OMS Outreach May-Aug 2017 | Page 6

One Family’s Journey By Ian Bongers, OMS Australia Executive Director In February, I had the privilege of seeing the Morrison family off at the airport as they departed for their first term as OMS missionaries. Scott and Sarah, with one-year-old Joshua, serve as church planters in Thailand. Joshua is part of a huge network of missionary kids serving around the world with OMS. Along with other children now living in Australia, Africa, Asia, Europe, and both Americas, Joshua has placed a hand print on the wall in the OMS MK Center in Greenwood, Indiana. The many people who serve our children play a huge role in keeping missionary fam- ilies on the field. When kids feel like a part of the team, their unique experience is part of the family’s journey. It is often a precursor to their becoming missionaries themselves. OMS has taught me the importance of a good missionary kid program. As a home- land missionary, my role can be seen from the outside as a regular job—and that is certainly how my family saw it for several years. In 2012, we traveled to the U.S. to at- tend CROSS Training, the cross-cultural training for OMS missionaries. Many things about the training impressed me, but I was amazed by the high quality of the CROSS Training program for missionary kids. Our children were taken through their own ver- sion of every cultural exercise and lesson in missions that the adults experienced. Since then, our children have continued to be cared for by Aunt Deanna, the MK coordinator. Birthday cards, letters, and handwritten notes bring back all the lessons they learned. These encouragements remind them that they are missionaries too. Because they were valued and cared for in CROSS Training more than four years ago, something happened. No longer do my kids say, “My dad works at OMS,” but rather, “We are OMS missionaries.” I don’t know how far this will take my kids in their future ministry decisions, but I have come to learn that OMS has a low attrition rate. It is common to come across missionaries who grew up as missionary kids. Some come from a legacy of missions, with grandparents who went out as pioneer missionaries with OMS. As a father and a missionary, I believe this kind of generational dedication to sharing the Gospel cannot happen unless we value the experiences of our children and speak into their lives. I’m grateful that OMS sees it that way too. photo: Ian Bongers, OMS Australia executive director (center), says goodbye to Sarah, Joshua, and Scott Morrison, heading to Thailand. 6