The Dell family has supported Connect 2 Ministries for years, and like many of our faithful supporters, they make a point of including their children in family ministry. We asked Jon and Melissa to share today about their experience getting their whole family involved in missions.

When my wife and I got married, neither of us were pursuing God or anything involving ministry. Although I was raised in a Christian church and had been involved in Christian community in the past, it wasn’t until our first daughter was born twelve years ago that we realized our need for a change. God took hold of our lives, and we went back to church—that’s when we started at Crossroads. Over the course of that year, we began to learn and grow in our knowledge of what it means to live for Christ.

A pastor who disciples me said once, “Your family is your first ministry.” At the time, I was feeling overwhelmed and like I was being stretched in too many directions, so those words hit home for me and my wife. We realized we weren’t doing anything intentionally to cultivate our children’s hearts and minds, and we saw a need for change. We thought they could see us and pick up everything they needed by osmosis. I would leave at night, and they would know I was going to church, but that’s really all they knew. They weren’t witnessing ministry in any personal way, so we made a determined effort to do something that would expose them to serving.

One Sunday at church around this time, Greg Barshaw came as a guest speaker and talked about what it means to live a life of service. He talked a little bit about Connect 2 Ministries, and his perspective on what the Bible says about sacrificial service was compelling to us. We thought C2M sounded like something we could get behind as a family. We could sponsor one child for each of our three children and have some meaningful conversations and opportunities as a result. We really wanted to stress with our kids that this was something we weren’t just doing one time—we were making a commitment.

One of the best things to come from this involvement has been the opportunities to pray. Our kids all of a sudden had very specific, real things they could pray for. They had real names, of real people, to bring before God, making the connection that prayer is more than reciting a memorized formula. Prayer is talking to the creator of the universe, and it has been a big blessing to see our children come to understand that reality.

God gives everyone gifts, and we are meant to use them. It’s been amazing to see our kids own that truth for themselves. It can be challenging to find opportunities to volunteer with your children, and there are complex discussions that come with investing in the broken, whether at home or around the world—but taking that step has been so rewarding. We are excited to see what the Lord will do.