International (MNN) — Some areas of ministry are so sensitive, they rarely make headlines. It’s the kind of work that happens under the radar, for good reason.
But today, we’re giving a glimpse into a sensitive story from Keys for Kids Ministries — because they can’t do it alone.
Keys for Kids is translating their devotionals into Mandarin for children who may never hear the Gospel otherwise. It’s one of the most spiritually restricted areas of outreach.
“There are literally spies in the United States looking for the work that we’re doing,” says Greg Yoder, Executive Director of Keys for Kids. “There are some spies we heard in Chinese-speaking churches here in the United States. So it’s hard work that we’re doing, but yet God is blessing. God has protected us.”
(Photo courtesy of Keys for Kids Ministries)
Why share now? Because this mission needs your prayers. And it needs funding to continue.
“We’re working in areas that people could be arrested or even imprisoned and then put into camps. So we can’t talk a lot about the work that we’re doing. But I will say this — that God is blessing, and there is a craving for God’s Word. There’s a craving for believers that speak the Chinese language to disciple their kids and their teenagers.”
The ministry is also translating its teen devotional, Unlocked, into Mandarin. A Christian Chinese speaker is directing the projects with their team. Yoder says, “We’re super excited about his love and desire to see his fellow speakers come to faith in Jesus Christ.”
The timing is urgent, and the audience is vast. There are 1.18 billion people around the world who speak Mandarin. Many live in countries where sharing the Gospel is banned, especially when it comes to teaching children about Jesus.
Yet, those young ages are a critical time when kids are forming their spiritual worldviews. Yoder refers to the 4-14 Window which shows “80% of the people who come to faith in Jesus Christ do so between their fourth and 14th birthday. So, in fact, the 4-14 Window people say that 80% of young people in that demographic are looking for some kind of spiritual truth.
(Photo courtesy of Sergey Sokolov/Unsplash)
“Unfortunately, they don’t always find the Truth, the Life — Jesus Christ. Sometimes they find it in other things,” says Yoder.
“We’re praying earnestly that as these young people [and] families begin searching for spiritual truth, that they will find the work of Jesus Christ through the ministry of Keys for Kids Ministries through our devotionals — whether it be our Keys for Kids devotional or our Unlocked devotional.”
You can donate to this sensitive project at www.keysforkids.org/chinese.
Also, Yoder asks, “Pray that as adults catch the passion and the vision for kids ministry and youth ministry in the Chinese language, that they’ll be wise in how they do it, that they’ll be covert in the way they do it.
“But most importantly, [pray] that government officials’ eyes would be blinded to what they see in here, so that the perpetual sharing of the Gospel [continues] wherever it happens to be — whether it be with Chinese nationals in North America or Europe or other places or in hard to reach areas of the world.”
Header photo courtesy of Rowen Smith/Unsplash.
