Moving them beyond the classroom – children in mission.

 

Helping children and youth discover ways to care for people beyond their own classroom, beyond their own family, is one more way to teach them to love God.  I believe it is our task as adults, educators and/or parents, to give children and youth language and opportunities to be the hands and feet of Christ.  

God identifies with the poor; Jesus specialized in the have-nots.  Concrete illustrations to link scripture and today’s world are everywhere – soup kitchens, nursing homes, shelters, missionaries, etc.  Activities for children, more concrete thinkers than we adults, should perhaps be designed with several points in mind. 

Respect 

First, respect those you are wanting to help.  A recent call for a food pantry project revealed they did not need macaroni and cheese.  What they really were in need of were ethnic foods – red beans and rice, canned, spicy vegetables.  So, always contact the agency you want to work with and determine, with their help, the real needs. 

Second, respect the children.  They are capable of almost everything!  They can make the posters, give the announcement, and most of all they can begin to understand the real world.  Affirm everything they do by not re-doing.  Give them direction in the first place, then turn it over.  Let them stack the wall of mac and cheese, wrap the gifts, and count the items collected and write the newsletter article. 

Do the advance preparation, then give the children choices.  Don’t ask “what do you want to do?” but rather “let’s make a list of 5 (or 10) suggestions to ask people to bring for the food collection.”  It means asking “how do you think we could tell others in church we’re doing this?” and letting them pair up to work on each idea they come up with.  We photocopied notes in their handwriting to send home with the preschoolers.  That was their idea!

Make it “real”

            As you develop the project with the children, help them develop empathy.  This is about helping real people.  And, remember, in general, children do not understand the value of money, so collecting “items” is more concrete.  Our “milk money” collection for the soup kitchen was translated into gallons of milk.  (Nothing wrong with teaching some math skills as they work together.)  Posters were a take off on “Got Milk?”, featuring the kids. 

            At a Wednesday evening gathering of elementary kids, I asked, “What would you think if I told you you had to wear the same socks and underwear you have on tonight all the rest of this week?”

“Cool!” the 4^th grade boys replied.  I’d sorta expected this reply!

“Well, let’s think about this a little more. Close your eyes, and imagine you and one of your parents can’t go back to your house tonight.  All you have is what you have with you right now…I think each of you have a home that is safe, but you might know someone in your class at school that lives in a house where there’s lots of hitting.  Put yourself in their place…Your parent has decided to go to a shelter, where no one will know where you are…but…there’s no clothing there that fits you….you need to stay there for a while – several weeks, maybe…how long do you want to stay in these clothes?”

I could see some faces changing. “Yuck!”   As I continued to reflect, we began to make a list of what these relatively-affluent children would want.  What if you could only have a plastic grocery bag full of things?  Even the children knew the difference between wants and needs.  High on this list – pajamas, socks, and yes, underwear!  And yes, they would like underwear and socks that were NEW!

One of the older girls came to me while everyone was playing a game.  “I’m pretty sure my friend is at the shelter.”  Further private discussion revealed this might be true, so in our closing prayer, we included “those here in Sioux City that need a safe place tonight.  Be with them.”

From this discussion, our Undie Sunday project was born.  See the picture of the oversized boxer shorts, being filled with socks, PJ’s and undies of all sizes.

Prior to this, I had discussion with the staff of the shelter.  They had almost nothing for school-age children.  The need was real, especially at midnight!  And, through a little discussion and list making, on the children’s level, most did make a real connection to the need.

Personal

            Hands-on interaction with clients of local agencies (soup kitchens, for example) is often not possible for younger children.  However, in some cases, such as a nursing home visit, the children become the actual gift!  We’ve decorated and delivered pumpkins.  Many churches have children make and take gifts to the local nursing home on a regular basis, singing and visiting with the residents.  If you do this, though, be sure to educate your children in advance.  Some have never been in this situation, and need to know what to expect as far as sights, smells and sounds.  But what teachable moments these could be!

We took a field trip to a food bank, delivering our canned food collection, and saw the site.  Visiting with the staffer, she told us a family could have 4 plastic bags of food every 2 months!  Even the kindergarteners knew how many bags of groceries their families eat – and began to see we were only part of a solution.

            Remember these are children, not adults, you are working with.  Don’t sell them short, but know that if you mix work and play, everyone wins!  (Maybe that’s true for adults, too!)  You can help parents as they teach to move children from

¨      Isolation to connection

¨      Self-centeredness to other-awareness

¨      Hostility to hospitality.

Isn’t that what we all want to do?  Children are a valuable part of our congregation.  Let’s include them as we seek to put love into action and seek justice for all.

Project ideas to spark discussion in your congregation:

As part of Sunday morning, each age-level prepared a part of the meal that is to be taken and served at the local Soup Kitchen during our congregation’s regular turn to serve.  Three groups made the casseroles to freeze to serve 100; the preschoolers scooped cookies onto the sheets for baking. 

An email with missionaries discovered they not only needed American crayons, but had youth who loved Big Red gum.  We collected and sent these things, with pictures to follow up – and hopefully a YouTube exchange as well.

Shop for and wrap gifts for a local family.  Christmas – and maybe another time during the year.  Check with a local agency for a family in need.  We found our kids are excited to buy clothes – and often ask “what color hair do they have?”  Gets pretty personal.

Find exciting ways to spark food collections.  A wall of mac and cheese.  Line the halls of the building with canned goods.  One fall we had a contest between fruits and vegetables.  Stack on opposite walls.

Pillows for Hospice patients.  Invite a staff from Hospice to come and talk with the children a little about Hospice, and dying.  Most have lost a grandparent; it won’t be as difficult as you might think.  Pillows were precut fleece, sewn on 3+ sides.  They stuffed and whip stitched shut.

Decorate and fill big flower pots for a local preschool.  Fun, and good stewardship.

Our children made collection bags for local shelter.  Hot pink sheets stapled on the front are list of needs from agency staff.  Even the preschoolers made bags.  Everyone in the congregation was invited to take, fill and return.

Alaire Willits has directed Christian Education at First Congregational UCC in Sioux City for nine years.  You can reach her at alairew 'at' msn 'dot' com.


Resources:
Heller, David, The Children's God.  University of Chicago, 1986
Johnson, Jan, Growing Compassionate Kids.  Upper Room Books, 2001.
Thompson, Marjorie.  Family: The Forming Center.   Upper Room Books, 1997.
Www.rotation.org  Search under specific Bible story.  They often have outreach suggestions you can modify.
Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?  Alternatives in Simple Living.