Note to parent or teacher: This 20- to 30-minute lesson plan on missionaries highlights the following lesson objective: “Learn of the calling that God places in individuals’ hearts even today to serve as missionaries and spread God’s message of love and salvation.” (Christian Life and Faith: Witnessing and Missionary Training: Missionary Life-2d)

Listen to “Audio: Little Missionary.”

Ask your children to tell you what they think a “missionary” is.

Read “What Is a Christian Missionary” by Got Questions.

Read “Ambassadors for Christ,” 2 Corinthians 5:20.

Read Matthew 28:18–20, the great commission Jesus gave His first disciples 2,000 years ago. Explain how those who commit their lives to telling others of the good news are known as “missionaries.”

Ask your children if they know of anyone who is a missionary, whether personally or from history. See how many names you can come up with.

Read “Famous Missionaries: James Gilmour” and “Meet Amy Carmichael,” and “ David Livingstone.”

Discuss some of the sacrifices that missionaries have to make in order to fulfill the Lord’s commission to them.

List some qualities that all great missionaries of the past (and present as well) had in common (e.g., they had love and concern for those they ministered to, they learned the local language, they were faithful, etc.).

Praise Jesus for those missionaries in the past who made it possible for God’s Word to be enjoyed by your children today. Pray for any missionaries you know of, for the supply of their needs, and that the Lord will make a way for the people of that land to be reached with His love.

Additional material:

• Level 1 Lesson Plan: The Life of David Livingstone
• The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (movie), closely based on the true story of Gladys Aylward, a missionary in China in the 1930s.