If you have a passion for spreading the Gospel, India is one of the most critical mission fields — and now is a key time to support Mission India as they touch kids’ hearts.

(Photo courtesy of Mission India)

Raina Miller with Mission India says, “Giving Tuesday falls during our 10-Day Children’s Bible Club matching challenge, so it’s a great time to take advantage of that…. Every dollar that you give to 10-Day Children’s Bible Clubs is currently being doubled — so $1 is doubled to reach two children with the good news of Jesus!”

India is home to 1.4 billion people, and 96% have never heard the Gospel. Mission India works with local Christian partners for these Children’s Bible Clubs — even as believers face intense persecution.

“India is actually the 11th most dangerous nation in the world for Christians,” Miller explains. “There are people who are ostracized from their communities, they are facing violence, they’re facing intimidation in all different forms for following Christ…. And yet, we’re finding that the more persecution increases, the more the Church grows.”

(Photo courtesy of Mission India)

You can donate to Mission India’s 10-Day Children’s Bible Clubs today at www.missionindia.org/double.

This Giving Tuesday, help make an eternal difference for children in India.

Miller also asks, “Pray that the kids who are reached through the Bible Clubs that are being sponsored during this match would have their hearts changed in a way that pushes them to lead others to Christ as well. [Pray] that it just creates a domino effect where the kids reached through this match then go on to reach entire communities!”

Header photo courtesy of Mission India.

A generous partner made part of the plan possible by providing training for 35 Gospel workers. The training will cover topics like effectively communicating the Gospel with children, discipling children, and releasing children into mission. More about that here.

(Photo courtesy of Transform Iran)

“When children do start responding [to evangelistic material], we want to make sure that people across our ministry [will] be ready to go,” Transform Iran’s Lana Silk says.

“We can say, ‘Okay, here’s a 12-year [-old] girl who’s responded from Iran. I’m going to connect her to you. Will you disciple her?’ Meanwhile, we’re expanding our digital evangelism and discipleship materials for children.”

Kids are a critical yet unreached demographic in Iran. “Children are not exempt from the pain that the people of Iran are suffering today. We have a pretty formalized, permissive structure in Iran that allows the abuse of children,” Silk says.

“Child marriage is a reality; children who are abused have no course of action. Then, we’ve got hundreds of thousands of children who are abandoned.”

The children of Iran face poverty, a lack of freedom, and an uncertain future. Help them find the hope that comes only through knowing Christ by partnering with Transform Iran.

“There are millions of children in Iran under the age of 12. Our estimates show eight to 10 million,” Silk says.

“We don’t anticipate immediately reaching all of them, but if even 1,000 children were to respond in the first year and let’s say 100 of those gave their lives to the Lord, that would be a wonderful start.”

Header and story images courtesy of Transform Iran.

More than two million children in Lebanon, both from Lebanese and refugee families, are unable to go to school. Learn in this story how Lebanon’s economic difficulties have made education inaccessible to so many. But there is hope. Heart For Lebanon currently serves 1200 young students in need, says co-founder Camille Melki.

“Those are underprivileged kids, children at risk, that are getting proper education but are also learning in a safe and loving environment,” says Melki.

The educational programs of Heart For Lebanon care for children who lack opportunities of many kinds. Students in the H.O.P.E. program, which stands for Helping Overcome Poverty through Education, learn standard academic subjects along with a biblical foundation.

Melki says, “They’re not only getting the academics but they’re also being exposed to the Gospel for the first time.”

The ministry also runs a mobile outreach, Hope on Wheels, visiting communities with fun activities and biblical messages for children. The Hope on Wheels outreach offers additional clubs that children can attend for small group discussion and further growth.

Melki says, “Unless we provide good education and wonderful character formation that is biblically based, Christ centered, those children could be influenced by radical Islamists, by fanatic individuals.”

Extremist groups often exploit and recruit youth who don’t have any other hope. At-risk children suffering from poverty and lacking education are common targets for trafficking and abuse. Ministries such as Heart For Lebanon intervene at the critical time and offer a brighter alternative: the way of Jesus.

“Heart For Lebanon’s goal is to raise the next generation to be followers of Jesus Christ after God’s own heart,” says Melki.

