Junior Missions Takes Wings
Not all children’s ministry is confined within the walls of a church. For one group of Pennsylvania grade-schoolers, it took place in the cabin of a USAir jet.
BCM USA missionaries Joyce Murray and Eleanor Riker had already served together in children’s ministry for more than three decades when then-president of BCM International, Oscar Hirt, asked them to consider a new children’s outreach ministry beyond BCM’s historical Bible Clubs, camping, and released-time classes. The new program included Bible Adventure evangelistic campaigns for children, Vacation Bible Schools teacher training, and Junior Missionary Conferences, designed to run simultaneously with a church’s regular missions conference for adults.
Still active with BCM, Joyce Murray and Eleanor Riker share one of their most unforgettable memories of the JMC program. It was just two days before a JMC they were scheduled to teach in Wallingford, PA, when Joyce and Eleanor received a call from Bob Evans, BCM missionary and Missions Chairman of Grace Bible Fellowship Church where the conference was being held, that Philadelphia International Airport had given a “green light” for a very special event. That Sunday, November 10, 1992, fifty-six 1st-6th graders gathered with their adult leaders in the church parking lot where they loaded into vans for a half-hour drive to the airport’s Terminal B.
At the terminal the group was met by USAir personnel, who took the children on a tour of ticket counter, baggage conveyer, baggage waiting zone and other aspects of an air passenger experience before leading the group to a waiting area reserved just for them. There Joyce and Eleanor held the JMC session. Each child received a special passport and ticket. Passengers all along the terminal turned their heads to listen as the children sang, “Have You Heard the Good News?” and “At the Name of Jesus Every Knee Shall Bow.”
Then the children were instructed to look at their ticket and notice the flight number 1615, referring to Mark 16:15: “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” After reciting the verse aloud, the children listened to a missionary biography, The Hand of God, about a Wycliffe pilot. Then Donna Robbins, a visiting missionary from Mongolia, shared a brief testimony of her work in that country. It was exciting to see waiting passengers as well as the tour guides intently listening.
For the children, excitement rose when they were invited to board an actual USAir jet. There they were served regulation airline snacks of orange juice and peanuts. They listened carefully to instructions about seatbelts, trays for serving, and reclining seats. Each received a decal of USAir wings and a hand puppet of a plane. The high point was visiting the actual cockpit in groups of three.
The USAir personnel seemed to enjoy the tour as much as the children. When it was over, they commented how well behaved the JMC group had been. For the children, it was a great learning experience and one they would remember many years into the future, perhaps when one day they themselves are boarding a real flight to some far-off land where they will be used by God to share the gospel with others.