God’s heart: Including kids in our missions focus reflects God’s heart. In Mark 10:14 Jesus says, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

Numbers: Currently, 2.2 billion children live on our planet. In many cultures considered unreached or resistant to the gospel, boys and girls under age 15 make up 40-50% of the population – that’s almost half of God’s harvest field.

Receptivity: Children have open hearts to receive the gospel. Research shows that many believers put their faith in Jesus between the ages of 4 and 14. We shouldn’t neglect the ripest fruit in God’s harvest field.

Bridges: When children become believers in Jesus, they are eager to share their faith with others – relatives, friends, teachers, coaches, and neighbors. Want to reach adults in an unbelieving home or village? Build a bridge by first establishing relationships with their sons and daughters.

Need: 1.2 billion children at risk face dire situations every day – poverty, disease, war, abandonment, and exploitation. These kids need the hope and transformation that only Jesus can provide.

Potential: Boys and girls who trust in Jesus become functioning members of the Church and partners in ministry. They have their whole lives to serve God as participants in the gospel. Think of the impact these young disciples can make on families, communities, and nations.

Join us in observing Global 4/14 Day. Download and use the free Prayer and Fasting Guide. Here are two more ways to pray for children on a continuous basis:

1. Check out the Red Card Prayer Page for weekly updates and requests for children around the world. These focus on areas of the world in the news.

2. The Stand4Kids Prayer Pages provide a way to pray for one child and request every day of the month. These requests represent needs of unreached kids in animistic, Hindu, atheistic, Muslim, and Buddhist cultures as well as needs of children at risk.

• Stand4Kids: Every Last Drop lesson addresses issues that children without access to clean water face. Includes demonstrations, photos, a Bible passage, prayer time, and optional Week for Water giving project. Ages 5-10.

• LifeWater International: WASH (Water, Sanitation Hygiene) Around the World 5-lesson download includes short stories of real children in five countries with discussion questions. Ages 3-11.

• WaterAid: Water Around the World Slide Show. Ages 5-8. Pumping It Up lesson with an experiment that demonstrates how a well pump brings up underground water. Ages 8-11.

• Blood:Water Mission: Lemon:Aid project to raise money for wells, water filters, and rain tanks for communities in Africa.

Freedom Sunday is this weekend. We have the opportunity to remember children who are enslaved and trafficked and intercede on their behalf. Do not underestimate the power of prayer for these precious boys and girls. God hears their cries, is present with them their situations, and promises to bring justice both for them and their oppressors.  Here are some Bible verses and prayer requests to get you started.

Child Laborers

Psalm 72:12 -“For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help.”

• Pray for God to protect child laborers from physical and emotional harm
• Pray that parents can find work so that their children are able to attend school.
• Pray for employers who oppress and exploit children to realize their worth and choose to protect and nurture them.
• Pray for despair to be replaced with hope.

Child Soldiers

Psalm 91:2b, 5 -“‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.’ … You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day.”

• Pray for child soldiers to be released back to their families.
• Pray for God to restore children who have experienced the painful trauma of war.
• Pray for despair to be replaced with hope.
• Pray that God will give wisdom and compassion to ministry workers who are helping children reintegrate into society.

Sexually Exploited Children

Psalm 10:17-18 – “You, LORD, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.”

• Pray for safe and secure shelters to provide for needs of children living on the streets so that they are less vulnerable to traffickers.
• Pray for strong law enforcement efforts and for brothels to be discovered and shut down.
• Pray for God to convict the hearts of traffickers, pimps and the “customers” and to transform their lives.
• Pray for despair to be replaced with hope.

Street Kids

• Lessons from a Street Kid by Craig Kielburger. Ages 6-9.

Take A Stand

• Free the Children: A Young Man Fights Against Child Labor and Proves that Children Can Change the World by Craig Kielburger. High school, young adult.
• It Takes A Child by Craig Kielburger. Ages 6-9.

New movies added to Red Card Kids.

Child Laborers

• Fields of Mudan, 2007. R. Mudan, a frightened young Asian girl, is forced into sex slavery by a brutal child brothel owner. She and another brothel girl courageously choose to live their lives as innocent, ordinary little girls despite their conditions and the bleak future that awaits them. Run time: 23 minutes. Mature audiences.

Take A Stand

• It Takes A Child, 1998, PG. True story of how the Free the Children movement began with a young boy who advocates against child labor. 56 min. Grades 5-12.

• Loose Change to Loosen Chains is a student-led campaign for elementary to college students to combat modern-day slavery while learning about the reality of injustice today. Order materials from the International Justice Mission. IJM uses money donated through this program to rescue victims of slavery and other forms of oppression.

• Break the Chains: The Power of Choice – Free download lesson on human trafficking for older elementary kids. Look in the Bible Study section. This is part of the Break the Chains Initiative from the Evangelical Covenant Church.

• Childhood Lost – Free download lesson on child labor for elementary children from Stand4Kids. Look in the Bible Study section under New Children’s Curriculum.

WMU created a downloadable Children’s Ministry Day Pack ($11.99). It contains a 16-page booklet with project suggestions, planning tips, and learning activities to enhance your project as well as colorful posters for promoting your event.  Other free resources like clip art, flyers, and a Powerpoint presentation overview are also available for download.