Pray for the children and youth in Heart For Lebanon’s programs to receive the Gospel and find abundant life in Jesus. Sign up to join Heart For Lebanon as a prayer partner here. To financially support the children’s programs, you can give at this link.

Photos courtesy of Heart For Lebanon.

“We think we’ll [help] churches reach more than 75,000 kids this year!” says Mock.

Through the Immanuel’s Child program, SGA and partnering churches bring the hope of Christ to kids in Russia and the surrounding countries at Christmastime (also known as the former Soviet Union).

(Photo courtesy of SGA)

Mock says, “We talk about gifts; we talk about everything else. But if we’re not proclaiming the Gospel, it is not Christmas.”

For just $25, each kid getting an Immanuel’s Child gift will receive:

• A Star of Bethlehem ornament
• Christian children’s literature
• A special gift from local church workers

The program’s reach also extends beyond the Christmas season. “There are many Christian organizations wanting to do outreach during Christmas, that’s fantastic. But the work of the Church never stops at Christmas. Immanuel’s Child is equipping the Church for year-round discipleship.”

Through Immanuel’s Child, church partners receive the resources they need for year-round children’s ministry.

“We’re providing them with a Bible as well as Sunday school materials. They (SGA-partnering churches) take about $1 out of every one of the gifts [to] purchase chocolates during Easter, and they try to reach them (kids) during Easter.”

Help SGA reach entire families for Jesus this Christmas! Give here to Immanuel’s Child.

Children receive Bibles like this one in each Christmas gift. (Photo courtesy of SGA)

“About 20 percent of the parents come to faith in Christ during this outreach or get involved with the church and come to faith later. The structure of the program is amazing; I really invite your listeners to be a part of this.”

Header photo courtesy of SGA.

It’s in this difficult context that Guatemalan pastors are ministering Christ’s hope and trying to support families.

Greg Yoder, executive director of Keys for Kids Ministries says, “These churches are kind of oases within Guatemala City itself where the problems really exist, where there’s gang activity and the like.

“Many of them have been working for years and years, and there are no accolades at all. I mean, they are in the trenches. It’s like a battleground for them. Some of them are in [areas with] gang activities and there’s extortion going on all around them. In fact, one church is even closed because they couldn’t pay this extortion that they were asked to pay by these gang members.”

Boys share a Storyteller.
(Photo courtesy of Keys for Kids)

Keys for Kids recently partnered with World Orphans to provide critical Gospel resources for these pastors. World Orphans provides holistic support for pastors and families in Guatemala. But they need resources for parents and pastors to teach the Gospel to kids in a consistent and accessible way.

Yoder explains, “One of the things that’s a challenge for them is, what do they offer families that are maybe are limited in their education? Maybe they don’t read well or maybe they’re illiterate completely. How do you offer families material that will really help them grow in their faith or even understand who Jesus is?”

This is where Keys for Kids comes in. The ministry’s Spanish translated materials like Unlocked teen devotionals or Creature Feature Storytellers can encourage children and teenagers with Gospel hope.

When he spoke with the pastors in Guatemala, Yoder says, “They are dreaming of ways they can use it. They were telling us these stories are perfect for kids that are non-churched. They’re going to understand Jesus in a way that they have never been able to tell them before. It’s not going to be like using their Sunday School material. It’s going to be using unique material that will help them share the Good News of Jesus with these kids and families who are really struggling.”

There are still several details to work out. But one thing is certain: This partnership is an answer to many prayers.

“We had been praying for probably seven or eight years that God would find a partner with us that could use our Spanish material in a way that we couldn’t even imagine. We believe that God has opened this door. And they told us yesterday that we’re an answer to their prayer!”

(Photo courtesy of Keys For Kids)

Please continue to pray with Keys for Kids as they grow this new partnership with World Orphans to encourage children’s ministry in Guatemala.

“We’re really asking people to pray for us, that God will provide the resources needed both in terms of people (because we can’t do it with our current staff) and then also the funding that we need to really ramp up our Spanish program,” Yoder asks.

“Pray that God will protect these churches, that these oases will continue to provide hope for many in these communities.”

If you’d like to support Keys for Kids, click here!

Header photo courtesy of Perry Grone via Unsplash.

