Working in Missions

Think about the path you take every day. From your home to school. From the school gate to your classroom. From the classroom to recess. From school back home.

Now count, roughly, how many people you pass along that route. Ten? Thirty? A hundred?

Every day, you already walk through a mission field — and you probably never realized it.

This is the last lesson of the quarter. For thirteen weeks we studied the church: what it is, who the pastors are, what elders, deacons, and church workers do, what the spiritual gifts are, and how the body works together. And an honest question hangs in the air: so what?

So what is that none of this exists out of curiosity. The church does not organize itself just to look nice on the inside. It organizes itself because it has a mission — and today we are going to talk about it.

I — Missions is not the same thing as evangelism

Last Sunday the subject was evangelism. Today it is missions. It sounds like the same class with another name. It is not.

Evangelism is the act of proclaiming the message of salvation. You tell someone, right there, on the spot. It is specific, it is direct, and any Christian does it.

Missions is bigger. It is the entire work of the organized church to take and sustain the Gospel where it has not yet arrived. Notice how many pieces this has:

• someone goes — leaves where they were and settles in another place;
• someone sends — the church decides to send them, and takes responsibility;
• someone supports — the home base works, the missionary eats, the work continues;
• someone prays — every day, by name;
• and those who believe are discipled, not abandoned halfway along the road.

Evangelism fits inside missions. Missions is the umbrella.

And there are two types, two different addresses:

Local mission is close by. It is your street, your neighborhood, your city. It is your church's evangelistic outreach in the square, at the street market, on the avenue. It is the neighbor your family knows.

Cross-cultural mission is crossing over. It is leaving your culture and entering another — another country, another state, another people, another language, another way of living. The cross-cultural missionary has to learn to speak in a way that those people understand, and that takes time.

Both are missions. Neither one is a second-class version of the other.

II — A command is a command, and it does not depend on a single verse

Before ascending to heaven, Jesus left the same instruction recorded in four different places. It is not a loose note; it is the closing of the Gospel.

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20)

"And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”" (Mark 16:15)

"Again Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so also I am sending you.”" (John 20:21)

And in Acts 1:8 He promises the power of the Holy Spirit and says that they would be witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Luke 24:46-48 repeats the same thing in other words.

Four records. One single command.

Notice what is not written in any of them. It is not written "go if you can make it." It is not written "go if you think it is cool." It is not written "go if you have a calling for it." Jesus did not make an invitation for excited volunteers — He gave a command to the whole church.

αβ In the original — Greek. In Matthew 28:19, the word translated "go" is a participle, and many understand its force as "going", "as you go". That does not loosen the command — it is still a command. It changes the address: the "go" does not start when you buy a ticket; it starts on the path you already walk. And notice another word: in Romans 10:15, "sent" comes from the Greek verb apostéllo, the same root from which we get apostle — which means, simply, sent one. Our word "mission" came from the Latin mittere, which also means to send. Apostle and missionary are the same idea in two languages: people who are sent.

III — The chain of Romans 10

Now comes the heart of the lesson, and it is a line of reasoning that Paul builds backward. Read it slowly.

"for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”" (Romans 10:13)

"How then can they call on the One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”" (Romans 10:14-15)

Put it in the order in which it actually happens:

SEND → PREACH → HEAR → BELIEVE → CALL → BE SAVED

It is a chain. And a chain has an uncomfortable feature: it is only as strong as its weakest link. Take away any one of them and the last one does not happen.

Notice what Paul is saying. God is almighty and could have chosen any method — He could have written in the sky, He could have sent an angel, He could have spoken directly into each person's ear. He chose to arrive through people who go. That is why missions is not an optional department of the church. It is the way God decided to reach the world.

And pay attention to two words in verse 13: everyone who. It is not "some". It is not "those chosen beforehand, and only them". The offer is real and it is for anyone who calls — Paul had just said that there is no difference between Jew and Greek (Romans 10:12).

