Mission Yearbook for Kids Is a Winner
‘Hands-on' Publication an Instant Best-seller: 13,000 Ship on 1st Day

October 31, 2002
by Jerry L. Van Marter

LOUISVILLE – It looks like it should have happened sooner.

The first-ever Children's Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study nearly sold out on its day of release, according to officials of the Mission Interpretation and Promotion office in the Congregational Ministries Division (CMD) here.

"We'll have to have a second printing almost immediately," Managing Editor Deborah Haines said on Oct. 30, the day the new book was released. "We shipped more than 13,000 today!"

The Children's Mission Yearbook is a 112-page book chock-full of stories and facts about the Presbyterian Church (USA) and its mission, as well as scriptures and prayers, games and puzzles, recipes from around the world, suggested activities and a "word of the week" related to Presbyterian mission. It tells how kids can get involved in mission, and relates closely with the companion volume for adults, the familiar Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study.

"We tried to find out what would be interesting to kids," Haines told the Presbyterian News Service. "There's lots and lots of stuff about the church and its mission, and we designed it to be interactive so kids and their parents can play with it together." It is geared to children in grades 3 to 5, she said, but 6th-graders and even older kids will enjoy it, too.

The book is divided into 53 two-page spreads, one per week. Each spread contains information about one domestic presbytery and its mission and one foreign country and PC(USA) mission there. Each also includes a scripture reading and a prayer; a craft idea; a "What You Can Do" section telling kids how to get involved in their congregations and in mission; and a stewardship section – "Giving What You Have" – telling how children can offer their gifts to the church.

The book also has special spreads on the PC(USA)'s four special offerings and on the General Assembly.

Haines described the product as "an individual work book." It has a place on the back cover where the owner can write his or her name, and many pages have puzzles and games. "It's definitely hands-on," Haines said.

The front of the book has an introduction and suggestions for using the book. The back has maps showing all the denomination's synods and presbyteries, and a world map indicating where the church is involved in mission.

"Every kid will want one," Haines said. "It's a great book."

To order the Children's Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study, call Presbyterian Distribution Service toll-free at (800) 524-2612 and ask for PDS #70-612-03-451. It also can be ordered online at www.pcusa.org/marketplace.

PCUSA News Service