Children's Fund for Christian Mission

What is the Children's Fund?

This experience helps children respond to God’s presence and love as they learn to care for others, develop good habits of giving of themselves and monetarily, build their knowledge of global cultures, and practice “being in mission” with others. Projects change each year, providing children with a variety of learning experiences as individual churches use this mission education experience.

What is the Purpose?

To help children grow as disciples of Jesus Christ through mission education. The policy of the Children’s Fund is (1) to educate children about mission and (2) to provide a way for children to give to mission beyond their local church.

What resources are available to help us participate?

Each year information about the project and learning activities are provided here on the Discipleship Ministries website.

DOWNLOAD 2016 Children's Fund for Christian Mission Basic Information [PDF]

What Are Some Ways to Use the Stories and Activities?

Sunday School Class • Vacation Bible School • Children’s Choir • Church Family Retreat • Fellowship Group • Before- & After-School Programs • Bulletin Board Display • Mission Fair • Children’s Sermon • Church Newsletter • Home Study • Seasonal Study (Lent, Advent)

How Do I Begin?

Contact your congregation’s mission coordinator, children’s council, education committee, and/or pastor to discuss if this might be a churchwide mission emphasis or a children’s mission education program. Plan a time that works best on your church’s calendar.

How Are Projects Selected and What Happens to the Offerings?

Global Ministries selects projects that relate to children. Discipleship Ministries (formerly GBOD) then develops the teaching resources, distributes the information, and collects the offerings. Global Ministries then makes the distribution to each project.

Each project receives an equal share of the money received. We cannot honor requests for contributions to be designated for a specific project.

Where Do We Send Our Money?

General Board of Global Ministries
438 Ponce de Leon Avenue
Atlanta, GA 30308
1-800-862-4246
212-870-3600
umcmission.org

(Please include your church name and complete address with your contribution.)

2016 Projects

CEPALC (Center for Social Communication in Latin America) Media Communications Program, Bogota, Colombia

The political-military conflict in which children are the main victims led to CEPALC creating programs that promote a true culture of peace in the country. Based on the values of the gospel, CEPALC’S programs are specifically designed for children of the sectors hardest hit by poverty and violence. Children who participate in these programs have been the most effective sowers of peace in the lives of their families and communities. The programs focus on human and children’s rights, social values, and media training through different ways of teaching and learning, such as painting, music, theatre, radio, and video, among others. Through these methods, children creatively express their vision of the world and society, their view of conflicts and social problems, and their view of the role and validity of the rights of children in everyday life.

Learn more about CEPALC »

Go-Up Academy Ntambo Primary School, Democratic Republic of the Congo

The children served by this primary school that is being built in the Ntambo Village in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are from homes where parents are hardworking smallholder farmers. Their primary sources of food and income are crops and livestock. However, in in an era of accelerating change and competition, education can control destiny. This program is designed to eradicate illiteracy and give children an opportunity to control their destiny. Children receive a primary education in such subjects as reading, writing, math, culture preservation, language, and health and hygiene practices.

The new educational program is being implemented in the school that is under construction, and children are excited to have a chance to attend school safely. For most of them, it will be their first chance to attend school, and they might even be learning alongside their parents. The program also includes provision of clean water to support and sustain healthy and safe conditions during school and at home and training programs for parents to enable them to help their children with schoolwork at home. The community has contributed additional bricks and volunteer time during school construction.

Learn more about the Go-Up Academy Ntambo Primary School »

Raise the Roof Academy, Bwassandeku, Uganda

The mission of Raise the Roof is to “engage groups and individuals to enter into empowering relationships that foster hope, stability, and wholeness, with children in rural Uganda who are orphaned or vulnerable, in the work of building and resourcing schools as centers of transformation.” The team at Raise the Roof believes that education empowers people by giving them the tools they need to make their own way in the world. Raise the Roof Academy was built in the fall of 2010 and opened its doors for school with thirty children. It is now home to more than six hundred children. The village of Bwassandeku , Uganda, has been hit hard by HIV/AIDS, and many of the children attending the Raise the Roof academy are orphans. The Academy provides breakfast and lunch, educational opportunities, health and hygiene training, the caring embrace of a teacher, and a school and church that foster love and growth. A permanent building will transform the community for generations to come and allow thousands of children each year to receive the gift of education.

Learn more about the Raise the Roof Academy »

Red Bird Mission Summer Youth Day Camp (Beverly , KY)

Red Bird Mission Summer Day Camp is a free six-week program, offered three days a week, for children, ages five to fifteen. The camp is located in Clay County, KY, which was recently named the most difficult place to live in America. The median household income there is half the national average. At the free Red Bird Mission Summer Camp, children receive breakfast, lunch, and snacks; and extended childcare is offered for children and youth whose parents work.

The families of the children attending the Red Bird Mission Summer Day Camp don’t have transportation to take their children to camps in the surrounding towns, and they can’t afford the other camp fees.

Red Bird Mission Camp staff include a college student intern from the Kentucky Conference’s Isaiah Project, which places students interested in ministry and missions at conference churches and ministries for the summer. Youth, ages 13-15, who have attended the camp, are hired as part of a teen leadership program, which builds confidence, work skills, and leadership skills.

Learn more about the Red Bird Mission Day Camp »

The Children’s Fund for Christian Mission Is a Joint Project of:

Discipleship Ministries
PO Box 340003
Nashville, TN 37203-0003
1-877-899-2780, Ext. 1761
www.umcdiscipleship.org

General Board of Global Ministries
458 Ponce de Leon Avenue
Atlanta, Ga. 30308
1-800-862-4246
212-870-3600
http://www.umcmission.org/