But the offer being for everyone does not mean that everyone says yes. Three verses later Paul writes that not all have obeyed the gospel (Romans 10:16). It is possible to hear and refuse. It is possible to receive grace and turn your back on it. If it were not possible, that sentence would make no sense.

Put the two things together and you have the whole lesson: God offers salvation to everyone who calls on Him, and He chose to make that offer arrive through the mouths of ordinary people. Someone has to go. If no one goes, someone is left without hearing.

That is why verse 15 ends by talking about feet. Not a pretty voice, not a diploma, not talent: feet. The part of the body that walks. Isaiah had said the same thing centuries earlier, celebrating how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the one who brings good news (Isaiah 52:7).

IV — Knees, hands, and feet

There is an old saying that sums up how missionary work functions in practice: missions are done with the knees of those who pray, with the hands of those who give, and with the feet of those who go.

Three pillars. None of them is just for decoration.

Going. It is leaving where you are to proclaim the message somewhere else. It can be on the other side of the world and it can be three blocks from your house, in your church's evangelistic outreach. At your age, your "going" happens together with your church and with your parents — and that is truly going, not going halfway.

Giving. It is the money that supports those who went. A missionary eats, pays rent, needs supplies, needs to come home sometimes. Someone pays that bill, and the one who pays is just as much a part of the work as the one who travels. But listen carefully: this is not a demand placed on you. A student has no income, and the Bible never measured anyone by the size of what they gave. If one day you are able to give, great. If you cannot, you are not left out.

Praying. This is the pillar that is entirely within your reach, today, without depending on anything else. And it is not a consolation prize for those who cannot do the rest — look at what Jesus said right when He appointed seventy disciples and sent them ahead of Him: "And He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest.”" (Luke 10:2)

Read that again. The harvest is plentiful, workers are lacking, and Jesus' very first command in the face of this is pray. Anyone who prays for missions is asking God for the exact thing He commanded us to ask for.

And there is a fourth way, which does not show up on any list, yet preaches all the time: your testimony. The way you treat your classmate at school. The words you use when you get annoyed. What you do when the teacher leaves the room. Whether or not you join in making fun of the kid who is alone. All of this speaks before you even open your mouth — and it may be the only page of the Bible that someone near you will ever read.

🏛 Did you know — the map the church learned to look at. There is a band on the world map between 10 and 40 degrees north of the equator that covers North Africa, the Middle East, and a large part of Asia. It is the region where most of the people who still have not had access to the Gospel live, and in several of these countries being a Christian costs dearly — losing family, job, freedom. Missionaries often cannot get in. And here is the part that fills the heart: even where no one can get in, God arrives. There are many accounts of people in these regions who met Jesus without any missionary nearby and went looking for a Bible on their own. The Gospel does not depend on an entry visa.

V — Your age is not the problem

The quarterly brings a list worth keeping. Daniel and his friends spoke of God in Babylon while very young. Joseph kept his testimony in Egypt far from home. Samuel was called while still a boy, serving in the temple. Jeremiah tried to get out of it by telling God he was only a youth — and God did not accept the excuse. Josiah took the throne at eight years old and turned the entire nation back to the Lord. And Jesus, at twelve, was in the temple among the teachers, listening and asking questions (Luke 2:46-47).

None of them waited until they came of age.

That does not mean you have to do something huge right now. It means that "I am too young" is not an argument — and that God usually starts with those who are available, not with those who are ready.

That is exactly what happened with Isaiah. God asked whom He should send and who would go for them, and Isaiah's answer was short: here I am, send me (Isaiah 6:8).

Notice that Isaiah did not answer where to. He answered here I am. The address is up to God.

VI — Where your field is (and where you do not go)

Missions, in the mouth of a preteen, can turn into a dangerous idea if no one puts the rules on the table. So let's put them on the table.

Your field is where you already are. The classmates in your room. The neighbors your family knows. Your cousins. Your siblings. The people in your building, on your street, on your team. That is where your word carries the most weight, because those people see your life up close and know whether what you say is true.

