Missionaries and the Bible

Day Two:	Missionaries and the Bible
Bible Lesson:	Do What It Says (Ezra & Nehemiah and the Feast of Booths): We should study God's word and obey it.
Memory Verse:	James 1:22
Missions Concepts:	Missionaries study and obey God's word.
Missions Questions:	Why is it important for missionaries to study God's word? Is it hard for you to obey God's word? What blessings do you see for being obedient?
Bible Passages:

Introduction: God's Word

In the Bible lesson, you learned about how Ezra read God's word to all the people of Israel, and they listened and obeyed. Did you know that missionaries also read and study and obey God's word?

Procedure: Picking Questions from the Box

Call a child volunteer to pull out each of the questions. Help them read it aloud to the group. You can use a microphone and/or repeat the question yourself so that everyone can hear it.

After reading the question, introduce each missionary before reading their answer. You can also show a photo and/or their country's flag and a map if desired. Then read and explain their answers. If there's time, you can lead a brief discussion of the answers or ask a few comprehension questions.

After each question, check the time, and if enough time is available pick a new volunteer to pull the next question out of the box. Finish up by having two or three children pray out loud for the missionaries before you dismiss to the next activity.

Pastor Tom Ricker

Tom Ricker is a church planter and home missionary in Burlington, Vermont. He and his wife Janelle went there in 2008 to try to start a Bible study that might grow into a church. A home missionary is someone who is a missionary in his own country. Pastor Tom is from Galion, Ohio, so when he want to Vermont, with his wife, he had to leave his family and friends, but he stayed in his own country. He is a Home Missions pastor and a church planter.

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Pastor Zambo Solomon

Pastor Zambo Solomon is a missionary in Northwest Cameroon. He left his hometown, studied a foreign language and the Bible, and moved across the country with his wife and children to start churches. Pastor Solomon has started several churches in Northwest Cameroon. Once he starts a church, another man becomes the pastor, and Pastor Solomon can move on to start another church in another town. He is an evangelist and a church planter.

Question #4

Why is it important for you, as a missionary, to study God's word?

Answer: Pastor Tom Ricker

It is the only way for me to know God and to know what he wants me to do, what he wants me to say, and how he wants me to live.

Since Pastor Tom doesn't have a pastor or a Sunday School teacher there teaching him, if he doesn't study the Bible on his own, he won't be hearing from God's word for a long time. We all need to study the Bible, but it's especially important for missionaries.

Answer: Pastor Zambo Solomon

I can only give what I have. If I have the word, as Colossians 3:16 [says] dwelling abundantly in me, I will be able to give in abundance the word.

Pastor Solomon can't share God's word with others unless he has studied it himself.

Question #5

Is it hard for you to obey God's word?

Answer: Pastor Tom Ricker

Sometimes. Because sometimes I don't want to be kind to people who don't like me. I don't want to keep reaching out to people when they are going to reject me and Jesus. But I know that he commands me to.

Answer: Pastor Zambo Solomon

Yes, sometime[s], when I face trials, [like] when [there was] sickness [in] my family, [or when my] brother and sisters [were] not faithful, I was tempted...

Just like all of us have trouble always obeying God all the time, pastors and missionaries are no different. They have to work hard at it too.

Question #6

What blessings do you see for being obedient?

Answer: Pastor Tom Ricker

Such joy when I think of him watching me and smiling. I live to make him smile.

Answer: Pastor Zambo Solomon

The Lord always opens doors where I cannot imagine. He will give me works with some souls.

God creates opportunities for Pastor Solomon to tell people how they can be saved. Sometimes there's an unexpected chance to share with someone Pastor Solomon did not think he would be able to talk to.

Conclusion: Prayer

Finish up by having two or three children pray out loud for the missionaries before you dismiss to the next activity.

Invitation: Missions

Invite any children who want to do missions work to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.