’s also a good day to focus on God’s definition of marriage as ONE MAN and ONE WOMAN, for life!!!)
Commandment #8 – Is your family honest before God (and not “stealing” in regards to even little things)? Does your family ever borrow things – even from siblings – and not bother to return them? Are you, as a family and as individuals, faithful to your giving to the Lord (see Malachi 3:8-12 about “robbing” God)?
