Pakistan (MNN) – Children’s ministry is booming in the United States. From Vacation Bible Schools to after school programs, people are reaching out to kids with the Gospel. But this is not the case all over the world.
Recently Greg Yoder, Executive Director for Keys for Kids Ministries, got an unusual phone call. It was from a pastor who heads up a church planting ministry in Pakistan. However, instead of asking for resources or money to help with his ministry, the pastor simply asked what Keys for Kids did.
Yoder began to detail the purpose of the organization. He says, “As I described to him what we did, it became very clear to me that he had no idea what children’s ministry was and he wasn’t even focused on it. And he was surprised by the statistics and research that says 70% of people who come to Christ do so between their fourth and fourteenth birthdays and 80% of kids between four and fourteen are searching for spiritual truth. They will find some sort of ‘truth.’ The question is what kind of truth will they find by the time they are adults? And that was kind of foreign to him.”
When Yoder finished explaining children’s ministry and Keys for Kids’ mission, the pastor replied that he would call back tomorrow. The next day, he was on the phone again. The pastor was grieved that his ministry was not reaching out to children. His team focused only on adults and now had their eyes open to the great potential of children’s ministry in such a difficult place to share the Gospel.
Working together
The pastor wanted to partner with Keys for Kids. However, there were a few problems. Keys for Kids does not have an existing translation in Urdu and even if they did, many people are illiterate.
But the story didn’t end there. Yoder says, “We are just in the preliminary stages right now of forming a partnership with an organization in Pakistan who has done a lot of translation work for ministries there, specifically Bible translations. But they are very excited about translating Keys for Kids into Urdu.”
The first piece of the puzzle is being solved, but what about all the people who are illiterate? Providentially, Keys for Kids already has been using a special children’s ministry device for other auditory cultures.
Listening to truth
The Keys for Kids Storyteller™ is a solar-powered device that has hours of stories preloaded. Yoder explains, “That’s what we’re excited about. That’s why these are being translated, so these solar powered audio devices that have the whole Bible and Keys for Kids stories on them. In their heart language, they’ll be able to understand the principles of God’s Word and lead not only children [to the Lord], but we’re even hearing adults [are coming to Christ] because it’s so simple. It’s so easy to understand that these adults will come to Christ and it will just help this organization plant more churches than they ever dreamed of.”
Storytellers (courtesy of Keys for Kids Ministries)
Through these auditory devices, Keys for Kids will have the opportunity to help reach the 13 million people in Pakistan with the Word of God through children’s ministries. However, by God’s grace, these storytellers will reach even further.
Currently, Keys for Kids and partners are translating story devotionals into many of the top 100 most-spoken languages in the world. With these devices, traditional paper devotionals, and more, the team is excited to see God work.
However, effective children’s ministry has a lot of moving pieces.
Get involved
Yoder asks that people pray that God gives passion and vision for this ministry to Keys for Kids staff. Pray that God provides wisdom as they use Storytellers to impact the world for Christ.
Yoder also says, “The give is obviously important. It doesn’t come cheaply. These devices aren’t inexpensive. They are an investment, but the great thing is about 133 people will listen to one of these devices.”
Consider supporting Keys for Kids financially so that they might spread the Gospel through the help of these Storyteller devices.
To learn more about Storytellers, go to KeysforKids.org/Storyteller.
To learn how you can pray for Pakistan click here.
