Many kids are traumatized by the sights and sounds of war. Yet they often take their cues from their parents on how to respond, says Pierre Houssney with Horizons International.

Depending on their background, the influence of a child’s parents can be an anchor or an added push toward fearful responses. Houssney explains that many in his generation grew up in Lebanon’s civil war and carry trauma.

“Their hands will shake, and their breathing will change, and you’ll see them visibly experience fear whenever there are sounds of war going on around them,” he says. “And kids are uniquely gifted in picking up on those things.”

Tripoli, Lebanon (Photo courtesy of Rudy Issa via Unsplash)

In contrast, Houssney didn’t grow up in Lebanon during the civil war and doesn’t carry those same marks. These days, he and his children hear airstrikes, drones, and sonic booms near their home in Lebanon.

“They’re aware of what’s going on. They understand the seriousness of it, but at the same time, they are not showing signs of being traumatized or too fearful about it,” he says. It’s a gift from God that he knows could easily change.

“If we lived in a different location that was closer to where airstrikes were happening, it could be a totally different situation,” he adds. “There are people who have had strikes in their building or strikes in their neighborhood, and had the dust of air strikes come down and settle on them, and they’re breathing it, and they’re seeing the people running and screaming and things like that. It’s a very, very difficult situation.”

Please pray for children in Lebanon to find the true source of strength.

“We are simply trying to do our best to help other people in this situation, through the trauma, through the physical needs and the spiritual needs,” says Houssney.

“Be praying for spiritual renewal, for repentance, for connection with God, that God’s healing would go out throughout the region.”

Pray also that world leaders would take steps to build peace across the world, “because if no world powers intervene when these wars are happening, then they’re just going to continue happening,” says Houssney.

Header photo courtesy of Horizons International.

Since 2022, as the Russian army advanced and occupied more Ukrainian territory, children became silent casualties — taken to unfamiliar Russian institutions. An estimated 20,000 Ukrainian children are still missing, believed to be in Russia or Russian-occupied areas. The actual number may be even higher.

The mass abduction of Ukrainian children is a war crime according to International law.

Families are doing everything they can to recover their children, while Ukrainian authorities insist that even orphans taken to Russia remain part of the nation and must be brought home.

Representative photo courtesy of
Evgeniy Alyoshin via Unsplash

Eric Mock from Slavic Gospel Association says: “There are children who desperately miss their parents. Some are told their parents don’t want them or aren’t worthy of them — an awful reality no child should ever have to face.”

Some parents of these children were detained and later released. Others fled while their children were taken. In some occupied areas, families were offered the chance to send their children to summer camps — but not all of them came back.

“It’s difficult to sort through the pieces, but it’s clear that kids have been separated from their families, and there’s an overwhelming need to restore these families. That is a heartbreaking reality of this war,” Mock explained.

Finding and accessing the children inside Russia remains difficult. “There are organizations that are working to get these children home,” Mock added. So far, only 1,399 children have returned, while thousands remain trapped in the reeducation system — where efforts aim to replace their Ukrainian identity with a Russian one and revise their understanding of the war.

Slavic Gospel Association supports churches across Ukraine, where some Christians are actively involved in the search for lost children. Also, through its orphan ministry network, Orphans Reborn, operating in over seven countries, some of the orphans encountered may be from Ukraine.

“A lot of these disconnected children are showing up in orphanages, and we pray that SGA-supported churches who minister to orphans are able to connect with these kids and be there for them,” Mock said.

Be the voice for these children. Many feel helpless and forgotten, and their families struggle to find them.

“We pray for the restoration of these families, and above all, we pray that these children and their parents — wherever they may be — will be connected to a faithful church and get to hear the Gospel at every opportunity,” Mock said.

Header representative photo courtesy of Tadeusz Lakota via Unsplash.

Public schools aren’t the only ones gaining attention these days. Greg Yoder with Christian World Outreach says parents in Sri Lanka are increasingly drawn to their after-school tutoring program. 

At first, “parents are a little leery that we’re trying to just convert their children, but then they learn that that’s not what we’re doing,” Yoder says. “They’ve grown to love what we do and [are] open to hearing that Jesus loves them, and wants nothing more than [for] them to love Him.” 

Run by volunteers, the program offers tutoring in math and English. “They use Bible stories and songs to share Christ, as well as giving them education,” says Yoder.

Ministry in Sri Lanka. (Photo courtesy of Christian World Outreach)

However, not everyone in the community wants to hear the Good News. 

“There is some resistance to the Gospel [due to] Sri Lanka being mostly Hindu and Buddhist.” 

CWO works with dedicated local leaders in Sri Lanka who live out the Gospel while meeting educational and physical needs. Pray for one CWO partner facing persecution. 

“The Buddhist priest is trying to force this homeowner to stop renting to one of our leaders [who] has a house church,” says Yoder. “We’re working to help him find another place, if he does get kicked out.”

Yoder asks that you also pray for wisdom for CWO as they connect with local gospel workers. 

“Word is being spread that we’re coming alongside ministry leaders,” he says. “They’re coming to us and saying, ‘Hey, can we partner with you?’ So that’s a challenge, but it’s also an opportunity.”

