Ask a Missionary - Catch The Fire

A:
Examine all the options with your mission
agency.
WEC has nearly two thousand missionaries and approximately
the same number of missionary kids, so educating children is an
issue we deal with constantly. Our general policy is that parents
make the education decision in consultation with field leaders. The
only real condition we set is that over time the choice has to show
itself to be effective for the individual child.
Many of our families send their children to national schools.
This is most true in Europe. Many other countries have international
schools, which have high academic standards and a price tag to
match. Schools for missionary kids, another education option, often
serve missionary children from several missions and even several
countries.
Many families home school for the earliest years, but most
eventually opt for another program when the children grow older, for
two reasons. First, home schooling becomes difficult and demanding
for the parents, who see themselves as missionaries as well as
parents. Second, parents recognize that the social needs of children
are often met in schools, especially schools specifically for missionary
children, where a positive peer pressure is generally provided in
a spiritual setting.
A study published in Evangelical Missions Quarterly showed
that the children of missionaries were better prepared educationally,
socially, spiritually, and emotionally than were the other children in
the study. That’s encouraging.
Of course, real answers will come as you select a mission agency,
which will have specific education guidelines. Other answers
may come as you examine a possible assignment. For example, a
certain area may have limited options for educating children. One
thing of which you can be certain is that God cares as much for your
children as he does for any person in the world.
SINGLES, COUPLES, AND KIDS: Counting the Cost | 175