Developing Mission in Parishes and Schools

Partner with another parish or organization that already has organized mission trips and outreach. This is a great way to learn about mission and support existing teams. Here is a link to existing mission teams in the Archdiocese of Houston-Galveston:

https://www.archgh.org/offices-ministries/clergy-formation-chaplaincy-services/mission-office/mission-trips/

Ideas for Mission Celebrations / Projects Activities

• Organize a group to visit the parish abroad with some of the following activities:
  
  • Summer children's program with games and crafts
  • Youth Summer Program
  • Visit rural or barrio chapels and their communities
  • Spend the day in a Rancho hiking, playing with children, accompanying them in their meals and their work.
  • Participate in a simple work project on the chapel or in the community
  • Celebrate an evening Fiesta with the people
  • Visit some of the local tourist attractions and invite the people to join you
  • Bonding; spend time with the same people for several days. Bonding helps to grow spiritually.
• Establish and maintain contact with your sister parish and inform the parish through the parish bulletin and other activities, such a sharing information about parish feast days, or the history of the parish.
• Raise funds for a specific necessity: building repairs or furnishings, CCD programs, youth groups, rural travel expenses, office equipment and supplies.
• Provide scholarships for students, especially in Junior and Senior High. Collect new and used school supplies, as well as sports equipment for the schools.
• A parish could select a specific rural or barrio chapel to help.
• A community could send a medical team, dentists, optometrists, or a construction team to work with the local community.
• Invite groups to your parish and help with their travel expenses: youth, men's or women's group, choir, or families.

Ten Simple Classroom Mission Projects

1. Create a World Wall of mission languages. Words such as hope, charity, dignity, etc. Use the word list for discussions and writing topics.
2. Decorate a Mission Collection Box with illustrations created by the students of their Images of Mission Work.
3. As a class, compose a Mission Prayer. Suggest that the students add their own petitions. Pray the prayer daily.
4. Connect with an established mission to provide the opportunities for the children to exchange letters, drawings, and prayers.
5. Set up a Mission Activity Center. Include photos, maps, and artifacts from a particular mission. Provide materials for writing activities, cultural awareness, and related arts and crafts.
6. Investigate the needs of a particular mission and have the students collect the items. For example: school supplies, clothing, non-perishable food, etc.
7. During your school's Library Book Fair, have a table set up with books that may be purchased for a mission school or library.
8. Assemble holiday meals in baskets of non-perishable food. Include coupons or vouchers for hams and turkeys.
9. As a Lenten activity, have the students collect plastic eggs filled with small treats. These can be sent to a mission for an Easter Egg Hunt.
10. Invite Missionaries to the classroom to discuss their mission projects and real life experiences of mission work.