Give Thanks for Your Mission Friends

“I’ll be in first grade next year, so I won’t be in Mission Friends,” Konner informed us with a serious expression. He was talking to me and my Mission Friends co-leader. With the way he said this in a consoling tone, it was like he was preparing us to be without him when he soon promotes to the children’s area.

Note the Changes

Oh, how we have enjoyed Konner and all of our Mission Friends this year! I look back over the year in Mission Friends and see how they have grown. Our kindergartners certainly look like first graders now, and are able to read some words. Those who were two-years-old back in September have lost their baby faces. Those twos were clingy and cried at the beginning of each session, but now they run excitedly into our Mission Friends room. For that I give thanks!

Signs of Growth

I am also thankful for the ways our Mission Friends have grown in missions throughout the past year. When my church started Mission Friends at the beginning of the school year, we had not had Mission Friends for a year and a half because of the pandemic. Our preschoolers had not been hearing about missionaries consistently, so there was no response when I asked, “What is a missionary?” A few weeks ago I asked the same question and had multiple responses: “They help people,” “They give food to people,” and “They go around the world and tell people about Jesus.”

Consider and Give Thanks

Think about the preschoolers in your Mission Friends group. Give thanks for the ways they have grown this year in learning about missions. Did preschoolers grow in prayer as you led them to pray for missionaries and the people they serve? Did you involve your Mission Friends in giving to missions through the missions offerings? How did their heart for others grow as you involved them in Helping Others activities? Take a moment to give thanks for these ways your preschoolers have grown.

Thank You!

Thank you for leading and loving preschoolers by teaching Mission Friends this year. As they played cardboard guitars for the Nashville unit or built that German castle, you told your preschoolers about the missionaries and how they tell others about Jesus. You have served the Lord as you helped preschoolers grow in missions. For all you have done to help preschoolers grow toward God throughout this year, we give thanks.