Latest / 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids. / 4 Ways to Cultivate Missional Prayer in Children w/ Special Guest Jenny Marcelene

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4 Ways to Cultivate Missional Prayer in Children w/ Special Guest Jenny Marcelene · 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids.

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to another episode of the Five Minute Parenting Podcast.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Karen Ferguson, wife, mom, grandmom, and children's book author with a background in K-8 education and a passion for equipping parents to raise confident and God-confident kids.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: In this podcast, we'll cover parenting practices for both a practical view and a biblical view.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: Our goal is to help you raise kids with a positive, godly self-image so they can become all they were created to be.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: I know you're busy, so we'll keep it short.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Let's take just five minutes and dive in.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back to Five Minute Parenting.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Karen, your show host, and today I have Jenny Marceline on the show with us to talk about her debut children's chapter book, To the Ends: The Dreamer, which was released in September through Cala Press Publishing.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's the first book in an exciting world travel adventure series, perfect for Christian kids ages six to ten.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Jenny is a children's author, freelance writer, and content editor for Living by Design Ministries.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: Her publishing credits include The Gospel Coalition, Risen Motherhood, Christian Parenting, Revive Our Hearts, Lifeways Parent Life magazine, and contributions to Wonder Inc.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Sunday School curriculum.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Jenny lived overseas for six years and worked as a kids' ministry coordinator for three years.
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  SPEAKER_01: Her mission is to point families to God's global greatness and to treasure Jesus.
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  SPEAKER_01: Jenny, welcome to the show.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thanks for having me today.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm so glad you're here.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, before we get started with the interview questions, I want to let listeners know that you were so kind to offer a freebie called A Ticket to Afghanistan, a four-day adventure.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: This is a 17-page free download just for families.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: So, listeners, be sure to check that out in the show notes.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: But Jenny, I just want to say congratulations on your debut book to the ends.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's a huge accomplishment.
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  SPEAKER_01: So tell us a little bit about your story publishing this book.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this story, I began to sort of get the idea to step into writing fiction for children four or five years ago.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: And my oldest was really just sort of devouring chapter books, and we were just finding reading through so many so quickly.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so ultimately we began to just need more.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I began to realize there was sort of a gap in having really good, like finding Christian chapter books as well.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so that sort of began a journey for me of combining my passion for God's name to be made great around the globe with um with chapter books.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so I began to sort of work on that a few four or five years ago, began to start working on this um idea.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: And over the years, God has this continued to provide the right people at the right time to develop the right skills to be able to pull together this chapter book series and what we have launching out into the world.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, that's wonderful.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: Well, this book series explores different worldviews from a Christian lens.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Why do you think it's important for families to learn about other worldviews?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think there's a lot of different reasons we I could share, but the top one that comes to mind is just the importance of sort of breaking down barriers and constructing bridges for potential relationships that God can use to reveal Himself.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so in other words, just sort of trying to figure out ways to connect the gospel with people who don't fully have the picture of who Jesus is and why the gospel matters in their lives.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, I love that.
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  SPEAKER_01: Well, when it comes to discipling our children, how can intentionally reading international children's books be a tool to help us do that?
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  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think um for me the foundation for sort of um cultivating sort of missional prayer together as a family, it kind of comes down.
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  SPEAKER_00: Um, one of the themes in this book series is Isaiah 49.6.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then before I sort of share some like practical thoughts for how to kind of pray together as a family for the world, I think that foundation is so essential to keep at the forefront.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 49.6 says, It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob.
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  SPEAKER_00: I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.
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  SPEAKER_00: And so I think, you know, essentially in that passage, God is saying that it's too small a thing that just one people group, the Israelites, because that's who he's speaking to, should know and worship me.
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  SPEAKER_00: He wanted to send them out into the world to make his great name, his great name known, because he is so great.
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  SPEAKER_00: Everyone should know and worship him.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's sort of the foundation for praying for those around the world who don't yet know Jesus, to know him, we can join in God's global plan.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: And sort of four simple ways that you could do that as a family is just one, just dedicate a specific time to pray, whether that's on the way to school, Sunday lunches, before bedtime, whether it's weekly or monthly or daily, just a consistent time that you can dedicate a few minutes as a family to pray for people around the globe.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Another one is just to invite international students over for a meal.
