As we enter 2017, make plans to introduce your church to mission opportunities every quarter. Here are some ways you can do that:

1. Winter Quarter: Select a date for the missions-related project and put it on the church calendar. Since cold weather is a real part of these months, gather good, used coats, gloves, mufflers, and hats and take them to a ministry for distribution. Promote the project in your bulletin, on the church website, and in worship services. See the article below for ideas to involve children in missions in February.
2. Spring Quarter:  Set a goal for the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions. Enlist several persons to work with you to create a promotion display to chart the progress toward reaching the goal. Using scratch-away paper, outline the shape of each state and as certain amounts of the goal are given, scratch away to reveal the colors underneath. Encourage giving so the entire U.S. map is “colored in.” (This scratch-away paper can be ordered through Oriental Trading Company online or at Norton Novelty in Jeffersonville)
3. Summer Quarter: Go online to www.wmu.com  www.namb.net or www.imbconnecting.com for missions videos to show at a Missions Movie Night during the summer months. Choose videos that are brief and ones that would interest everyone in the family. If your church has a suitable outdoor area, set up the viewing screen and chairs there. Serve popcorn, hot dogs, etc. to make the event a fun evening that will create missions awareness. Pinterest is a great site for fresh ideas about food, outdoor movie screens, etc.
4. Fall Quarter: As children begin a new school year, lead church members to equip needy students with backpacks containing school supplies such as pencils, lined paper, etc. Find an existing ministry that will distribute them or contact the school nearest your church for information on donating them.