Missionary Meeting Ideas

• Child Sponsorship

  When local NMI president Susan Unger wanted to present Child Sponsorship to her church, she struggled to find a way to make the need seem real to her congregation in Elmira, New York. She longed to bring Haiti and India to her New York church. To do this, Susan and her friend Alice Nichols transformed their church building into recreated Haitian and Indian villages.

  On the evening of the Child Sponsorship presentation, the congregation met in the sanctuary where Susan acted as tour guide, welcoming the 'travellers' to their journey. The tour began in a classroom in Haiti where a teacher was giving a lesson. Only one of the students was responding because the others were too hungry. The teacher was then able to explain to the tour group how NCM feeding programs feed hungry, disadvantaged children.

  India was next - a pastor's home where furnishings were few and sparse. Volunteers acted as a pastor's family while Susan described some facts about the country of India. The travellers then heard the pastor's children ask their mother why they could not attend school. The mother gave them reasons (lack of funds, books, clothes), but explained that there was a program to help send pastor's children to school, which relied on the support of people who are able to give.

  The travellers returned to the 'airport waiting lounge' where they watched a video of 'What If I Give All?' a song by Ray Boltz. (Alternatively one of the Child Sponsorship clips could be used from the World Mission Video Magazine) The evening ended with a challenge to be involved in the Child Sponsorship program.

  from Nazarene Compassionate Ministries Magazine

• Prayer & Fasting

  Plan a prayer event with several of your friends/your local church. Decide on a time and place for the event. Include a variety of ways to pray during the service, using both written and spontaneous prayers. Include both communal and private prayer times.

  Plan a slide show to play silently during the prayer service. You could use pictures from around the world or intersperse pictures with statistics about nations and people who are at-risk.

  from Nazarene Compassionate Ministries Magazine

• Alabaster

  Click here to download a PowerPoint Presentation to show as part of your Alabaster Missionary Meeting. Alternatively, if you would like to show off your acting skills, click here for an Alabaster themed Sketch!

  contributed by Rev Ian Newton