How Can We Raise Kids Who Are World Christians?

God is at work around the world. North America and Western Europe are no longer the hotbeds of Christian thought and culture—although the growth of the “nones” has plateaued as Gen Z starts looking for answers outside themselves. In the global South, Christianity is growing at an unprecedented rate.

With 67% of all Christians living in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, the face of the “average” Christian is now likely to be brown or black. Some Christians live and work and worship in the good old U.S.A. Others are persecuted for their faith or are living in war zones or in cities reduced to rubble by natural disasters.

When we talk about and pray for people around the world, we are educating our children and grandchildren. Our words about other cultures will be the voice they hear in their brain as they form their own understanding of who Jesus died for and what it means to be made in the image of God.

Our goal is to raise a generation of World Christians, believers who grow up with a global understanding of their faith and a big-tent mentality around what a Christian might look like or eat for dinner. With our 24/7 newsfeed and ready access to global happenings, we are well-situated to convey the message that loss is painful and grief is real, no matter what language the sobbing child in the video may speak.

When we talk about and pray for people around the world, we are educating our children and grandchildren. Our goal is to raise a generation of World Christians, believers who grow up with a global understanding of their faith.

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Resources for Raising World Christians

IVP Kids has released two new resources designed to help families engage in conversations that inspire empathy and meaningful prayer for children around the world.

With the guidance of her grandfather, Kaylee brings the weight of her sadness to God and finds comfort as she senses God’s “yes.” Their Korean practice of “praying in one voice” is, in itself, enlightening, and parents will want to take full advantage of the downloadable resources from IVP, including a free map like the one Kaylee uses in the story.

With just the right amount of text per page, Hackney’s refreshing lyrics celebrate Jesus’s love for “every color, every shade, just exactly as he made.” We are “made and loved so perfectly,” no matter where in the world we call home. Great content, along with thoughtful design and sturdy construction, make this a book I’m excited to share with my youngest grandkids!

Best Practices for Your Home

1. Make the most of world events
   Like Kaylee and her grandfather, we can use the news media as a prayer prompt. Big international sporting events like the Olympics or the Tour de France also create an awareness of God’s big world. When our kids were small, we hauled the television into the living room and hung a map on the wall so we could locate the countries and think about the challenges they may have faced in preparing for competition.
2. Invite missionaries into your home
   Bring up the topic of missions or cross-cultural evangelism in a room full of Christians, and you’ll get responses along a surprising bandwidth. A few will know the names and pertinent details of the missionaries their church family supports. A surprising number will inform you that missionaries largely impose Western culture upon people who are just fine and minding their own business.
   
   Nothing endears and demythologizes missionaries more than sitting around a dining room table with them. One of our kids described the rather austere head of a missions agency as “the guy who used his mashed potatoes to pick up his peas.” Along the way, they heard stories of God’s faithfulness coming from real people who happened to be called by God to serve him cross-culturally.
3. Get to know international students
   My friend Sue Donaldson still keeps in touch with students she hosted when her daughters were in school. She lives in a college town and regularly invites the leadership team for her church’s college group to gather in her home. Hospitality becomes a teaching tool when we do life with people from other cultures. She’s written about church-based hospitality, ministering to college students in our homes, and welcoming the stranger.

What ideas can you share for raising children who are world Christians?
If you live in a rural area, how have you managed to expose your children to diverse people and places?

Holding You in the Light,

IVP Kids has released two new resources designed to help families engage in conversations that inspire empathy and meaningful prayer for children around the world. @IvpKids

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