Monday Ministry - Elves of Kindness

Your family members can pretend to be elves and do acts of kindness during the Christmas season.

Here are some ideas that you might be interested in doing:

• anonymously leave a gift on someone’s doorstep
• anonymously send a family a Christmas card with a gift card inside
  
• dress up as Santa and his elves and deliver toys and food to a family in need
• decorate an outdoor tree in your neighbor’s yard
• anonymously send someone a bouquet of Christmas flowers
• shovel or plow someone’s snowy driveway before they get home from work
• carry around wrapped Christmas candy to pass out when you’re in public
• deliver Christmas gifts or ornaments to people in the hospital
• fill a stocking and hang it from someone’s front door knob
• do your brother or sister's chores
  

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Thursday Prayer - Christmas Prayer Cards

Each evening after dinner, choose from one of the Christmas cards you have received. Pray for the family or person that sent you the card.

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Monday Ministry - Earn Money for the Red Kettle

Ask your parents for extra jobs to earn money for the Salvation Army donation red kettle. You can also decorate a jar that will hold the money that you earn. Then, go to a store that has a Salvation Army bell ringer and red kettle outside the front door and donate the money that you earned. (I've heard that the bell ringers stop collecting money around a week before Christmas.)

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Monday Ministry - Christmas Evangelism

You can pass these out in December. They look like money, but they have a gospel message on the back.

Here are some ways to give them away: at Christmas parades and events, in zipper lock baggies with candy, at Christmas parties, and to friends, relatives, & neighbors.

You get 100 Santa Cash tracts for $4.00 from CustomTractSource.com



This is what it says on the back of the gospel tract:

He’s making a list, he’s checking it twice... he’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice! If Santa used the Ten Commandments for his standard, how would you do? Let's find out... Have you ever lied? Have you ever stolen anything? (No matter the value.) Ever used God's name in vain? Ever hated anybody? The Bible says “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer”

If you are guilty of these things, it shows that in your heart, you are a lying, thieving, blasphemous, murderer-at- heart. Many people don't know that God will use the Ten Commandments to judge the world. Forget about Santa, "naughty" and "nice"... how will you do on Judgment Day? If you are found guilty, that means an eternity in Hell... 2,000 years ago, God sent Jesus to the earth to pay for your sins. When Jesus died on the cross, He took the punishment that you deserve for breaking His Law (The Ten Commandments). God's wrath came down on Jesus, instead of on you. The Bible says, "God commands all men everywhere to repent, because God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness."

Remember if you try to get to Heaven on your own, you must keep every Commandment in thought, word, and deed! Jesus paid the penalty for your sins on the cross. Then He defeated the power of sin and death when He rose from the dead. Repent (turn away) from your sins. Place your faith in Jesus Christ alone to save you. God will grant you eternal life. Read your Bible daily and obey what you read.

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Monday Ministry - Gifts for Underprivledged Kids

Your family can look through the Samaritan’s Purse online gift catalog and buy baby chicks, goats, llamas, rabbits, pigs, and fish. The ministry will send the animals to families in underdeveloped countries so that the family will have food to eat and extras to sell.

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Thursday Prayer - Pray for Missions

You can help support evangelism by praying for Missions. Through missions, people are able to hear about Jesus and many of them accept His gift of salvation.

Here are 5 Ways to Pray for Missions:

• for churches and people to give generously to missions
• for missionaries to serve in places where Jesus is not known
• for mission personnel that plan local outreach programs
• for more prayer warriors to faithfully pray for mission programs
• for the needs of missionaries

Here is a list of ideas that families can use:

10 Ways to Help Kids Love Missions

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Monday Ministry - Thank You Cards

Thanksgiving is next week, so today's ministry idea has to do with being thankful.

Get a pack of inexpensive thank you cards from the dollar store. Or, you can make your own cards. Write thank you's to your family members and friends. You can thank them for something special that they did for you. It doesn't even have to be something done recently. Or, you can tell them how you appreciate something about their character or personality.

People really like to be appreciated and thanked. It makes them feel good and it encourages them.


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Monday Ministry - Disaster Relief Kit

You can help people by making disaster relief kits. These kits provide basic toiletries to people who have lost everything in a natural disaster. They will be distributed by the Christian organization Operation Blessing.

Instructions -

Fill one or more 1-gallon size Ziploc bag(s) with...

