Our family has had the privilege of being involved with many ministries in the United States and around the world. We invite you to join us! At the bottom of this page, you can find links to my blogs posts on missions and ministry, including ones on training your children to be involved. I have also included a favorite book list.
Lake Baldwin Church: Our family has been attending Lake Baldwin, a small Presbyterian (PCA) congregation, since early September 2010. LBC is involved in missions efforts around the world and many of the members are on staff with missionary organizations and local mercy outreaches. The pastors are Mike Tilley, Soon Pak, and Mike Aitcheson.
Italian Ministries: Joanna and Rachel each took off a semester from college to work with our friends Lee and Jeannette Walti (see Walti World blog), church planters in Chiavari, from February to May 2011. Their primary outreach was teaching English and befriending the students in a town with miniscule evangelical influence. Rachel and Joanna set up their own blog, Abbondanza de Vita to share about their trip. (There is a lot of funky Italian music on their Playlist there!)
Voice of Africa: Thad and I have been sending support, care packages, and Chichewa language gospel tracts to Headson Makazinga for many years. His group of churches in Malawi and Mozambique serves in evangelism, Bible distribution, widow & orphan care, church planting, conferences, and pastoral training. Read my blog posts about it here:
Christmas in Malawi, Christmas in America
- What in the World Is This?
- Out of Africa (A Letter from Headson Makazinga)
Wycliffe Bible Translators: Mary was a writer on staff here in Orlando for quite a while. Read my blog posts about Wycliffe here:
Mission to Japan: Joanna participated in the Daytona Beach retreat a few times to befriend Japanese homestay students and share the good news of Jesus.
Orlando Children's Church: My older children have volunteered occasionally on Saturdays with this wonderful outreach program for disadvantaged children from downtown Orlando. It meets at a suburban church in Maitland.
Bolivia: Julia has been to Entre Rios four times (for as long as 3 months) and Mary has been to La Paz once. They served with local church based ministries. Read my blog posts about Julia's trips on her old blog http://www.juliaknowles.blogspot.com/ or in my posts here:
- And They Are Strong and Bold... (Girls and the Grand Adventure)
- A Ship in Harbour is Safe...
- To Bolivia with Love (poem)
- A is for Angela
- B is for Bolivia
- Come With Me Here
Samaritan's Purse: Andrew, Micah, Naomi, Ben & Melody assembled Christmas shoeboxes for children around the world (probably India) as part of Lake Baldwin Church's Operation Christmas Child project.
Voice of the Martyrs: We have financially supported this organization, which ministers to persecuted Christians in countries where the gospel of Jesus is restricted. We have also participated in their blanket collection outreach. Their web site is full of very pertinent information for prayer and outreach. We still receive their excellent magazine and have also used some of their children's materials. Their children's web site Kids of Courage has wonderful on-line and print newsletters and country activity books which can be used for home schooling. I love the video Stephen's Test of Faith and their Torchlighters DVD series.
Homeless outreach: Julia, Rachel & Joanna have all helped serve meals to the homeless, and Julia organized a clothing and blanket drive in January 2011.
Pro-life outreach: Julia has been active in the pro-life movement in Orlando for many years, which involves praying at clinics, talking to pregnant women, and helping with practical assistance.
Writing around the world: My Hope Chest e-magazine and blogs are read by subscribers in dozens of countries, and I have sent books to most of the continents, too.
Feel free to ask for more information!
My other blog posts on the topics of missions can be found here:
- A Giant Passes: Dr. Ralph D. Winter
- Justice by Heart
- Our Thanksgiving Indians
- Beauty, Justice, and Truth... In the Church
- More to Be Desired than Gold
These posts are about teaching on the subject of missions and global awareness.
- Nations & Generations: Home Schooling to Make a Difference in the World
- A Sense of Calling for Life
- Christian Biography and Report Questions
- Out of Africa and Into My Classroom: Rwanda and Reconciliation
- In the News and in My Classroom
- Another GOOD day at Providence
- Islam Vocabulary and Concepts
My favorite resource for teaching children about missions is Missionary Stories and the Millers by Mildred Martin. Our copy has been read dozens of times from cover to cover. Home Educators Resource carries it new. You can also find it used on book sites such as Amazon. Somewhere on the web is a site where you can read many of the chapters on-line. If anyone knows where it is, please let me know!
We also love the Christian Heroes Then & Now biography series by Janet & Geoff Benge, and the Trailblazers series by Dave and Neta Jackson.
The Mission-Minded Family by Jim and Ann Dunagan of Harvest Ministries is another great resource for parents. The Dunagans also offer free PDF resources on missions including the full one year curriculum Teaching With God's Heart for the World.
I'll try to add more resources as I have time, and as I think of them! Do you have favorites? Send them along, please!
Virginia Knowles
http://www.virginiaknowles.blogspot.com/
