Helping Missionary Kids

How You can Help MKs (Missionary Kids)

• Make a list of the MKs in the families that your church supports. Get addresses for the college-age MKs who are in North America. Send care packages and cards for birthdays and holidays to their campus mailbox. All students love to get “real” mail in the boxes—email is great, care packages are better!
• Christian schools, in particular, generally have an interest in missions. If you have an MK who attends your school on a furlough year, try to stay in touch with them when they return to their country overseas. They will be encouraged as they approach college to have some friends who may attend the same college they plan to attend.
• Be a Catalyst. Consider being the person in your church who organizes care for the MKs in the families that your church supports. Certainly as an individual you can develop a relationship with missionary families over the years of their overseas ministry, and then be involved in the lives of their young people as they return to North America for college. But facilitating their relationships with other families and young people in your church helps the MKs to find a home in North America.
• Consider a gift for your MK who is graduating from high school or college.
  • Scholarships. MKs beginning college usually have not had the opportunity in their countries to have a job and save money for college. Your church could set aside funds to provide college scholarships for one or more years of their college experience. You can also have a part in helping them select the right college.
  • Reentry Transition. This transition for MKs is huge and, while all young people find significant adjustments as they move from high school to college, the transition to another culture at the same time makes this transition particularly challenging. When MKs first return to North America for college, they often need help with things like getting a driver’s license, setting up a bank account, collecting the things they need for their dorm room, getting a cell phone, or finding a job. You may be able to help in this area.
  • As MKs graduate from college, consider helping them get started in adult life. They do not have the “safety net” of going back home to live with their parents if a job does not open up right away. Or, even if it does, they are often on their own in setting up an apartment, buying a car, getting established in yet another new place. College provides a great community and assistance in many ways, not to mention the ability to live in a dorm for four years. It is a whole new experience to rent an apartment, pay utilities, and get established in adult life.
• Consider a gift to help your college student MK.
  • Sponsor a trip “home” sometime during college. The holidays, in particular are difficult for college-age MKs as they are usually separated from their parents and siblings. While they have extended family (grandparents, aunts and uncles) who can host them, it’s really not the same. Consider a gift to help them with that plane ticket “home” for a visit.
  • Make sure your college student MKs have a place to go for breaks or even a weekend off once in a while. If you are close to the college they attend, invite them to be a part of your church family. They need a place of community, and as you have built a relationship with their family over the years, be sure to include the MKs at this important time of their lives.

Remember that when you help missionary kids, you are an incredible encouragement to their parents, often enabling them to stay on the field and involved in the ministry that you already participate in as a supporting church.

-Adapted from a Mu Kappa International article.