Don't Forget to Pack the Kids: Book Review

I am happy to welcome back my wife, Caitlin Neace, as a guest blogger to Biblical Perspicacity.

So often short-term mission trips are geared toward high school and college students, but have we ever considered the impact they can have on a family with children? I received Jill Richardson’s book, Don’t Forget to Pack the Kids: Short Term Missions for Your Whole Family, this afternoon and finished it this evening! Just under 150 pages, this highly practical and informative book is packed with examining the benefits of exposing children to missions as participants themselves. After discussing why children should be included in mission trips, she doesn’t leave you hanging there asking yourself how to get from point A to point B with your family. Richardson has broken down everything from where to go and what to pack to how to talk through the reverse culture shock with your kids and ways to continue cultivating their hearts for the world after you’ve returned. I especially appreciated when she wrote about teaching, encouraging and training spiritual gifts in children now and not just waiting until they are teenagers or adults. That children often learn that they’re role in the church is to be educated and entertained rather than seeing that they can be active participants in the Body of Christ. While short-term mission trips often benefits the “goers” the most, that is not necessarily wrong if done right and Richardson sites the exponential and eternal impact it can have on children as their worldviews are challenged and broadened. If you have children, then I highly recommend reading Don’t Forget to Pack the Kids and consider exposing your children early to the needs of the world that their eyes may be opened and their hearts set on fire with a passion to reach others for Christ!

Disclosure:  I received a free copy of this book to review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations. I am part of The CWA ReviewCrew.