Christmas is such an exciting time of year for Christians as we celebrate the best gift ever, Jesus our Savior. We can make the season more meaningful for our children by giving them opportunities to bless other people.
The Christmas season is an excellent opportunity to help them show generosity, spread hope, give joy, and have peace as they bless someone in need. The ANM Christmas Catalog offers several opportunities for children to help other children and families to have a better life and hear the good news of Jesus.
Here are some ideas for fundraising from the past:
One child decided to have her birthday party theme be: “It’s My Party and I’ll Give If I Want To” (taken from the old song “It’s My Party and I’ll Cry If I Want To”). She invited kids to bring donations to missions, and they had games and refreshments; there were just no gifts for her! This child had encouraged her father’s church to donate blankets for Iran when she was six years old. She had a heart to bless others, which her parents nurtured over the years. You could use this idea to raise funds for a catalog item such as a boat for a missionary.
Two grandparents shared the ANM Christmas catalog with their grandchildren, and they talked about the needs of people in other countries. The children decided to rake leaves to earn money to pay for catalog items. Their response was, “Let’s give to all the items.” Their grandmother explained that raising funds for all the items would be difficult. They were allowed to pick items that had meaning to them, and they gave the $10.00 they had earned raking leaves for that item. One child picked bricks to build a Christian school like the one he attended.
Another child picked chickens because he and his family raised chickens. The two-year-old child said, “Books for kids,” so her choice was the Children’s Bibles for China. Recently, one grandson asked, “Grandma, when will we rake leaves and give the money for the catalog?” She responded, “Well, we need to wait for the leaves to fall first.” He is eager to serve!
One first-grade Sunday School class had a long tube that would hold pennies, nickels, and dimes. Each Sunday before class began, they would take the tube around the church to collect change for missions. The kids loved collecting the change, and it was a privilege to carry the tube. The adults began to look forward to the collection time and made sure they had proper change; no quarters would fit in the tube! They donated the money to an ANM missionary when they filled the tube.
Here are some more ideas for your family to do that could be fun and profitable:
Encourage your child to walk dogs in the neighborhood for donations to help a child get shoes. Discuss with your child before hand how dangerous and painful walking dogs and doing other activities would be without shoes. Having shoes can mean the difference between walking safely and being allowed to attend school in some countries.
For a fee, suggest your child deliver Christmas messages, cards, songs, Christmas candy, or hot chocolate to neighbors and friends. They can dress up and have a great time, then use the funds to send Christmas gifts to kids overseas who cannot afford presents and have never heard of Jesus.
Host a special dinner at church where everyone brings dishes from their ethnic background. Play games from different countries and have donation baskets on the tables to fund a particular project, like emergency food for families in crisis.
Remember the success of the Ice Bucket Challenge? It raised over $115 million worldwide for ALS research. Ask your child about a fun challenge they could do, record your child doing the challenge, use hashtags, and put the video online. Tell viewers what the funds are for and how to give. You might want to pick a larger project, like digging a well for a village, since you don’t know how many people may want to get involved in this project.
Please let us know if you do a fundraiser and how successful it was for you and your child. We want to celebrate your success and share your ideas to encourage others!
Follow up on your giving by reading stories at advancingnativemissions.com about how gifts from the catalog blessed people.
