Latest / 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids. / Raising Children to Love Missions

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Raising Children to Love Missions · 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids.

• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to another episode of Five Minute Parenting.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Today I have a special guest, Melissa Highland.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: She is a wife, a mother of six, and a grandmother of 12.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: And she's the founder and executive director of Beautiful Feet International, a ministry that plants pregnancy ministries worldwide.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: She's an author and speaker, and her passion is teaching believers to share the gospel.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: So Melissa's going to share with us about raising children to love missions.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome, Melissa.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so happy to be here.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this topic is really, really a great topic.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't had anyone speak about that.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's very important to teach our children about missions.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm anxious to hear what you have to say.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think it's a huge thing.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'm kind of not surprised that you haven't had somebody speak on that because I don't know, it just doesn't seem to be a popular topic, but I think it's really important.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, as believers, Jesus commanded us to go and make disciples of all nations.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so um it's something for me that was very important in raising my children.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: And now my grandchildren, I'm not raising them, but just as a Gigi, I really want to instill in them uh a heart for the nations, a love for the world, because that is, and when I say uh a love for the world, I mean uh, you know, a a desire to bring all people around the world to know Jesus as Lord and Savior.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: That's something that uh Jesus commanded us to do.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think it's something that is really important that we instill that in our children and in our grandchildren.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think there are a lot of ways that you can incorporate this into your parenting and and into your life at home that are, I think sometimes maybe people, maybe people don't think about it at all.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Or even if they do think about it, they think, well, that's really hard.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I can't get on a plane and go to China or whatever, you know, or I don't have a lot of money.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: But there are so many different ways that you can do this and that you can do it, you know, some of them are free.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so I'll just talk about some things that I did with my kids, that I do with my grandkids that I think are really important for instilling this passion in them that I think is something that the Lord wants us to do.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one is reading missionary biographies.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, you know, we're authors, so we love books, but that's something that we can do, and we can do it for free.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, a lot of church libraries have uh missionary biographies that you can get for free.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: And and I was so my oldest granddaughter is eight years old, and she's been reading some missionary biographies that I read the same, the same books, not not those same books, but you know, the same ones that I read when I was when I was a girl her age.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I didn't actually buy those for her, my my son did.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: So that was you know very meaningful to me.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: So reading missionary biographies, and even before the kids can read, you can read these stories to them, and they're exciting.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, stories of missionaries are very exciting, and children are captivated by that.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: So reading missionary biographies are a big deal.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_01: Praying for missionaries, and there are even books that you can get that are like, you know, guide you in that.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: So every night when you're praying with your kids at the dinner table or before you take them in bed, pray for missionaries, you know, read a little, a little thing, you know, different mission agencies will send out little blurbs.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: So pray for missionaries.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh get a map.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, again, that can be free, even, you know, online.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: Get a map.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_01: And when you're reading about, oh, these people are missionaries in wherever it is, right?
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: Belgium, Albania, Sudan, find it on the map.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: This is educational for your kids anyway, but find it on the map and say, oh, look, this is where they are.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: This is what the climate is like there.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: This is what the food is like there.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you can even like prepare meals that are like, oh, this is what they eat in whatever country it is that you're praying for.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: So find it on a map.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: Pray for missionaries, meet missionaries.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna have people that come to your church or come to your area that are missionaries, make it a point to invite them over for dinner with your family and let your kids talk to them one-on-one and they can learn about what life is like in these other countries, what the needs are of these people, what it's like ministering to these people.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: These things are so educational.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: I know for my children, this wasn't the purpose, but as they were all applying to colleges, one of the things I think that always really appealed to people was how my children knew about the world.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they weren't just knowing about what was going on where they are, but they knew about the world.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so um, another thing you can do is become pen pals.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I don't know that people actually send letters in the mail anymore, but you know, they can do it, they can do it online, right?
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: With missionaries, with missionary children.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it's a great thing that blesses the missionaries, but you know, you have missionary kids overseas and they are in touch and becoming friends with your kids.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: Again, that's something that's free and it's a way of ministering to the missionaries.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it's also going to be a huge blessing for your kids.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: And then support missionaries, do projects for them.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if there's a missionary and they need whatever, like in our case, because we do pregnancy ministry, you know, we need like, you know, baby clothes and diapers.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, your family and your kids can organize something where they're collecting, you know, baby clothes.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying that because that's our case, but all kinds of things, whatever it is that the missionaries need.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, another thing that you can do is to support missionaries financially, and it's something that your kids can do.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they can set up a lemonade stand and you know, they're raising money for a missionary family that they know.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so they set up a lemonade stand.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's something that they do all on their own, but they're raising money to support missionaries.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's very important for kids to do things like that.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: And then, of course, you can go on mission trips.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: We started taking our kids on mission trips when they were young.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I haven't taken my grandkids yet.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: I'm waiting for the okay from parents, and most of them are very little, but if that's something that you can do to go on a mission trip with your kids, it's incredible.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: And my our kids, um, all of them went all around the world with us.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm talking about, you know, just short-term trips for a week or two, and it's something that really shaped who they became uh spiritually.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: And so those are just a few of the ideas that I have.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: But there are, I hope you see that there are so many ways to incorporate missions in your everyday life that that aren't hard, but I think that will have eternal benefits.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think those ideas are just amazing.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: And you're right, as parents, we don't always think about teaching our children about missions or having them participate.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: So these are just amazing.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate you sharing those.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope the parents who are listening will consider doing some of those very easy things.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I do remember my daughter, and she was in a Christian school, doing a book report, and we read a book on Billy Graham.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now he's not a missionary, but I also remember doing some missionary books.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, those are just such great ideas.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm really thinking I would love to have you back to tell us more on another um episode about your beautiful Feet International.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just really curious, and I think parents would like to know about it and maybe how they could support it.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: So we will schedule that, Melissa.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that'd be wonderful.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and thank you for being with us today and for sharing these wonderful ideas.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: My pleasure.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: God bless you.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.