17 Practical Ways to Help Kids Shine in the World
As a children’s ministry leader you desire for the kids in your care to become more like Jesus every day and share their faith. That includes cultivating a heart for those He loves. In other words, everyone! We asked Chris Dunrud, creator of the Awana GO (global outreach) program, to provide practical ideas you can use with children and teens to help them increase their love for others, pray for the lost and give with a generous spirit.
17 Ways to Help Kids Shine in the World
1. Make cards of encouragement for kids in a hospital, elderly in nursing homes, teachers, firefighters, police, wounded soldiers, deployed service people, etc.
2. Volunteer to read to young children at a library or school, or help children with Vacation Bible School.
3. Gather new (or like new) stuffed animals and donate them to police or fire departments to comfort children in times of distress.
4. Host an “It’s not about me” birthday party. Ask guests to bring gifts or money to donate to a specific charity or outreach fundraiser.
5. Make lap sized, no-sew “tie blankets” for people in nursing homes or who have limited mobility.
6. Help an elderly neighbor with yard work or a job around the house.
7. Walk as a group (or several groups) around the neighborhood with wagons to collect canned goods for the local food bank.
8. Use the Me on Mission Awana GO lesson to help kids understand they are part of God’s mission in the world.
9. Pray for and financially support your local Awana missionary so they can train and equip other churches to reach their community through effective ministry.
10. Think of ways to reach out to kids who come from different cultural backgrounds and live in your community.
11. Ask kids to identify friends to invite to your church or Awana club. Appeal to them to start praying for those friends. Pray, pray, pray!
12. Encourage your kids to complete two or more GO activities,shown in the front of the Grace in Action or the Discovery of Grace handbooks, and earn an Awana GO emblem.
13. Use Awana GO prayer videos in your gatherings or during Large Group time, to take kids on a trip around the world through prayer.
14. If your club has an Awana store, consider giving kids the option of converting their Awana Share Coupons or Trek Bucks into real dollars to reach kids internationally.
15. Designate a Missions Month into your annual calendar. Missions Month is simply a focused time of teaching, connecting and empowering your kids to participate in the Great Commission in fun and meaningful ways.
16. Empower kids to put their faith into action by participating in a clubwide Verse-a-Thon or Great GoMission Fun Run.
17. Consider sponsoring Nepali children in the first International Verse-a-Thon. Whether you run it as a club or churchwide event, ask each family to consider sponsoring a child. Verse-a-Thon works!
Read more about Versa-a-Thon:
Anytime you model your heart for the nations and engage your kids with these ideas, you are cultivating in them the heart of God to love and care for people around the world — people who matter to God, just like the kids, themselves, matter to Him.
The Awana Editorial team is a group of people passionate about child discipleship and the equipping of leaders for the advancement of the kingdom. We have a breadth of experience in children’s ministry, and our heart beats with the stories of what God is doing around the world. We have an affinity for salty snacks and the occasional sweet treat, and we believe that everything is better with a good cup of coffee!