And there are things that are not your role — not now, not even with the best of intentions:

• You do not go out alone. No approaching strangers on the street, no ringing doorbells, no entering anyone's house, no going out without a responsible adult. When the church goes out into the street, you go along, with your parents knowing.
• You do not go anywhere with someone you do not know, even if the person talks about God. If someone calls you to a place alone, asks for your contact information, or asks you to keep a secret, you do not go, you do not give it, and you do not keep it: tell your father, your mother, your teacher, or a church leader that very same day. You report it; the adult handles it.
• You do not mistreat anyone. Talking about Jesus is not humiliating someone of another religion, it is not making fun of someone who does not believe, it is not name-calling, and it is not cutting off relatives. The atheist classmate remains a friend. Someone of another faith continues to be treated with respect. The One who convinces is the Holy Spirit; rudeness only slams doors shut.
• You do not have a quota. No one here is going to ask you how many people you converted. That does not exist in the Bible and it will not exist in this class. Missions has no scoreboard.

❤ For your life. Maybe you are thinking: "I freeze up, I don't know what to say, I'mylib dying of embarrassment". Keep this in mind: the Holy Spirit is not looking for people who are ready; He is looking for people who are available. Jesus told the disciples to wait until they were clothed with power before going out to preach — courage was not born in them; it came from God. Ask for it. And start small: one name, one true sentence, one prayer a day.

Christ in the Lesson

This whole lesson can turn into a heavy burden if it stops at "you have an obligation." So take a step back and look at the One who started the story.

The first one sent was Jesus. Just as the Father sent Him, so He also sends us (John 20:21). Before any missionary existed, He existed — sent by the Father, leaving glory, entering a culture that was not His own, in a human body, in a small town, in a poor family (Philippians 2:6-8). The greatest cross-cultural journey in history was not from Brazil to Asia. It was from heaven to earth.

And He did not come just to talk. He came to die. The good news we proclaim is only news because the bill was paid: Christ died in our place and rose again, and that is why there is something to call upon when Romans 10:13 says that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Notice also how He did missions while He was here: He went through towns and villages proclaiming the Kingdom, trained twelve men in daily life, sent seventy ahead of Him, and left the work in the hands of ordinary people — fishermen, a tax collector, a man who had denied Him. If He entrusted the mission to that team, your shyness is not that big of an obstacle.

And do not forget the last sentence of the command, where He promises that He is with us always, to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:20). He never sent anyone alone. He never has.

That is why missions is not a demand placed on you. It is overflow. It is people who were reached by grace for free and can no longer stay quiet.

And here is the most important invitation of this class: you cannot introduce someone to a Jesus whom you yourself do not know. If you have not yet surrendered your life to Him, start there, today. The rest comes after.

Practical Application

In prayer. Choose one name — a missionary your church supports or a country where Christians are persecuted — and pray for that name every day this week. One sentence is enough.

At school. Treat well those whom no one treats well. The new classmate, the one who sits alone at recess, the one the others make fun of. That preaches before any word of yours.

In your church. Ask the leadership whom your church supports on the mission field and where that person is. Then look up that place on a map. Someone who prays knowing the name and the address prays differently.

In your home. Tell your family at home what you learned today, in your own words. Missions is also a dinner-table topic.

With safety. Nothing alone, nothing with strangers, nothing out of sight of adults. Your field is the people who already know you.

Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank You because You were the first one sent: You left Your glory, came to where I was, and paid what I had no way to pay. Thank You because someone, one day, had the feet Your Word speaks of and came to tell me. Forgive the times when I looked at the people on my daily path and did not see anyone. Teach me to pray for those who are far away, to respect those who do not yet believe, and to live in a way that does not bring shame to Your name at school. I do not have courage on my own, and You never asked me to have it: fill me with Your Holy Spirit and place in me the boldness I still lack. Raise up workers for Your harvest, protect those who are in dangerous places out of love for You, and if one day You want to send me, may I know how to answer like Isaiah: here I am, send me. In Jesus' name, amen.

Soli Deo Gloria — Scripture governs; everything else, on its knees.

