What’s Up with CMD?

I Thought It was in February!

In case you haven’t noticed, Children’s Missions Day has moved from February to September! When presented with the opportunity to move the date, members of our Children’s Resource Team quickly realized that moving CMD to September could really be a game changer for churches, children’s groups, and communities. It eliminates the hassle of worrying about winter weather, and it can possibly serve as a great back-to-school (and church) event. Exciting all the way around!

This year’s theme, Trusting All the Way, will give you plenty of opportunities to discuss the trust Christians put in God and His will for their lives. Christian workers living around the globe, Christians working in secular work, and believers living everyday, normal lives have all put their trust in God’s desire for them. We want kids to learn that they can trust God all the way through their lives—and CMD is a great place to start trusting.

Consider these thoughts as you begin to plan now for September’s Trusting All the Way  Children’s Missions Day event in your church or community:

• Trust: Begin discussing what it means to trust God, especially with younger children. Because trust is not a concrete noun, it can be hard for younger children to grasp this concept. Make sure you show personal ways you have trusted God and His plan for your life as well as how God has shown you that you can continue to trust in His plan for you.
• Plan: Encourage your children and their families to help plan your CMD outreach event. Remind them that your group needs to share God’s love with others while they are showing they do trust God! Look around your community. Where are the needs? Make sure that during the project, kids will have ample time to say, “God loves me, and He loves you, too!” to someone as they work, clean, organize, and minister to your community.
• Promote: Invite everyone in your church congregation to take part in CMD this year. While your goal should be to have children lead the way, families and congregation members can play supporting roles by providing supplies, transportation, and encouragement.

Keep in mind that the purpose of CMD is to encourage kids to be in their community and to show God’s love to someone who may be unchurched. This is going to look different for every group, so choose a project that will truly benefit your kids and community. Some groups will find it easy to find a project to do for a local homeless shelter, while others will find a great project in baking and delivering treats to a police station. Others may even decide to host a tailgate event at a high school’s first football game! (Go team!) Whatever you choose, make it fun for the kids and make sure they have a super-easy—and effective—way to let everyone know they trust God and want others to, also!

If your group is used to having CMD in February, go ahead and plan an event for this month, but mark September 17 on your calendar to have another CMD event. Why not generate more excitement by hosting one now and then kicking off your school year with a CMD event with other groups from across the country in September?

I’m looking forward to seeing how your kids impact your community in September. Send pictures and stories to children@wmu.org.

See you in September!