It’s on track to become the world’s longest-running tropical cyclone this weekend. The last record-holder was Typhoon John which churned through the Pacific Ocean for 30 days in 1994.

When Cyclone Freddy first hit Mozambique two weeks ago, it displaced 37,000 people. Child Evangelism Fellowship hosts a children’s ministry training institute in Mozambique. Lydia Kaiser, CEF spokesperson says, “Area churches and schools are housing displaced families and there’s news of yet another depression forming in the Indian Ocean.”

Cyclone Freddy (Photo courtesy of NASA/Suomi-NPP – EOSDIS Worldview, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=128877993)

Cyclone Freddy is on course to strike Mozambique again sometime Friday or Saturday.

Despite the storm, CEF workers are still gathering for children’s ministry training. The sooner they finish, the sooner they can reach more kids in Mozambique with Gospel hope.

Kaiser says, “Child Evangelism Fellowship workers have been able to continue in their 3-month training institute as flood waters threaten to submerge the access road. Eighteen students are being trained, bringing the national staff of CEF to 31 workers who are supported by SPAN, Sponsor-a-National program.

“National workers are fluent in Portuguese, the official language of Mozambique, and they are faithful to the ministry even when hardships like flooding and cholera outbreak happen. The current team of 13 workers disciple an average of 2,500 children a week by going from school to school each day and holding open air ministry. ”

You can encourage these Christian leaders in Mozambique as they share Jesus with children and support families through hardship. Learn more about CEF’s Sponsor-a-National program.

“The cost to sponsor a national worker translates into only several USA pennies for each child who is taught.”

Also, Kaiser asks, “Please pray for the institute to be able to complete the third and final month of training, and for the people of Mozambique that they will be spared from another violent weather system.”

Header photo of flooded access road to CEF’s institute in Mozambique following Cyclone Freddy. (Photo courtesy of Child Evangelism Fellowship)

(Photo courtesy of Heart4Iran)

“More than 51,000 children have lost one or more of their parents due to the COVID pandemic, and that’s leaving these children very vulnerable. Thousands of them have to fend for themselves; they become either homeless or victims of trafficking or abuse, or become refugees,” Ansari explains.

Heart4Iran is working on a new program to connect these kids with the hope of Christ.

“Our ministry is starting 2022 by raising funds for the future church of Iran. This includes launching a Virtual Sunday School, continuing to partner with Superbook to create shows in the Farsi language, and increasing our outreach to this younger community through our counseling center,” Ansari says.

“The Virtual Sunday School is not another platform to teach the Bible to children. It is a place where they become part of a bigger family.”

Led by believers from a Muslim background, these new efforts will introduce kids and families to the message of redemption.

“Remember, Iran [has] a worldview of honor and shame, and whenever they are going through difficult times, they feel ashamed,” Ansari says.

“We need to cut through those barriers and bring the Gospel to them.”

Partner with Heart4Iran in this new initiative here. Most importantly, pray.

“Pray for the families, for the moms and dads or single parents, to come to know about Jesus. Pray for God’s mercy and protection and grace over the children finding themselves as orphans or highly marginalized,” Ansari requests.

“Pray for Mohabat TV to walk in God’s accuracy, wisdom, and favor. Pray that we will have God’s DNA in everything that we do.”

Header and story images courtesy of Heart4Iran.

Russia has approximately 100,000 troops positioned along the Ukraine border, though insists it is not planning to invade.

Ministry partners in Ukraine are “praying wisdom and courage for believers,” Keys for Kids Ministries Executive Director Greg Yoder says.

“They’re praying that there will be no invasion of Russia; that Christian churches in Ukraine will have the strength and faith to go about their daily lives as they wait.”

Tumultuous times like these can be stressful for families, especially if they live near the border. Keys for Kids devotionals point children and their parents to the Prince of Peace.

“Just before Christmas, we had 1,400 copies of Keys for Kids and 1,400 copies of Unlocked in Russian and Ukrainian distributed for free. There has now been some contact made in churches in Odessa,” Yoder says.

A pastor’s wife encountered the devotionals in one village through a ministry partner’s book fair. She took some Keys for Kids booklets home and read the stories with a pair of school-age children who live in the church building.

