Students Transformed by Subtle Missions Integrations

Winona Lake Grace has found several simple ways to incorporate missions into their youth ministries—and it’s making a big impact! Not only are their students developing hearts for the nations, but the way they interact with their peers is changing too. 

So, what is Winona Lake Grace doing? “It’s practical and it’s simple,” says Nick, who has served as Student Ministries Pastor for 16 years.  

Every Sunday, their students open a “Pray for the Nations” booklet where they learn about a new country, its people groups, its churches, and the missionaries working there. Then they pray for them.  

Each classroom used by kids or students has a bulletin board highlighting that room’s partner missionary, and the students receive updates, pictures, and specific prayer requests from them. Sometimes the missionary even joins them for a video call or connects with them when they're in the area.  Several students write letters to their missionary families and even become pen-pals. 

The church also encourages their students to experience cross-cultural ministry firsthand, with several of them participating in Encompass’s Encounter experiences. On one of these trips, these Midwestern students witnessed people worshiping idols, which opened their eyes to the many unreached people groups who have been created in God’s image. After that experience, Nick noticed them being less fearful about interacting with people holding other worldviews. 

The church also sends teams to serve alongside their missionaries. On several occasions, their students traveled to Spain and brought Spanish students back with them to stay with church families for a month. 

Several Winona Lake Grace students have returned from these experiences with a growing desire to serve God overseas. But Nick has noticed another change, too. Students who learn to care about people on the other side of the world often become more attentive to the people sitting next to them.  

They begin noticing the person who feels alone. The student who seems different. Or the classmate who doesn’t fit in. Missions teaches them not only to cross an ocean for the gospel, but to cross the hallway or the classroom. 

Seeing this kind of impact doesn’t require a complex program. Nick’s encouragement is to start where you are, with the missionaries your church already supports.

• Put their pictures in front of your students.
• Ask the missionaries you support for three specific prayer requests.
• Let students write letters to them.
• Give a student leader responsibility for staying in contact.
• Invite missionaries to speak or video call.
• And start teaching students to see missions not simply as something that happens somewhere else, but as part of following Jesus wherever they are.

Small changes can shape what students notice, what they pray for, and ultimately what they give their lives to. Over time, your students will learn to see the world differently—along with the people right in front of them! 

To hear and learn more, reach out to Nick Deck.