1 new wash cloth 1 new hand towel 1 new bar of soap 1 new comb 1 new fingernail clipper 1new pack of dental floss 1 new toothbrush 1 small travel size tube of toothpaste 1 small travel size shampoo 1 small packet of tissue 1 small package of adhesive bandages NOTE: All included items need to be new and unused. Shipping Information: Label the outside of each box – Disaster Relief Kits Have an inventory sheet in each box listing the number of kits enclosed. Send To: Operation Blessing International Disaster Relief Kits 977 Centerville Turnpike Virginia Beach, VA 23463

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Monday Ministry - Help Orphans

November is National Adoption Month.

I've made a blog called How to Help Orphans. It lists many ideas for how you and your family can help orphans and promote adoption.

• Projects to Support
• Items to Give
  
• Ways to Volunteer
  
• How Churches Can Help

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Monday Ministry - Halloween Evangelism

Don't miss out on easy ways to evangelize this Halloween:

• Get tracts from a Christian book store and distribute them with candy to trick-or-treaters. You can also print out the Are You a Good Person? comic tract on your own home printer. (I have printed them in just black and white and have given them away.) Creepy Cash Tracts, Christianbook.com Tracts
  

• Pass out tracts and candy in public places. (You can even offer free face painting.)

• Tell the neighbor kids about the local church harvest party or carnival on October 31st. (For many churches, this is one of the biggest evangelistic outreaches of the year. They just need others to help get the kids to come.)

• Invite kids over for a Harvest/Halloween party on Saturday. Have a pumpkin object lesson, play harvest games, make a scarecrow tract craft, and serve scarecrow cupcakes.

• Deliver pumpkin pies and tracts to neighbors.

• Make up your own cards (business card size) with the website www.smartyface.com and give them to trick-or-treaters.
  

• Email: Tell kids about this online Halloween comic for Kids - The Little Ghost

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Monday Ministry - Help an Older Person

What can you do to help an older person?

• Mow their lawn.
• Help out around their house or yard.
  
• Your family could drive the person to church.
• Go to their house for a visit.
• Help with the groceries.
• Join them for a walk.
• Ask the person how you can help?

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Monday Ministry - Operation Christmas Child

Every Christmas, Samaritan's Purse, sends out filled shoe boxes with gifts and Gospel booklets to poor children throughout the world. You can help by filling a shoe box. Your church my be interested in being a community collection site for filled shoe boxes.

Get the detailed instructions for how to pack an Operation Christmas Child shoe box.

Shoe box gift ideas:

• small toys (car, ball, doll, stuffed animal, jump rope)
  
• hygiene items (toothbrush and paste, comb, washcloth)
  
• school supplies (pencil, sharpener, crayons, markers, paper)
  
• hard candy, lollipops, gum, mints
  
• T-shirts, socks, ball caps
  
• hair clips, toy jewelry, sunglasses
  

Please donate $7 for each shoe box you prepare to help cover shipping and other project costs.

Turn in your filled shoe box to a collection site in mid November.



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Monday Ministry - Appreciate Your Pastor

Image by Christart.com

October is Pastor Appreciation Month.

Here are some things that you and your church friends can do to show the pastor your appreciation:

Special Delivery - Deliver donuts or pizza, when the pastors are at the church office working.

Homemade Treats - What homemade treats does your pastor love to eat? Pie? Fudge? Cookies? Cinnamon rolls? Make your pastor something good to eat?

Make Banners - A group of kids can make banners and decorations that express their love for the pastor.

Pray for Your Pastor - Get a prayer group together to pray for your pastor and his family.

Write Your Appreciation - Express your appreciation through a letter or card.

Respond to the Sermon - Really hear what your pastor is preaching and commit yourself to respond and apply what you’ve learned. If it makes a positive difference in your life, let your pastor know. He preaches for a reason. He is happy when he finds out that the people at church apply what he is teaching.

Volunteer - When the pastor is trying to recruit volunteers, show that you support him and his visions by volunteering. Commit to being an active participant in your church. How can you volunteer at church.

Do a Skit - A group of kids can perform a skit at an appreciation party for the pastor.

Surprise Party - Throw a surprise party for your pastor. Give him a special gift, and maybe even some gag gifts.

Cleaning Day - Organize and recruit families to clean at the pastor’s house. Make a list of jobs that need to be done. Ask the pastor to add jobs to the list, too. Volunteers can: wash his car, vacuum the car, mow the lawn, pull weeds, prune trees, clean the garage, wash the outside of the windows, put on a new roof, paint the house, baby sit that night while the pastor and his wife go out for dinner.

Here are even more ideas.

