Missions Events

Example situation: The youth fellowship was extremely involved in the workcamp; the sun was blazing. They were in need of a break and gathered in the shade of a nearby tree with some of the people who worshipped at the church. The teenager in charge read the account of the “Last Supper” in Matt 26:17-29. There was a watermelon sitting in the middle of the circle of 30 tired and thirsty teenagers. It was passed around (intact) and each person was asked to share how the watermelon helped him or her understand the passage. It was amazing how the students found a relationship between the watermelon and the passage. (i.e.: watermelon became the symbol of poor people.) After praying in a circle, the worship leader took a knife, cut the watermelon and gather the worshipers pieces of it.

At the beginning of the night youth groupers are put through customs (arrest a few for drug smuggling along the way, put them in jail). Give them money to buy things along he way (Monopoly money).
Send them off on a plane (do stuff on the plane – e.g. a hijacking).
At each stage of the night, we had some “guerillas” come and kidnap the group, blindfold them and take them to the next part of the world tour, e.g. an indian market, a jungle, night animal spotting (real or stuffed). Give them the experience of travelling overseas and plenty of third world hassles, even third world food, passports and problems etc etc. During some of the kidnaps, drive them to different places (suitably “guerrilla type” driving), and have tour guides rescue them.
This is an idea. The fun is in the plot and variations that YOU make up! Depending on your resources. E.g., we had animal spotting in a darkened church, an Arabic market at a friends house with sheets on the ceiling, candles, money to buy things, being ripped off by vendors etc. But YOU make the plot and the tour. Kidnapping and drug busts are good, so is jail.
Can be used as an experience of what missionaries go through in some countries. Tie in a talk along this theme.

Our 6th-8th Grade Youth Group participated in a 40 Hour Sit-out to raise money and awareness for homelessness in our area. Prior to the event we collected large boxes (washer/dryer – range size) and we prepared them in “shanty” type homes. We started the event on 5:00 PM (Friday) and lived outside in the boxes until Sunday @ 9:00 AM. We stayed out even in the rain. We had collected plastic and old tarps to cover us in the rain. We took pledges and donations from our church members and we had a lot of community people stop by to see what we were doing. We were on a main road in town and lots of people would pull up just to donate money because they had seen the segment on the Friday evening news. Members of our church also signed up to bring us food to eat for our meals (you can keep this from the kids, so they might start to wonder where their next meal is coming from.)

While this is only a glimpse into the life of homeless person, it made quite a large impact on our kids and adults too (we had lots of “security guards”). The total money raised was then donated to our local Gospel Mission. You can do many things with this concept, and while it’s a lot of work, God rewards those involved with a feeling of accomplishment. **you could incorporate the Shanty town idea on EGAD! with this event**

We have a very successful plan of raising money for missionaries.
We select a different missionary, evangelist, or an organization that we feel that is need of help. (Such as Problem Pregnancy Center, Orphanages, Clothe a Child)
We divide the children’s church into teams, Boys against Girls.
We have 2 baskets one for girls and the other for the boys. It is a good idea to label these baskets.
We have designed a wooden scarecrow, with 2 arms that are set like weights.
Whoever has the most money by weight. The arms of this guy will move down.
We call this guy, ” Cheeri-O” He represents the cheerful giver.
After each month we collect the change and count it and send a check to whom we support. Of course the kids are anxious to find out how much they have given to help people in need.
The kids love it especially when they receive a letter back from the missions. It makes them feel like they had a part of helping others.
Another incentive to help bring in the money : Which ever teams wins, their names are put in a basket and one person from the team can win a prize.
Another funny idea: If the boys win, The Youth Pastor squirts Ms. Youth Pastor with a super soaker and if the girls win, Ms. Youth Pastor soaks Mr. Youth Pastor. The kids love it.
This has been a lot of fun, and we have supported several missions. We have about 25 kids in Children’s church and they bring in over $100 a month.

Our Youth group spent a night outdoors as homeless people in order to raise money to support homeless people. Since I am from Hawaii there is quite a number of homeless people. Well we spent the night in our church yard from 6 at night to 6 in the morning. Here’s the catch… we only were allowed to bring news paper for our blanket and a cardboard box for our shelter and for dinner, our church served us mush. It was a great experience and a great thing for raising money for a good cause.