Teacher's Guide

Essence of the class

God chose to reach the world through people who go — and the chain of Romans 10 only reaches someone if someone goes, someone sends, and someone prays.

Map of the class

Time	Stage
0–5 min	Opening — the mission field you walk through every day
5–13 min	Point 1 — Missions is bigger than evangelism
13–21 min	Point 2 — The chain of Romans 10
21–28 min	Class activity — The chain that breaks
28–34 min	Point 3 — Knees, hands, and feet (and age is no obstacle)
34–40 min	Point 4 — Where your field is + Christ + challenge + prayer

Start like this

Walk in without an introduction and ask: "Close your eyes and retrace the path you took today to get here. From your house to the door of the church. Now tell me, roughly: how many people did you pass along that way?"

Let three or four guess numbers — you will hear "ten", "about fifty", "I don't know, a lot".

Then wrap it up: "Keep that number. Because today you are going to discover that every day you pass through a mission field and probably never noticed it."

Follow right up with the question that ties the whole quarter together: "We spent thirteen weeks studying the church — pastor, elder, deacon, gifts, the body working together. So what? What is all of that for?" Hold the answer. Say that the whole class answers it.

Point 1 — Missions is bigger than evangelism

• In the quarterly: the "Knowing + About God" box (which opens by saying that talking about Missions goes beyond Evangelism, the subject of the previous class) and topic 1, "Proclaiming the Gospel to All People".
• What to teach: this point exists to clear up the confusion, and the teacher needs to state the difference plainly, because the class just had a lesson on evangelism. Evangelism is the act of proclaiming — specific, direct, any Christian does it. Missions is the entire work of the organized church to take and sustain the Gospel where it has not yet arrived: someone goes, someone sends, someone supports, someone prays, and those who believe are discipled. Evangelism fits inside missions. Then present the two addresses: local mission (the street, the neighborhood, the city, the church's evangelistic outreach) and cross-cultural mission (another country, another state, another people, another language — and the need to learn to speak in a way that those people understand). Say that neither of the two is second-class. Close by showing that the command is in four places, not just one: Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; John 20:21; Acts 1:8 (and Luke 24:46-48).
• Anchor verse (BSB): "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," (Matthew 28:19)
• Key question: "Last Sunday we talked about evangelism. Today the subject is missions. What is the difference — or is it the same thing with another name?"
• Likely answers (+ going deeper): "it's the same thing"; "missions is when you go to another country"; "evangelism is here and missions is far away". Go deeper: "So is the person who stays behind and supports the missionary doing missions or not?" — that is where it clicks.
• If no one speaks: give the ready-made example — "I tell my neighbor about Jesus: that is evangelism. Our church supports a missionary in another state, prays for him, and sends funds: that is missions. One fits inside the other."

Point 2 — The chain of Romans 10

• In the quarterly: topic 2, "How Will They Hear Without Someone Preaching?", and topic 3, "It Is Necessary to Send People Who Proclaim the Gospel", under the sub-item Jesus' Proposal.
• What to teach: read Romans 10:13 and then 10:14-15 slowly, and build the chain on the board in the order in which it actually happens: SEND → PREACH → HEAR → BELIEVE → CALL → BE SAVED. Show that it is a chain and that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The central point: God could have used any method — an angel, writing in the sky, a voice in the ear — and He chose to arrive through people who go. That is why missions is not an optional department. Then pause on the words of v. 13: "everyone who". The offer is genuine and is for anyone who calls (v. 12: there is no difference between Jew and Greek). But follow right up with v. 16 — that not all have obeyed the gospel — which shows that it is possible to hear and refuse. The two things together are the lesson: God offers to all, and He chose to make the offer arrive through the mouths of ordinary people. Close on "feet" (v. 15) and connect it to Isaiah 52:7 — it is not a pretty voice or a diploma; it is the part of the body that walks.
• Anchor verse (BSB): "How then can they call on the One in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach?" (Romans 10:14)
• Key question: "If God is almighty, why does He depend on someone going? Wouldn't it be faster to send an angel?"
• Likely answers (+ going deeper): "because He wants us to take part"; "because an angel would scare people"; "I don't know, that's weird". Go deeper: "So if no one goes, what happens to the person at the end of the chain?" — let the class arrive at the answer on its own.
• If no one speaks: tell how you heard the Gospel for the first time, with name and all — who told you, where, at what age. And ask: "and what if that person had stayed quiet?"

