Missionary Bucket Challenge

Missions Ideas for Kids

by Nathan Hamilton of Kids Enjoying Jesus.

I was only about six or seven years old when I heard a story about a missionary named John on a faraway island who gave his whole life to telling people about Jesus. And I remember thinking I want to do that and that’s what I did.

Now I didn’t get to move to a faraway island as I kind of wanted to, but I’m actually not healthy enough to do that. I did become a missionary when I grew up though and I got to help thousands of kids all around the world learn about Jesus. And it all started way back when I was just a kid. That’s one reason I think it is super important to teach kids about missions and missionaries at a very young age. It prepares them for a lifetime of being involved in missions.

Today, I want to show you a simple way to teach your kids about missions. I call it “Missionary Bucket Challenge”. The basic idea is super simple. Get a small bucket, put a missionary’s name on it and challenge the kids to pray for that missionary and put money in the bucket all month long. At the end of the month, you take the bucket to your church and put the money in the mission’s Offering. That’s it.

I know it’s not exactly earth-shattering or revolutionary but it is intentionally helping us involve our kids in missions in several ways. First, the bucket is a visual reminder to talk about and pray for a specific missionary all month long. You can pick up buckets at crafting stores. I use one with a chalkboard on the front so I can write things on it like the missionary’s name. But you could also just tape a sign to your Missionary Bucket.

This month, we’re raising money to help a missionary named Kathy to buy a new used car for her ministry. I wrote “Kathy” on the bucket and talked to my kids about who she is, what she does, and why she needs to buy another car. I can even put something in the bucket to remind my kids about what the missionary does or what specific project it is that we’re raising money for.

For instance, since we’re helping Kathy to buy a car, we could put a toy car into our bucket. Or if we were raising money for a missionary who is a bible translator, we could put a small pocket Bible in our bucket. Or maybe if we were raising money for a missionary who needed to travel around the world, we could put a tiny little globe or maybe a toy airplane to remind the kids that they can buy plane tickets. You can put objects in the buckets to help your kids think about whatever it is that the money is going to be used for.

Then we put our bucket in the living room, where we see it every day. I think it’s decorative and looks nice. If you don’t like buckets, you could use any kind of container that’s kid friendly. You can even tie a bow on the handle if you really want to get fancy.

The bucket reminds me to pray for that missionary with my kids multiple times throughout the month. So that’s one way it helps me be intentional about missions.

The bucket also helps your kids develop a habit of giving to missions and enjoying it.

The bucket also helps your kids develop a habit of giving to missions and enjoying it. When we find spare coins in a parking lot, we can put them in the Missionary Bucket. When I come home from the store, I can divide up my change among my little kids and they love putting it in the Missionary Bucket. When they get money for their birthday, we challenge them to put a little bit of it in the Missionary Bucket. And they’re usually really excited to do that. We also offer some small jobs for them to do as a way for them to earn money to put in the bucket. It’s not loads of money but it’s intentionally teaching our kids to think about giving to missionaries.

“Why do you always tell us to give our money but you don’t give anything?” And as I thought about it, I realised he can’t actually see us giving. We were giving but he couldn’t see it because it’s all online.

My wife and I also put some of our own money in the bucket to set an example in giving to missions. Now, we do most of our giving electronically but our kids can’t see that. And my son actually asked a few months ago, “Why do you always tell us to give our money but you don’t give anything?” And as I thought about it, I realised he can’t actually see us giving. We were giving but he couldn’t see it because it’s all online. So, that was actually part of the inspiration for this idea. I wanted a way we would be intentional about giving as a family in a way that was tangible for our kids.

The bucket also helps kids understand a direct connection between their giving and world missions. At the end of the month, I put the money in an envelope and then put the envelope back in the bucket for one of my kids to hold in the car all the way to church. It’s a really special privilege to hold the bucket all the way to church. And then when we get to church, they get to walk the bucket all the way into church and put the envelope into the offering plate. And then I take the bucket and put it on a shelf so it’s not a distraction during the service. And we pick it up and take it home afterward.

Our church actually has a special offering for different missionaries every month called “Change for Change”. So that’s what we give this money to. And at the end of the month, one of the elders actually gets up and announces how much money was raised. And I get to whisper to my kids, “Part of that money came from your Missionary Bucket!” And their face lights up and they’re so excited.

On the next month, I write a new missionary’s name on the bucket and we start all over again. Our church even has a missionary handbook with pictures of the missionaries our church supports. And I can use it to teach my kids more about different missionaries. And guess what, it fits in the bucket! It’s like a cute little missions packet for kids.

This is just one of the things we do on purpose to teach our kids about missions and connect them with real live missionaries. Maybe it’s something you can do to help your kids or kids in your Sunday School class to learn about missions.