Christmas in August

Are you looking for a missions project for the people in your church or small group? Are you looking for a way to support missionaries as a family or individual?

Christmas in August provides a simple way you can directly help North American Mission Board missionaries by sending them supplies they need for their ministries. Most often, these are supplies that are needed in bulk.

How Christmas in August Works

Every year WMU and the North American Mission Board partner to select missionaries who will be featured in Christmas in August.

The missionaries provide a list of items they need for ministry and outreach, and the lists of requested items are posted online.

And then you — as an individual, family, small group, missions group, or church — select a missionary (or two or three) and purchase and send the items to the missionary.

The Christmas in August Experience

As with many Christian ministries, Christmas in August is more than just a random act of giving. And as a ministry of WMU, Christmas in August of course includes learning about and praying for missionaries along with supporting them! (Click here for more about why we do what we do.)

While many individuals support missionaries through Christmas in August, lots of families and children’s groups such as Mission Friends, Girls in Action, Royal Ambassadors, Children in Action, and others participate as a group activity.

The collective effort to purchase and gather the items, pack them, include notes of encouragement, and pray over them is all part of a meaningful opportunity to learn about, pray for, and support a missionary.

No matter how a person or group approaches Christmas in August, it’s sure to be a blessing to the missionaries as they seek to impact their community with the gospel.

We are grateful for missions advocates like you who are a part of such endeavors!

Planning a Christmas in August Group Experience

Need some ideas for how to plan and organize Christmas in August for your group? Here’s a plan you can use or adapt for your circumstances:

    1. Pray. Begin with a time of prayer for your Christmas in August project.
    2. Choose. Select the missionary or missionaries you will gather supplies for and decide which supplies you will gather. You may send several of the same item, a few of the items, or some of all of the items.
    3. Promote. Tell others about your project, including your family, friends, church family and colleagues. Send out a list of the items you are collecting. Share when and where to leave the gifts. Get creative as you promote Christmas in August; use social media accounts, post on your church’s website, ask for a special announcement, and place the information in your church bulletins and programs. Some churches put up Christmas trees, place cards with the requested items on the trees, and invite their members to select an item from the tree.
    4. Gather. Storage can be a problem for some missionaries, so please send only those items specified on their list. Send new items only. You don’t have to include everything on the list because other churches are collecting items, too.
    5. Pack. Gather the items your group collects and pack them for shipping. Consider placing items that could leak inside plastic sealable bags. Please don’t wrap the items, as this creates more work for the missionaries.
    6. Organize. To help missionaries sort through packages more quickly, label the outside of the package with the names of the items inside.
    7. Prepare. Address your package to the missionary at the address listed.
    8. Write. Be sure to write a note of encouragement or prayer for the missionary. Give the missionary your email address, in case he has time to respond. Please explain to others involved in your project that the missionaries may receive hundreds of packages, so they often do not have time to respond to each group individually. Assure others that the missionaries are very grateful for their gifts.
    9. Mail. Find out the exact postage needed pay for your box or boxes. If you are mailing a package to a missionary in Canada, take note of the special instructions below.
    10. Pray (again). Pray for the missionaries, their ministries and the people they serve. Pray over the items before you mail them. Pray that the missionaries can use your items to reach people with the gospel message.

For ideas specific to involving preschool groups, click here.

For ideas specific to involving children’s groups, click here.

Packaging and Mailing

    • Note any particular packaging needs any mentioned by a missionary.
    • If you send your package by regular US mail, be sure to have the package weighed at the post office and have the proper postage affixed. (You don’t want the missionary to have to pay postage-due charges on your gift!)
    • If you send the package by United Parcel Service (UPS), use the physical street address. UPS will not deliver to a post office box.
    • If mailing to Canada: Please send via US Parcel Post. Do not send via UPS, FedEx, or other courier service as they will charge customs fees to send to Canada. Complete a Customs Declaration Form at the post office when you ship your box. On the form is a box that needs to be checked: Gift. By doing this, the missionary is not required to pay any fees upon the boxes’ arrival. Visit usps.com for more information.

2024 Christmas in August Missionaries

The list of 2024 Christmas in August missionaries will be released in June 2024.