Point 3 — Knees, hands, and feet

• In the quarterly: topic 2, in the maxim "Missions are done with the knees of those who pray, with the hands of those who give, and with the feet of those who go", under the sub-item Involvement; and topic 1, sub-item Still Young, with the example of King Josiah.
• What to teach: explain the three pillars one by one. Going — going out to proclaim, and at their age this happens together with the church and with their parents, which is truly going and not going halfway. Giving — the one who supports is just as much inside the work as the one who travels; but say out loud that this is not a demand placed on a student, because a student has no income and the Bible never measured anyone by the size of what they gave. Praying — the pillar entirely within their reach, and it is not a consolation prize: read Luke 10:2 and show that, faced with a plentiful harvest and few workers, Jesus' first command was pray. Add the fourth way, which is testimony: how they treat a classmate, the words they use when angry, whether or not they join in making fun of someone. Close with the list of young people God used (Daniel, Joseph, Samuel, Jeremiah, Josiah, Jesus at twelve in Luke 2:46-47) and with Isaiah's answer in Isaiah 6:8 — point out to the class that Isaiah did not answer by asking where to go, he answered by saying that he was right there, available.
• Anchor verse (BSB): "And He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest.”" (Luke 10:2)
• Key question: "Of the three — going, giving, praying — which one can you already do this week, just as your life is today?"
• Likely answers (+ going deeper): "praying"; "none, I don't have money"; "going with the church". Go deeper: "And why did Jesus, seeing that people were lacking, command them to pray before commanding anything else?" Do not let the conversation turn into a comparison of who gives more — cut it off immediately if it comes up, and do not ask anyone how much they give.
• If no one speaks: say the name of a missionary your church supports and tell one concrete thing from their life. A name and a face unlock the class better than a concept.

Point 4 — Where your field is (and where you do not go)

• In the quarterly: topic 3, sub-item The Routine of Missionaries, and the conclusion, which invites the student to get involved in missionary work. The safety part is the closing that the teacher leads.
• What to teach: this point is short and non-negotiable. Their field is where they already are: the classroom, the street, the building, cousins, siblings, the church — people who already know them and see their life up close. Then state the rules plainly, without a lukewarm tone: do not go out alone, do not approach strangers, do not ring doorbells, do not enter anyone's house, do not go anywhere with someone you do not know even if the person talks about God; if someone asks for contact info, calls them to a place alone, or asks for a secret, they do not go, do not give it, do not keep it, and tell that very same day — you report it, the adult handles it. Add the two remaining rules: do not mistreat anyone who is of another religion or does not believe (evangelizing is not humiliating, name-calling, mocking someone's faith, or cutting off relatives) and do not have a quota — in this class there is no scoreboard of souls. Finish in Christ: the first one sent was Jesus (John 20:21), the greatest cross-cultural journey in history was from heaven to earth, and He never sent anyone alone (Matthew 28:20).
• Anchor verse (BSB): "Again Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so also I am sending you.”" (John 20:21)
• Key question: "Without saying anything about Jesus, just by the way you live at school: what do the people in your classroom learn about Him?"
• Likely answers (+ going deeper): "nothing"; "that I'm a nice person"; "that I talk just like everyone else". Go deeper: "What is the one thing you would change this week so the answer would be different?" The question is about their own life — do not allow anyone to point out a classmate's flaws.
• If no one speaks: give three concrete examples and ask which one is the hardest: not joining in when others make fun of the kid who sits alone, not answering rudely when people pick on you, sitting next to the new classmate.