Keys for Kids Ministries partnered with Send International to translate Keys for Kids and Unlocked devotionals into Russian and Ukrainian languages.
(Photo courtesy of Keys for Kids Ministries)

“She (the pastor’s wife) read a story about being God’s children and then asked the [kids] if they wanted to become God’s children. They both said yes, so she prayed with them,” Yoder says.

“She realizes that they may not understand everything [about] salvation, but it certainly is an open door for the Gospel.”

Pray for believers on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine border. Ask God to strengthen them with His love. Pray the Lord will supply Keys for Kids Ministries and its partners in the region with wisdom.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty right now in Ukraine; there’s a lot of issues happening. The editor responsible for [the devotional ministry] right now has COVID, and the medical bills are piling up,” Yoder says.

“This is a spiritual battle, so we’re asking people to pray.”

Header image depicts the possible routes of alleged Russian invasion, January 2022. (Wikimedia Commons)

Register here for a January 28 webinar to learn more about this outreach.

Program Director Jennifer Shamoon says her passion for this work comes from experience. “Salvation [came] to our family through us (the children) going to Sunday school,” she says.

“I was seven years old, my sister was four years older than me; we were invited to Sunday school in Iran [at an] Assembly of God [church]. Back then, they gave us a small picture of each story, and we would bring it home and tell the story to my parents,” Shamoon says.

“It triggered a thirst (in my parents) to go and read Bible, and that brings salvation.”

Superbook is the Bible brought to life through animation — a timeless form of storytelling — to introduce children to Jesus and help develop their faith.
(Photo courtesy of Heart4Iran, caption courtesy of CBN)

The host of the new virtual Sunday School program – also an Iranian believer from a Muslim background – came to a saving faith in Christ through Heart4Iran’s Mohabat TV. Additionally, “to translate and prepare this Superbook curriculum, we used very knowledgeable Christian pastors,” Shamoon says.

“One of the [people] that helped us in translation was my Sunday school teacher.”

Hope for Iran

Created in 1981 by The Christian Broadcasting Network, the Superbook series has now been broadcast in over 106 countries, translated into 43 languages, and viewed by over 500 million people.

During Superbook’s premiere in Japan, an estimated 4 million people watched each week on television, resulting in the Bible becoming the best-selling book in that country. Heart4Iran hopes to see a similar effect in Iran, and transformation through the Gospel of Christ.

“We’re hoping God [will] work through this to touch kids’ hearts,” Shamoon says.

“Islam has corrupted and changed the standard of human [life], and the only way that we can help people in Iran is by introducing them to Jesus.”

Help bring Christ to the children of Iran here. Pray the Lord helps all the necessary components come together so the new program can flourish. Pray many Iranians will turn to Christ for salvation and place their faith in Him.

The host of the new virtual Sunday School program, also an Iranian believer from a Muslim background, came to Christ through Heart4Iran’s Mohabat TV. (Photo courtesy of Heart4Iran)

Sometimes, children are the gateway to reach entire families for Christ. Kids encounter Jesus at Vacation Bible School or a similar program, and their witness brings parents to the Lord.

In other countries, like those ruled by a majority religion, parents may know the Lord, but they don’t know how to reach their kids.

“[For example], Muslim-background believers in a lot of these areas don’t have the tools to disciple their kids or introduce Christ to their kids,” Greg Yoder of Keys for Kids Ministries says.

“We want to make sure that Keys for Kids and Unlocked, our teen devotional, is available and ready for them in their language.”

By joining the Alliance for the Unreached, Keys for Kids Ministries can supply believers worldwide with tools and resources for family outreach. Similarly, Christian ministries can team up with Keys for Kids to supplement existing programs.

(Photo courtesy Keys For Kids)

“We view our kids and teen devotionals as disciple-making tools. That becomes part and parcel of what these ministries are (already) doing,” Yoder says.

“We’re available in six languages: Arabic, Albanian, Macedonian, Greek, Spanish, and Nepali. There are a lot of first-generation Christians in many of these nations.”

Pray this partnership fuels transformation in unreached communities.

“We hope that many organizations will turn to us [and] our partners to help them ignite a passion for Christ in their kids, in their teens, in their families,” Yoder says.

“We hope this becomes a synergistic hub for families in unreached areas of the world.”

Header image courtesy of Keys for Kids Ministries.