Children Reaching Out to Others: Haystack Children’s Lesson 2
Missionaries of care of care and concern
Missionaries of care of care and concern
Edgar and his best friend Chantel were playing in a park near their homes. After a while they walked over to the children’s wading pool. Seeing the water made Edgar think about what his Uncle Jeffrey had told him on the phone the night before.
“Chantel, did you see the news on TV about the floods in New Hampshire?, Edgar asked.
Chantel replied, “I guess so. I wasn’t paying too much attention.”
Edgar said, “You should have. My Uncle Jeffrey said there were people in his town whose homes were flooded. They had to leave by canoes and rowboats. His church was flooded and then, guess what?”
Chantel was feeling like this was too serious of a conversation for her. She replied, “Someone pulled the plug and all the water drained out?”
“No,” Edgar replied with a look of exasperation on his face. “When they went back into the church’s basement they found mush. All the books in the library, all the lessons for the church school, even the posters on the walls had been turned into mush.”
“Yuck,” said Chantel.
Edgar continued. “Now they are trying to raise money to fix up the basement of the church. I want to help but I can’t do it by myself. Will you help me?”
Chantel asked, “How can we raise money? Why should we give money to that church in New Hampshire? Our church needs a paint job. At least that’s what my Dad said.”
Edgar thought for a minute. Why don’t we have a car wash and a bake sale and any money we raise can go to both?”
Chantel loved the idea of helping Edgar’s Uncle’s church AND helping their church too. She said, “Why don’t we also have a dog show on the same day and people can pay $5 to enter their dog. Everyone loves to show off their dog!”
The two friends shook hands on it. They stopped by their church on the way home from the park and asked Pastor Joan if their idea would work. She was thrilled with their concern for the people in New Hampshire and for the needs of their own church. She then said, “There’s only one problem.”
“What’s that? The children asked in unison.
“I don’t have a dog,” she replied sadly. “But I bet I can borrow one!”
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Jesus said, “Love one another.” We show love by our acts of kindness and in other ways. Two hundred years ago a group of college students were called by God to go into the world and share the story of Jesus with those they met. This call came while they were praying beside a haystack. After being commissioned, these young people sailed off to new places with an old message “Love one another.”