Class activity

• Goal: to see with their own eyes that someone's salvation at the far end depends on someone going — and that if one link disappears, the chain does not reach.
• Materials: six sheets of letter-size paper (the teaching aid the quarterly already asks for) and a thick marker. Write before class, one word per sheet, in large letters: SEND, PREACH, HEAR, BELIEVE, CALL, SAVED. If you want to use the sheets with the feet that the quarterly suggests, cut out the feet and glue them onto the SEND and PREACH sheets — those are the two links that walk.
• Step by step: call six volunteers (only those who want to; no one is singled out) and give one sheet to each. Ask them to line up in the right order, reading Romans 10:14-15 backward with the class helping — the whole class participates by saying where each one goes. Once the line is formed, ask them to hold hands: it is a chain. Read the whole passage aloud, pointing link by link. Now calmly ask the PREACH student to let go of hands and take one step back (no one pushes anyone, no one runs out of place). Ask the class: "who reaches SAVED now?" Repeat by taking out SEND. Then put both links back in place, the chain closes, and everyone holds hands again.
• Wrap-up (back to the text): "God is almighty and could have chosen any way to reach this person here at the end of the line. He chose this one: people who are sent and people who go. That is what Paul is saying when he asks how they will hear without someone preaching, and how anyone will preach unless they are sent (Romans 10:14-15). The chain does not close by itself. Someone has to step into it."

Caution when replacing the quarterly's activity. The quarterly suggests popping a balloon high up filled with scraps of paper and using the number of pieces each student grabs as the measure of how many people they must evangelize. Do not do it that way: the pop startles people, scrambling for paper in the air causes shoving and tripping, and turning that into a quota of souls puts guilt on an 11-year-old student for a score that is not theirs to keep. Missions has no scoreboard. The chain above teaches the same truth without startling anyone, without running, and without a quota.

If they ask you this

• "My Bible has a footnote saying that Mark 16:9-20 is not in the oldest manuscripts. Is that part really in the Bible?" Answer calmly and without getting into textual criticism with the class. The essentials: there is an ancient discussion among the manuscripts; two very old manuscripts do not include the passage, but the vast majority of manuscripts do, and second-century Christian writers — such as Irenaeus, around the year 180 — already quoted it. Our Bible includes it as Scripture. Never say "it is not original." And close by settling it once and for all: the command to go does not depend only on Mark — it is in Matthew 28:19-20; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21; and Acts 1:8. That is why this lesson is anchored in Matthew 28, with Mark 16:15 alongside it.
• "Mark 16:18 talks about picking up snakes and drinking poison. Can we do that?" No, and answer this quickly, because at 11 and 12 years old the risk of imitation is real. The text describes God's protection in a danger the person did not choose — as happened with Paul, when a viper fastened onto his hand after the shipwreck (Acts 28:3-6). It does not authorize handling snakes, messing with poison, or putting oneself at risk on purpose to prove faith. That is putting God to the test, and Jesus answered the devil by citing Scripture that you shall not put the Lord your God to the test (Matthew 4:7). State plainly what the verse does not authorize.
• "Mark 16:16 talks about whoever believes and is baptized being saved. So is someone who was not baptized not saved?" No. Salvation is by grace through faith: "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God," (Ephesians 2:8) Water baptism is an ordinance and the public testimony of someone who has already believed — it is not the instrument that saves. The proof is in the second half of the verse itself: what condemns is not believing, and not "not being baptized". The thief on the cross was not baptized and heard from Jesus that he would be with Him in paradise.
• "If God already knows who is going to be saved, what is missions for?" Because God did not choose to save people over their heads: He genuinely offers and expects a genuine response. Romans 10:13 says everyone who calls on the Lord will be saved — not some, not a closed group (v. 12: there is no difference between Jew and Greek). And Romans 10:16 says that not all have obeyed the gospel, which only makes sense if refusal is possible and a real responsibility. God decided that this offer would arrive through the means He Himself chose — the sent preacher. That is why the chain exists, and that is why the one who goes is indispensable.
• "And what about someone who died without ever hearing about Jesus?" Do not invent an answer and do not hand down a verdict that the Bible does not give. Two things the class can safely take home: God is just and no one will be treated unjustly by Him — Abraham asked that very thing, whether the Judge of all the earth would not do what is right (Genesis 18:25); and the question is not about them, it is about us. Paul does not use this subject to speculate: he uses it to send someone to go. Close like this: "what God has not revealed to us, we entrust to Him; what He has revealed, we obey."
• "Can I go out on the street talking to strangers?" No, and this is the question the teacher cannot answer in a lukewarm way. At their age, missions is never alone and never with strangers: no approaching people on the street, ringing doorbells, entering someone's house, or going out without a responsible adult. Their field is the people who already know them — school, family, neighborhood — and when the church goes out, they go along, with their parents knowing. Reinforce the rule: if someone asks for contact info, calls them to a place alone, or asks for a secret, the student does not go, does not give it, does not keep it, and tells that very same day. "You report it; the adult handles it."

