Missionaries and the Good News

Day 3:	Missionaries and the Good News
Bible Lesson:	Look and Live (The Bronze Snake and the Son of Man): We should look to Jesus, trusting in God for our salvation.
Memory Verse:	John 3:14-15
Missions Concepts:	Missionaries share the good news so that people can be saved.
Missions Questions:	How were you saved? How do you share the gospel where you live? how can a child share the gospel?
Bible Passages:	Romans 10:9, 1st Corinthians 15:1-11

Introduction:

In the Bible lesson, Jesus told Nicodemus that the Son of Man had to be lifted up for people to believe in, so they could be saved. Missionaries not only believe this for themselves; they also tell other people this same message. That's what it means to be a missionary.

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 #7

How were you saved?

Answer: Pastor Tom Ricker

I was saved when I was three years old. After a children's teacher at church talked about Jesus dying on the cross for me, I asked my mom at home if God would want me to ask Jesus into my heart. She said he would, and so at my bed in West Point, Ohio, I prayed to receive Jesus as my master, my God, and my savior.

[Pastor Solomon's answer to this question is too long and complicated to fully explain in a fifteen-minute lesson. The executive summary is, he'd been raised Catholic, got involved in the occult, became convicted that it was effectively idolatry, left that, began reading the Bible, and repented when he read Romans 10:9.]

Question #8

How do you share the gospel where you live?

Answer: Pastor Tom Ricker

One thing I do is clean bathrooms at businesses, for free, to share Jesus' love with them in a practical way. You should see the faces at those places when I ask if I can clean their bathrooms. This has led to them asking why I would do this, and I can share that because Jesus died on the cross 2000 years ago for our sins and then rose from the dead, I accepted him as my Lord and savior from my sins -- and they can too!

By cleaning bathrooms, Pastor Tom is creating a chance for people to ask him questions, so that he can share with them. He doesn't know a lot of people in the community, because he's new in town, but if he cleans the bathroom where they work, they can get to know him, and can tell he's a nice guy, so then they're not afraid of talking with him. That gives him a chance to tell them about God's love.

Answer: Pastor Zambo Solomon

I have three ways: publicly, individually, and door-to-door. I always ask [for] the leadership of the Lord to send me where he is at work! I may use tracts, direct quotations from the Bible, or illustrations.

Pastor Solomon doesn't just preach about Jesus on Sunday Mornings. He also shares with people he knows, people he meets, and sometimes even with people that he goes out of his way to meet, just so he can share Jesus with them.

Question #9

How can a child chare the gospel?

Answer: Pastor Tom Ricker

When I was little, I simply asked my friends if they knew Jesus and if they [had] asked him to be their Lord and savior. If not, I told them I had and what I did to do so. I then would ask if they wanted to do it. I led many friends to Jesus while we talked in a sandbox, sat on swings, or played Star Wars. Any child... can easily do the same thing. Just pray to God for boldness, and then step out in faith.

Answer: Pastor Zambo Solomon

By telling others [how] he was saved... He also has to talk to his [friends] and invite them [to] activities of the church. They may be saved then.

What do you need to tell someone for them to know how to be saved? That Jesus died for their sins, to pay the penalty for the wrong things they've done, and that he raised from the dead, that he conquered death so that they can go to heaven and live with him. You can tell your friends this good news anywhere you are, even on the playground.

Conclusion: Prayer

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

Invitation: Local Missions

Invite any children who want to start sharing the good news with their friends to stay after the lesson and discuss it further.