Quick Guide for Planning Your Children’s Missions Day 2023 Project
Children’s Missions Day 2023 will be here soon! On September 16! This year’s Children’s Missions Day (CMD) theme is Operation Education. How can the children in your group serve local schools through a project that demonstrates the love of God?
Here’s a quick guide to help you plan and execute your group’s CMD project and help children learn how to do missions!
Think About “Education”
Every child in your children’s missions discipleship group attends school, whether they are in a public school, private school, or they are homeschooled.
Just think about all the people they come into contact with every school day: bus drivers, teachers, administrators, librarians, counselors, lunch workers, custodians, crossing guards, coaches, office staff . . . what a big missions field!
Before we can do missions, we have to know with whom we are sharing the gospel. Introduce CMD 2023 to your group and help children think about the people they meet when they go to school.
Use a whiteboard or a big sheet of butcher paper to list people and their jobs. Remind children that God loves each of the people they mention. Tell them God has placed those people in their life for many reasons, and one reason is for them to know God loves them!
Plan Your Project
Encourage the children in your missions discipleship group and their families to participate in planning the CMD outreach project.
Ask children to decide who they want to minister to (point them back to the list on your whiteboard or butcher paper). When that is decided, discuss how your group can help meet their needs. This might mean collecting specific items, cleaning or organizing, or painting or building something.
Whatever you decide as a group, make sure kids will have ample time to say or express to the people they are ministering to: God loves me and He loves you too!
The Missions Journey: Kids Annual Planning Kit 2023–24 and the children’s digital packages for 2023–24 include everything you need to plan, promote, and execute your best Children’s Missions Day yet!
Don’t forget to order Operation Education badges/patches for your children to recognize their efforts!
Promote
Allow the children in your group to encourage and set an example for your church congregation. Give them opportunities to invite their families and the church to play supporting roles by providing supplies, transportation, and encouragement. You may even have people from your local school system in your congregation you could ask for help and ideas as you plan!
Help children create posters for CMD 2023 to place around the church, share with the congregation on a Sunday morning what they are doing and how the church can help, or encourage them to personally ask Sunday School groups to pray for or give to support their project.
Execute
Did you schedule your event in advance? Have you sent home permission slips? Do you have enough drivers? If you’ve planned everything out, then it’s time to have FUN!
Gather your group for a time of prayer before you leave for doing missions and remind children to tell people, God loves me and He loves you too! And then let the Holy Spirit do the work that only He can do as your group completes their project.
Remember: You are merely planting seeds for a life lived on mission. Each missions discipleship group meeting, each Children’s Missions Day — even the activities and projects you think were a complete bust — all help children see the beautiful life of grace and mercy God has called His followers to live as we share the good news of Jesus with our community. Trust Him! And have a great Children’s Missions Day!
Recognize Children’s Participation
Give the Operation Education Badge/Patch to children in recognition of their participating in Children’s Missions Day 2023 and sharing the love of Jesus Christ with someone in their school system.
Share Your CMD Story
We want to hear how your CMD 2023 Operation Education project went!
Share your photos and stories on social media and tag @nationalwmu and use the hashtag #childrensmissionsday.
You can also share your story and photos with us by filling out the CMD Reporting Form at https://form.jotform.com/72484433458968.