Wrap-up + challenge of the week

• Wrap-up: "We started by counting how many people you passed on the way here. Now you know three things. That missions is bigger than evangelism — there are those who go, those who send, those who support, and those who pray, and all of them are part of the work. That God chose to reach people through a chain that only closes if someone goes. And that your age is not the problem: He is not looking for people who are ready; He is looking for people who are available. But do not leave here thinking this is a heavy demand. The first one sent was Jesus — He left glory, crossed the greatest distance ever crossed, and paid the bill on the cross so that there would be good news for someone to proclaim. We do not go in order to get right with God. We go because we have already been reached by grace for free. And He promised that He is with us always, every single day."
• Challenge: adopt a name and pray for it. This week, choose one name — a missionary our church supports or a country where Christians are persecuted (the teacher brings the list ready and hands it out in class). Write the name on a piece of paper, leave it where you see it every day, and pray for that name once a day, every day. One sentence is enough. On Sunday, come back with the story.

Teacher's kit

• Before: read the three topics of the quarterly and mark in your Bible Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; John 20:21; Acts 1:8; Luke 24:46-48; Romans 10:12-16; Isaiah 52:7; Isaiah 6:8; Luke 10:2; Luke 2:46-47; and Ephesians 2:8-9. Decide beforehand how you will answer the question about the footnote in Mark 16 — it comes up when a student has a study Bible. Speak with the church leadership during the week and ask for two concrete things: the name of a missionary the church supports (along with where they are) and a short list of persecuted countries — that is the material for the challenge, and without it the homework stays on paper. If your church does not yet support any missionary project, talk with the pastor about the class adopting one in prayer.
• Bring: a Bible, six sheets of letter-size paper with the words of the chain already written on them, a thick marker, the list of names for the challenge (one slip of paper per student), and, if possible, a world map or a map on your phone to show where the field is.
• Pray beforehand: ask God for a class that sees the people along their own daily path; that no student leaves thinking missions is only for adults or only for those who travel; that no one leaves with guilt or with a quota of souls in their head; that those who have not yet surrendered to Christ surrender today; and that none of them confuses missionary courage with putting themselves at risk on the street or disrespecting those who believe differently.

Homework

Your mission for the week

Adopt a name and pray for it. Choose one name that your teacher hands out in class — a missionary our church supports or a country where Christians are persecuted. Write that name on a piece of paper and leave it where you see it every day: the cover of your notebook, your closet door, the bathroom mirror. And pray for that name once a day, every day this week. It does not have to be a long prayer — one sentence, in the way you normally talk, is already a prayer: "Lord, protect (name), give him courage, and send more people to that place."

Why

Because Jesus, seeing that the harvest was plentiful and the workers were few, commanded His followers to do this very thing first: to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest (Luke 10:2). The chain of Romans 10 only closes if someone goes — and the one who prays is asking God to send the one who goes. You do not need money, a ticket, or age for this pillar: you need a name and one minute a day.

How to know you did it

You know the name by heart, without looking at the paper, and you can say what you asked God for on their behalf. If you know the name, you did it.

On Sunday, come back with the story

Next week's class starts with students sharing which name they adopted, where that place is, and what they asked God for during the week. Do not stay out.