In the age before airplanes and cars, global workers advanced the gospel message into far regions despite the hardships of the journey and the uncertainties awaiting them. Today’s global workers don’t face major travel difficulties, but do encounter language, political, and religious barriers as they bring the gospel to the remaining unreached peoples.
Family Activity
Teaching Time: 15 minutes
Materials: many pairs of shoes, Bible
Invite family members to retrieve as many shoes as they can and bring them together in one place. Read Romans 10:15 together. These shoes stand for the “beautiful feet” of global workers. Let’s use them to demonstrate how global workers in three different periods of history brought the gospel to people who have never heard of Jesus.
Put all the shoes in a big pile. From 1800-1910, global workers left home and moved to far off places to tell others about Jesus. Airplanes had not been invented so many global workers traveled by boat and settled along the coasts where they landed. Like these shoes, they clustered together, bringing a strong gospel witness to people who lived in coastal areas.
Take some of the shoes and work together to make paths that begin at the pile and move outward, like rays. From 1865-1980, global workers left towns on the coast and moved further inland into remote, unsettled areas. They brought the gospel to people that no one had ever tried to reach. Have the children point to the shoes that show this movement.
Take all remaining shoes from the pile and scatter them around the room. Beginning around 1935, some global workers began to focus on unreached peoples, pockets of cultural groups who were scattered in many different countries. Because of barriers like language, government, or religion, these remaining groups are the most difficult to reach with the gospel. Just like these shoes, global workers today continue to spread out in all areas of the world to bring the gospel of Jesus to unreached peoples.
Discuss:
- Think about your country’s history. Who are some of the people who brought the good news of Jesus to your nation? What hardships did they face?
- Sit in a circle and put your feet in the middle. Does our family have beautiful feet? What are some places that our family might go to share the good news of Jesus?
Pray:
Thank God for thousands of global workers throughout history who have obeyed God’s voice to take the gospel of Jesus to the peoples of the world.
