Area of Emphasis: Engaging Children & Youth
We intentionally work to engage children and youth through education and fostering calls to missions. NMI encourages every church, every district to be encourage and engage every child and every youth in the mission of God in your community and around the world.
NMI continues to encourage churches to involve children and youth in all missions endeavors and to nurture them as they seek to respond to God’s call. We encourage collaboration with Nazarene Youth International (NYI) and Nazarene Discipleship International (NDI) to best engage all ages of the church. We believe nurturing and leadership development is best done in the local church and individualized to the needs of each person.
2025-2027 WAPAC Children’s Project
Our two-year Children’s project seeks to raise $14,000 in funds to support Shechem Children’s Home through renovations to the kitchen, new paint, and new appliances, new bedroom furniture for the children, weighted blankets, sensory room equipment, and play equipment.
>>Learn about this project and access helpful promotional resources
5 Ways to Involve Children and Youth in Your Church
Involve them in acts of service: community meals, VBS programs, compassionate ministries projects. The mission of God has always been based on loving God and loving people; any act that shows love to people and God should be one we engage our young people in.
Engage them in a local work-and-witness or cross-cultural mission trip. As they express additional calls to missions, help them explore what that means.
Guide them on the importance of global evangelism prayer. Find specific ways to involve them in praying for different countries and needs around the world.
Teach the importance of giving generously and supporting world evangelism. Provide opportunities for them to earn funds, such as through a car wash, donut sale, or other service project.
Open God’s word. Show what he says in scripture about our mission to “Go!” Share about the missionary journeys recorded in the Bible. Being missions-minded has always been part of God’s plan for us.
Children’s Missions eBooks
A variety of children’s missions ebooks are available at The Foundry Publishing. Churches are encouraged to provide a selection of missions books that can be read to children during Sunday School or other educational opportunities.
Kids Kaleidoscope Curriculum
One way to engage with kids about missions is to use a monthly resource, called Kids Kaleidoscope. It is distributed through NMI Central the first Wednesday of each month.
This resource is created for kids ages 7-12. It includes a teacher’s resource and kids activity page. The materials either reference a story included in NMI Central, or link to something on the web. It has information, activities, recipes, crafts, games and more to help you provide missions learning based on your needs and context. Use what you want from the resources provided.
For example, in June 2024, the focus was on the Global Week of Prayer. There were directions to download a booklet that a leader could use to talk about the Global Week of Prayer. Then, the kids activity page featured questions related to the content, along with activities that underscored what was discussed. An additional teacher/leader resource included game and activity ideas to encourage active participation in praying for our church around the world. Look for the next Kids Kaleidoscope issue in NMI Central!
Not working with kids directly? You are encouraged to share this information and resource with your church’s children leadership. They also can subscribe to NMI Central!
Youth Missions Day
Youth across WAPAC joined together for Youth Mission Day at Real Life Church in Vancouver (WA) on November 9, 2024.
The focus for the 2024 WAPAC Youth Missions Day came out of Matthew 5:14-16: “You are the light of the world—Like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”
We want to emphasize to our students that serving doesn’t happen just in far-away places; your mission field is wherever you find yourself planted. God wants to use us where we’re at right now. We are a group of people spread out across many cities, but we are all of one mission—to shine the light of Christ wherever he has placed us.
Stay tuned for the 2025 Youth Mission Day details, or connect with your youth leader.
NMI Facts: Engaging with Children & Youth
- We engage children and youth in learning about and participating in the mission of God. We collaborate with NDI and NYI to ensure that all children and youth have a spirit of missions within them.
- NMI provides Kids Kaleidoscope as part of NMI Central to help nurture a spirit of missions in children. Kids Kaleidoscope connects to the focus story in NMI Central the first Wednesday of each month.
- International Student Scholarship Fund (NMI 80th Anniversary project) provided 85 scholarships for students outside the USA/Canada to attend Nazarene theological institutions.