My family has an obsession—the Sacramento Kings basketball team.
Despite fifteen years of marriage to a hardcore fan, I didn't cross the threshold into “true fan” until we moved to California a year and a half ago.
But what took me from keeping the Kings at arm’s length to celebrating every time Sacramento lights the purple beam in a victory was a combination of community and consistent exposure.
Talk around the dinner table included Kings players. My guys gathered to watch games in our living room. Local commercials featured our star players. When the Kings broke a sixteen-year playoff drought but lost the final game to advance in the tournament, Sacramento fans rose to their feet to cheer on the Kings even as the buzzer sounded and confirmed their defeat—a beautiful community moment.
And we can use resources to cultivate the same kind of awareness of missions in our families and raise up the next generation that has a passion for God's global kingdom.
We pull our kids into the biblical narrative of God’s global plan in ordinary ways as we go throughout our days.
We unite our kids to God's eternal kingdom by talking about it around the dinner table—praying for unreached people groups in our living rooms together—tracking with God’s work around the world—linking arms with brothers and sisters laboring for the gospel. We pull our kids into the biblical narrative of God’s global plan in ordinary ways as we go throughout our days.
Threaded through the pages of Scripture is God’s global plan for all people to know and worship him. God promised Abraham would be a blessing to the nations (Genesis 12:3). Jonah was sent to the Israelites’ enemy, the Ninevites, to share God’s message (Jonah 3:2). Rahab and Ruth, both non-Jews, became a part of the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:5). Peter was sent to the Gentile Cornelius to share the gospel (Acts 10:22). People from all cultures will gather and worship King Jesus in heaven (Revelation 7:9).
God never intended for only one people group to know and worship him. God is so great that he tells the Israelites, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).
Threaded through the pages of Scripture is God’s global plan for all people to know and worship him.
God deserves to be worshiped by every single person in every country across the earth. He is worthy to be praised by all nations because he is the one true God. And if this mission is dear to God’s heart, our families should delight to join in it. And one way we can shine like a light among the nations is through regular prayer for missions.
Between sports practices, school projects, yard work, and the ongoing rhythm of church, it can be a challenge to regularly intercede for the world with our kids.
When we take steps to pray for those we may never meet to have access to the gospel, we cast a vision for how great Jesus is, and we join in making God’s name known.
Since prayer is a key way to participate in God's global plan and time is limited, let’s take the work out of the family world-prayer equation and replace it with simple and quick ways to meaningfully pray for people around the globe. Here are six resources to help you foster global family prayer:
Walk through five world religions from a Christian lens with your family—Tribal Animism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and the unreligious. Each family prayer guide includes a short devotion, brief video, prayer prompts, resources, and activities to guide your family through learning about and interceding for a different world religion. These prayer guides can be adapted to fit your family’s schedule. You can keep it short and sweet or explore more deeply.
Grow as a family in praying for the lost around the world. Each prayer guide unpacks a missions term—unreached, minimally reached, the 10/40 Window, and Frontier People Groups—in a kid-friendly way. Learn about the lost and ways to pray for them and discover simple activities to deepen your family’s understanding of those living in darkness. These prayer guides are designed for busy families, so you can incorporate them into the weekly rhythm of your family’s life in five minutes.
Connect with unreached people groups in a creative way—through engaging stories told from a child’s perspective from that culture. Each story includes a short read-aloud story, family activity, prayer prompts, and food recipe. With a variety of people groups to choose from, this is easy to fold into a monthly prayer focus as a family.
4) Around the World: Letters from Children Across the Nations (The Daily Grace Co.)
Engage your children with God's heart for the world by reading fictional letters from kids around the world. Your kiddos will learn about the cultural and religious landscape in age-appropriate ways. With country facts, prayer prompts, and discussion questions about each geographic location, this is a fabulous book to add to your family library to foster a heart for global family prayer.
5) Around the World with Kate & Mack: A Look at Languages from A-Z (Wycliffe Kids)
This resource shares the Bible translation progress among different languages and provides tangible ways to pray for the Bible to be translated into more languages around the world. Learn about different cultures, the importance of Bible translation, and fun facts about different countries.
This five-day devotional guides elementary-aged kids through God’s global plan for all people to know and worship Him. Each day includes a devotion and guided prayer mission that will help you cultivate a deeper understanding of God’s global plan and spark prayer for the world together.
The Bible is the revelation of God’s intention to redeem people from across the globe. When we take steps to pray for those we may never meet to have access to the gospel, we cast a vision for how great Jesus is, and we join in making God’s name known. We can invite our kids to be a part of growing God’s kingdom one day, and one prayer, at a time.
Jenny Marcelene spent six years living in conservative Muslim countries and has a passion for God's greatness to be made known around the globe. She is a freelance writer and editor. You can connect with her online by visiting her blog.