Ready to plan an education-related project that kids can carry out in your community? Make sure to invite others to assist you. If you can’t hold your event on February 18, pick a day that works for you. Here are 10 ideas to get those creative juices flowing:

• Help your kids host a used book drive and donate the books to a literacy ministry in your community.
• Make and send thank-you cards to principals at local schools. Better yet, have your kids deliver the cards personally. How many of them have ever seen the inside of the principal’s office–in a good way?
• Find out when the next school board meeting is. Help your kids prepare cookies or other snacks for the meeting. Ask if some of your kids can deliver the goodies and pray for the board members at the beginning of the meeting.
• Contact local school administrators and ask permission for your kids to help clean classrooms.
• Contact a local after-school program or a child-care facility and ask for a list of items they might need. Have your kids organize a drive in your church or school to help meet those needs.
• Prayer walk around neighborhood schools on the weekend.
• Help older kids prepare and read storybooks to preschoolers or kindergarteners at their school.
• Collect school supplies for needy children in your area. Have your kids write an encouraging let­ter on the first page of the notebooks.
• Have your kids make and send encouraging notes to GED students.
• Ask permission to host a teacher appreciation breakfast or lunch at a local school. You’ll probably need to enlist parent help for this one.

Invite your church leaders, teachers, and parents to be involved by praying for your kids and the people they will serve. And don’t forget to take lots of pictures!

Starvation: Starvation caused by famine, like the one currently threatening families in the Horn of Africa, is the most extreme form of hunger. Starvation often leads to death, especially in children.

Food insecurity: Not all hunger is caused by famine. For millions, lack of access to sufficient amounts of nutritious food is an ongoing, daily reality. Families eat the bare minimum to stay alive. Children go to bed each night, not knowing where their next meal will come from.

Hidden Hunger: In addition, two billion people exist on a limited diet. Because children eat the same thing every day rather than a variety of foods, they don’t get the vitamins and minerals needed for healthy growth and development. The resulting malnutrition has serious consequences. For example, children with Vitamin A deficiency have severe problems with eyesight and some become blind.

Here’s a map put out by the FAO. It shows that state of undernourishment in countries around the world. Did you know that there’s more than enough food to provide adequate nutrition to everyone on the planet? Here’s a simple simulation you can do with families in your church, school, or homeschooling group. It shows that hunger is more about an imbalance in food distribution than a shortage of food.

Orphan Sunday is your opportunity to rouse church, community, your small group, and friends to God’s call to care for the orphan.

Would you consider hosting an event? There are many simple things you can do. You can get ideas here; however there is something very simple you can do: share a meal eaten by orphans around the world.  Gather at The Orphan’s Table with family, small group or church for the meal, discussion and prayer.

teaching kids about orphanage life!

Your event, does not have to be on November 6th. You can choose anytime that works for you!

I was invited to share The Orphan’s Table at a local Christian School last week. I used the Red Card orphan lesson and taught about orphanage life. We then shared a meal at the Orphan Table. We ended our time in prayer for orphaned children.

It was a very powerful morning. God greatly used this time help children know more of his heart for orphans.

When you request The Orphan’s Table, we will ship you:

• An easy-to-cook meal package—the same food provided to feed orphans worldwide.  (Prepare by boiling, instructions included.)
• An Orphan Sunday Prayer and Discussion Guide to help you make the most of this experience.

The cost is simply a donation of any amount.  $5.00 will cover materials shipping for up to four servings. Please indicate the number of servings needed.

We do hope you will consider joining many around the globe participating in Orphan Sunday!

During my 2007 visit, national workers expressed concern over increasing restrictions on evangelizing children. Since then, the situation has worsened. This August, the Parental Responsibility Law went into effect. It stipulates that the only religious activities in which children under 18 may participate, apart from funerals, are those at state-approved religious education institutions. An amendment to the Criminal Code was passed that would punish organizers of “extremist religious” teaching.

Both measures seek to prevent recruiting of impressionable children by religious extremists. Whatever the intent, these rulings affect ministry to children on several levels. They affect parents, robbing them of the right to raise their children in the faith they choose. They affect boys and girls, preventing them from attending worship services, Sunday School, and church-led functions like summer camp. They impact children’s workers, forcing them to interpret what “extremist religious” teaching means to the government and discern ramifications for their ministry. While it’s too early to know how new laws will be enforced, it’s not too early to pray. Please join me in lifting up Tajik believers in the following ways:

• Pray for protection for believers who may be targets in regard to this law in coming days.
• Pray for boldness and perseverance for parents who seek to disciple their children.
• Pray for wisdom and creativity for children’s workers as they navigate what the new laws mean for their ministry.
• Pray that God will continue to grant believers favor with local government leaders as they meet the holistic needs of children in Tajikistan.
• Pray that many boys and girls in Tajikistan would come to know and follow Jesus.

Street Children

The Least of These: Lessons Learned from Kids On the Street by Ron Ruthruff (New Hope Publishers, 2010).

Working with the Street Children: An Approach Explored by Andrew Williams (Russell House Publishing, 2011).

Orphans

Love Has a Face: Mascara, a Machete and One Woman’s Miraculous Journey with Jesus in Sudan by Michele Perry (Chosen, 2009).

Children of War

My Father, the Maker of Trees: How I Survived the Rwandan Genocide by Eric Irivuzumgabe and Tracey D. Lawrence (Baker Books, 2010).