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Monday Ministry - Halloween Evangelism

You can pass these out in October. They look like money, but they have a gospel message on the back.

Here are some ways to give them away: at Fall parades and events, in zipper lock baggies with candy, at Harvest parties, to trick-or-treaters, and to friends, relatives, & neighbors.

You get 100 Creepy Cash tracts for $4.00 from CustomTractSource.com


This is what it says on the back of the gospel tract:

Are you ready to be scared? It’s funny how at Halloween we delight in being frightened. Many people think it’s fun to be “scared to death”! But death itself is a very scary thought. What do you think will happen after you die? The Bible says, “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” Take this quick test to see how you’ll do on Judgment Day…Ever lied? Ever stolen? Ever used God’s name in vain? Ever looked with lust? (God considers lust the same as adultery.) If you’re guilty of these, you’ve broken God’s moral Law, the Ten Commandments. God sees you as a liar, a thief, a blasphemer, and an adulterer at heart. The punishment for breaking His Law is death, and eternity in hell.

Can you see your danger? What will you say in your defense? The good news is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took your punishment for you. He died on the cross to pay your penalty, then rose from the dead. The Bible says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” You broke God’s law and Jesus paid your fine. So what must you do? The Bible commands you to repent (turn from sin) and place your faith in Jesus Christ alone to save you. Your good works will not help you on Judgment Day. Confess and turn from your sins today—you may not have tomorrow! Then read the Bible daily and obey what you read. Please visit www.TheGoodPersonTest.net

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Monday Ministry - Showing the Love of Jesus

Can you think of people that make you feel uncomfortable? Do they look different, have a disease, or have a disability? God doesn't want us to ignore these people. They need to see Jesus' love, too. Jesus was a good example of helping people who were different. He healed men with a disease called leprosy and a man filled with demons.

In the book of Acts, in the Bible, Jesus commanded the Jews to go witness to the Samaritans. However, the Jews didn't want to obey Jesus, because they didn't like the Samaritans. Plus, they knew that the Samaritans hated them. Philip was the first man, that we know of, that obeyed this command. When the other Jews were fleeing Saul's persecution, Philip went to Samaria. He spoke to the people and God used him to heal people who were lame, paralyzed, and filled with evil spirits. The Samaritans were so happy about the miracles that they wanted to accept Jesus as their Savior.

Jesus told us to go and make disciples of all nations. He didn't say - except for the people we don't like. When we obey and tell others about Jesus, lives are changed for eternity. People who are different and alone, will feel comforted knowing that a Christian cared about them. Jesus loved us, and died on the cross for us - knowing that we were sinners, rebellious, and had nothing to offer Him.

Let's challenge ourselves to reach out to people who are different or make us feel uncomfortable.

Can you think of anyone?

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Monday Ministry - Warm Winter Items

It's that time of year where people start thinking about needing warmer clothing items for the cooler weather that is on the way. But, many people won't be able to afford to buy winter items.

You can help by buying, making, or collecting new winter items for people. Then you can deliver them to your local Christian homeless shelter.

Here are some ideas of what to give:

• hats
• mittens and gloves
• scarves
• neck warmers
• socks
• jackets

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Monday Ministry - Fall Flowers

You can make people happy by giving them potted Fall flowers - like Chrysanthemums.

Your family or your church can deliver potted flowers with tracts, or church invitations to the people that live near your church.

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Monday's Ministry - Collecting Blankets

You can help people stay warmer this winter.

Not everyone has enough blankets to keep themselves warm during the cold months. Please help by collecting blankets for a local Christian ministry or homeless shelter. Some organizations will take used blankets that are still in good condition - it would be best to call and find out.

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Monday Ministry - Preparing for Eternity

Life doesn't end here on earth. We have something bigger that we are working towards - eternity in heaven. Even if we complete all of our earthly goals, we will not feel accomplished and satisfied unless we are working for God's Kingdom.

Christians should be doing things to prepare ourselves and others for eternity:

• Do you tell people about Jesus?
• Do you teach younger kids about Jesus?
• Do you encourage other people to serve Jesus?
• Do you support other Christians and help them with their ministry work?
• Do you give Christian counsel and advice to other kids?
• Are you growing as a Christian?
• Do you help other people?
• Are you involved in ministry work or volunteer at your church?
• Are you using your talents or skills to serve Jesus?

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Monday Ministry - Shoes for Orphans

Shoes for Orphan Souls distributes new shoes to poor children throughout the world.

You can help by sending a new pair of shoes or hosting a drive for this Christian ministry.

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