Writer’s note: The following article is adapted from two presentations I’ve given recently on this topic: one from a family missions weekend at Salem Baptist Church in Salem, VA; the other from a presentation I gave at the 2025 Southeast regional meeting of the Evangelical Missiological Society.
This year, I let myself be talked into giving a presentation at the Southeast regional meeting of the Evangelical Missiological Society. The conference theme provided an easy layup for me to dive into further research about something I’ve written and talked a lot about lately: teaching children about missions. Though it had been about seven years since I’d done any kind of formal research, I found myself enjoying the process.
As I began my research, the impetus for my topic sat heavily on my shoulders…quite literally. While sitting on the floor sorting the forty-plus books I checked out from the library, my four-year old wandered in my office and made himself comfortable on my shoulders while I read. Fortunately for me, he got bored quickly and moved on to helping me “read” my sources.
It’s this four year old and his older sister who set me on a journey to learning how my husband and I can best teach them about what we feel is a vital aspect of their discipleship, even as children–missions. Though our children are not yet believers, we are convinced that along with teaching them the gospel, we must also teach them the practical applications of the gospel. We want our children to know what to do with the gospel after they believe it, Lord willing.
Like us, all parents have the opportunity to start building a solid foundation of both gospel truth and a Great Commission perspective in children from their earliest age. Therefore, we should begin teaching our kids about missions from birth. For believing parents, this work should begin at home, with parents taking the lead in their child’s spiritual formation. Though I’ve written before on how parents can teach their kids about missions, often we need the why before we can do the how.
I believe there are 2 primary reasons parents should begin teaching their children about missions from birth. The first reason is very practical, but worth mentioning. However, it’s the second reason that should really convince us.
There’s no better time to start.
When our kids are young, they are insatiably curious. Not only that, but they have very little direction or purpose to their curiosity. They simply want to know about what’s in front of them. From the time they could talk, my kids were asking me “what,” “who,” “why,” and “how,” often to my exaperation as I answered their thirty-seventh question in a ten minute car ride.
However, this curiosity is such a gift. As their parents, we have the opportunity, responsibility, and weighty privilege of stewarding our kids’ curiosity towards things that are eternally significant. That includes teaching them about missions.
And missions is something that can easily capture our kids’ attention because there are so many facets to it. The youngest of children may not be able to grasp the motivation for missions, but even young children can learn about the world. They can look at a map and learn where other countries are located. They can read about the culture, food, dress, and languages spoken in these countries. They can learn about missionaries from history and their stories.
While none of what I listed above explicitly teaches children about the Great Commission, these are all launch pads that can help us capture their attention and steer our conversations with them towards the true motivation for missions: the spreading of the gospel to all nations. And as children grow, their capacity for understanding–at least on a cognitive level–why we do missions will grow, too. There is no better time to plant these seeds than when our children are little and at their most curious.
Not only that, but most of us only have about 5 years before our kids are going to school, participating in extracurriculars, and when we will start sharing our influence in their life with their teachers and friends. There is no better time to start discipling our kids than when they’re at their youngest, because this is the most concentrated amount of time we will have with them before other distractions and influences kick in. It is vital we start building a solid foundation of Biblical truth and a Great Commission perspective in our children as early as possible.
While our kids’ curiosity and the quickly passing time are legitimate and practical reasons for teaching them about missions, it’s the second reason that should most compel us.
The Bible tells us to.
Simply put, there is a Biblical basis for teaching children about missions. In multiple places, Scripture instructs parents to teach their children the whole counsel of God’s word:
- Deuteronomy 11:19 instructs readers to imprint God’s words on their hearts and minds and teach God’s words to their children;
- Proverbs 22:6 says to train up a child in the way he should go;
- Ephesians 6:4 tells parents to bring their kids up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Perhaps the most well-known passage of Scripture on this topic comes from Deuteronomy 6:4-8 (verses 4-5 are known as the Shema):
Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Do this so that you may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life by keeping all his statutes and commands I am giving you, your son, and your grandson, and so that you may have a long life. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates.
While none of these verses explicitly instruct parents to teach children specifically about missions, these verses certainly do not explicitly exclude missions, either. Danny Akin, in his book Raising Kids with a Heart for Missions grounds a person’s obedience of the Shema in the Great Commission. He says that the Great Commandments–loving God and loving neighbor (Leviticus 19:2)–and the Great Commission are interconnected and mutually reinforcing. He writes, “As we love our God and our neighbor rightly, we go and make disciples. And, as we make disciples, we teach them to love God and neighbor.” (8)
This cyclical nature between obeying the Great Commandment and the Great Commission finds its foundation in teaching children God’s word. And God’s word is a missionary book (I think I got that language from my husband). Throughout Scripture, there is a thread of redemption that traces from Genesis through Revelation–from the promise of the serpent-crusher to John’s vision of all nations worshipping the Lamb in the new heavens and the new Earth.
The gospel is good news for the whole world, including our children. And when we share the gospel with our children, we also want to teach them what to do with it after they believe (Lord willing). When we begin teaching our kids the Bible, it’s not a far leap to the Great Commission. We can start building a solid foundation of both gospel truth and a Great Commission perspective in our kids. Then, if the Lord calls them to be a missionary, they’re prepared to say “yes!”
Photo by Aslı Yılmaz on Unsplash