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  SPEAKER_00: Many are just really love, would love to be invited into an American's home.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then that gives your family a chance to develop that connection and relationship and begin to figure out ways that you might be able to pray for that individual and from whatever culture they're from as well, of how that you can be praying for the gospel to transform heart and lives in that culture.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: A third one is just to read books about other cultures.
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  SPEAKER_00: And I think we'll talk a little bit more on this, but this is a great way to build connection to other cultures and find ways the gospel meets them in it.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then fourth, um, just to adopt a missionary from your church and follow along with their updates and pray for things and when they pass through your church, invite them in and just sort of join in what God's doing through their ministry in a different culture.
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  SPEAKER_00: If you really want to dive a little more into this, I wrote an article with the Gospel Coalition a few years ago called Four Ways to Cultivate Missional Prayer.
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  SPEAKER_00: So if you really want to go a little bit deeper and a little more in depth, I'd encourage you just to check out that article.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I am writing that down now so we can include that in the show notes.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's four ways to cultivate missional prayer.
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  SPEAKER_01: Cultivate missional prayer.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, perfect.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we will include a link to that in the show notes.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: And this is just such an important message.
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  SPEAKER_01: You know, God's heart is for the nations, right?
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  SPEAKER_01: All of his people.
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  SPEAKER_01: So I love this.
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  SPEAKER_01: Well, Jenny, in the dreamer, in your book, the main characters are transported to Afghanistan.
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  SPEAKER_01: What do you hope young readers and families take away from Afghan culture?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think for me, the the big there's so many things, you know, we'd love for people to kind of see, but I think the biggest thing is just to kind of see the warmth and beauty of Afghan culture.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's sometimes um fear can be sort of the main note that people think about when they hear about Afghanistan.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so my hope is sort of that this book can sort of change that to a more lighthearted note and sort of just allow them to kind of step into the hospitality and warmth and beauty of this culture.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think, you know, when we talk about reading, I mean, we didn't mention here, but like this idea of sort of trying to make it a little bit of stepping into a different culture helps us sort of build connection to a culture that's different than our own.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so we sort of develop a real care for something and see things from a new perspective because we're beginning to understand it from a different perspective.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that sort of fosters insight into how we can better pray for that culture while still caring for them.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: But the heart of the book is just to spark prayer for the gospel.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think um that's really, you know, as we step into learning about these different cultures, the hope is that you would also see the beauty that each culture possesses while it still needs gospel transformation and to step into prayer because we know that's important to God's heart.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: If we look throughout scripture and if we go back to Isaiah 49, six, we can see that that joining God in his global plan is is something that he cares about.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: And as families, we can step into that together.
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  SPEAKER_00: Oswald Oswald Chambers said, you know, you know, prayer does not fit us for the greater work, prayer is the greater work.
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  SPEAKER_00: And so my hope is just that, you know, families can join in together through prayer for God's need to be made great around the globe.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, so important.
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  SPEAKER_01: That's foundational to the work we do.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's great.
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  SPEAKER_01: So, can I ask before we close, so what what made you decide to choose the Afghan culture for this first book in the series?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I am, I spent four years there.
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  SPEAKER_00: And so I really love Afghan culture.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so for me, it was a natural starting place.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: I still had to do research and and stuff, but it was um to some, it's a culture that's near and dear to my heart.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I really wanted to highlight the term unreached, which is from the time someone's born to the day they die.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: They don't have a chance to hear who Jesus truly is.
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  SPEAKER_00: There's not a church to go to.
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  SPEAKER_00: There may not be a Christian within hours or at all of them to find to ask questions or have a Bible in their language.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so this book sort of tackles, in a small way, a piece of like what it might look like to be an unreached person and trying to make that personable through a story for families.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love that.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_01: Well, this looks like a fascinating book series.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: Listeners, be sure to check the show notes for links to Jenny's website and to order her book.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: You'll also find that free download in the show notes as well.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Jenny, thank you so much for being here today and sharing.
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  SPEAKER_01: And listeners, thank you for joining us.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: Be sure to like, subscribe, and share this podcast, and then come back next week for another episode of Five Minute Parenting.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: Until then, have a blessed week.