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With this summer’s launch of Texas Missions for Kids, the Southern Baptists of Texas challenges two myths: to engage in missions, people have to leave the country and that those “people” must be adults.
Texas Missions for Kids, a new resource developed by SBTC staff, discards those ideas and instead teaches kids that mission opportunities abound in Texas and they can join the work. The curriculum, which is available online free thanks to gifts to the Cooperative Program, includes everything teachers need to guide their students through the Texas-centered, gospel-focused lessons.
The curriculum can be used in a variety of ways. For Vacation Bible School, it can serve as the central basis for the week or as a supplement. Churches can also choose to use it alongside established programs such as Awana, Royal Ambassadors and Girls in Action, or as a free-standing study.
For several of the lessons, including the first five posted online, the convention has produced videos to support the lessons. The videos have been designed to expand children’s knowledge of the state and the different ways they can serve their churches and communities.
While some children may think they have to grow up before they can be a part of ministry and missions, the families and pastors featured in the Mission Texas for Kids curriculum and videos say that the kids’ involvement plays a key role. They say the kids’ service often disarms hesitant people who otherwise might not be open to talking about the gospel or to talking at all.
Landon, a boy featured in the first lesson, is a perfect example. His eagerness to help people and to share Jesus with them has frequently opened doors for his parents to minister and serve, his mom, Kelli, said.
“Just a few months ago, Landon came running through the front door,” Kelli said. “He had been outside playing with the neighbor kids, and one of the dads told Landon that he didn’t have a Bible. Landon was really concerned about this and began searching our bookshelves for a spare Bible. I was able to locate one, and he immediately ran out and gave the Bible to him. My husband has been able to minister to this family on several occasions.”
Kelli’s husband Ben pastors Church in the Center, located in the Texas Medical Center area of Houston. When Kelli and Ben first went to Houston, and specifically to the medical center, it wasn’t to minister there. Instead, it was to seek treatment for their baby Landon’s rare liver disease. About a year after Landon’s birth, the family sensed God leading them to move to Houston and to plant a church in the center, hence the church’s name. They followed the Lord’s prompting and planted the church.
The church meets in a hotel in the medical center district, so each Sunday, everyone, even the kids, pitches in to help get ready for worship services. Though only 8-years-old, Landon is included in the ministry of the church, from set-up to evangelism. His mom says his enthusiasm for the gospel and for serving people is evident and contagious.
“Landon’s heart for the Lord constantly encourages me and convicts me to serve others with the passion that he does,” Kelli says. “He is living proof that age truly doesn’t matter in ministry!”
To access the free curriculum resource with lessons built around mission stories just like Landon’s, visit sbtexas.com/
missions/texas-missions-for-kids/.