CWO’s vision for gospel-centered ministry goes beyond mere financial partnership.

“We are encouraging them to find funds in-country. Some of them are doing that,” says Yoder. “They’re looking to their churches and saying, ‘Hey, we need to step up. If we want to share the gospel with our community, we need to invest in that.’”

CWO partners with ministry leaders who want to share the gospel, whether they’re doing a church plant, house church, or any kind of evangelism in their communities. Learn more about their mission and how you can be part of it here.

Header photo from Galle, Sri Lanka courtesy of Fredrik Öhlander via Unsplash. Cropped from original version. 

Indonesia (MNN) — Everything changes when fear of the spirit world turns to faith in Christ. Nathan Fagerlie is a pilot with Mission Aviation Fellowship. He shared a story about an Indonesian community where MAF was a lifeline for local missionaries. 

“Often, without the airplane and without missionaries coming into a village, the infant mortality rate is about 80%, meaning four out of five kids do not make it past the age of two,” he says.

Papua, Indonesia (Courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship)

One couple in the village had lost five children. When their sixth child was born, a girl, the father said she would die too and rejected her. 

But her mother believed that naming the child Madhu (meaning “worm”) and disfiguring her would keep evil spirits away. 

“She took a knife and cut off both pinky fingers off this beautiful infant baby, and then took the knife and just made multiple cuts on her face and body,” Fagerlie says. “The whole point was to try and make this child as unappealing as possible, so maybe the spirits would leave her alone and that she wouldn’t die.

“The gospel comes in, though, and it changes. It changes people, changes the cultures. In this area now, instead of feeling like they’ve got to mutilate or harm their kids in order to keep them alive, they start using the names of the kids as a way to celebrate the attributes of God.” 

Today, parents in the area might give their children names with meanings like “God hears us” or “Compassion.” And that little baby girl, Madhu? …

“This girl that her father rejected, that was mutilated, is now a strong, faithful believer, and she’s known in the village for producing some amazing songs that glorify her Father in heaven, who hasn’t rejected her,” Fagerlie says. 

Praise God for his redemption in hard stories like these, and pray for missionaries that MAF supports in other spiritually dark communities!

“They’re in a constant battle in that sense, too, spiritually, as they’re trying to bring light into a place that resists it,” says Fagerlie. 

Pray that these missionaries would be protected and see the gospel change people’s lives.

You can learn more about MAF here. 

Header photo of Papua outdoor education, 2025, courtesy of Mission Aviation Fellowship.

“I have the honor of being the black sheep in our family. It wasn’t till I was pretty far along in my teenage years that I even realized that,” he says. “So I was one, and I’ve got a lot of friends that are dealing with this as well. It’s a big problem right now — it’s an epidemic.”

(Stock photo courtesy of Steiner Engeland via Unsplash)

Why do kids wander?

Hutchcraft says it’s important to remember that you can be the most godly, Jesus-loving, Jesus-serving mom or dad… and still see your child wandering from their own relationship with Christ.

The number one reason kids become prodigals, Hutchcraft thinks, is that they haven’t made Jesus their own. 

“Even if they were going to Sunday school or church, they never quite got to the point where their heart all belonged to Jesus,” he says. “So it never quite became their own relationship.”

(Check out a resource from Ron Hutchcraft on this topic, “A Jesus of Their Own.“)

Praying parents

During his tumultuous teenage years, Hutchcraft’s parents depended on Scripture and prayer. His dad later told him, “We would go into our room, we would close the door, and we would get on our knees, and we would pray, we would pray, we would pray, remembering that this isn’t the final story [of our son’s life], this was just the chapter.’” 

“I remember knowing they were praying for me then,” Hutchcraft says. Their steady love eventually led him to turn around. 

“I remember my mind kind of being blown, even as a 16-year-old, that, ‘Why are they treating me like this?’ I knew in the back of my mind I wasn’t treating them well, I wasn’t pleasing them. Yet they were still coming back and being patient with me and loving me and praying for me.”

“If that’s who Jesus is,” he thought, “this is something that I want, that I have to dive deeper into.”

Encouragement for parents

If you have a wandering child in your life today, Hutchcraft lifts up Ephesians 4:29 as a key verse.

(Stock photo courtesy of Eye for Ebony via Unsplash.)

“It’s tempting to be angry. It’s tempting to say, ‘What’s wrong with you? I thought you were a Christian. I thought you loved Jesus?’” he says. “But taking the 10-second rule, you [instead] go, ‘The only thing I’m letting come out of my mouth is only what is going to be useful for building them up.’”

Being respectful of your young person is important too, especially when things are going haywire. 

“You might not respect what they’re saying, what they’re doing,” Hutchcraft notes. “But if there is a way for them to know that no matter what, you still love them, that your love for them is unconditional, [then do it,] remembering that we are Christ’s ambassadors — and that’s never more true than with your kids — as if He is making His appeal through us.”

So ask yourself every day, “Am I really representing Jesus to my kids?”

“The enemy loves to accuse us. He is the accuser, and he will want to discourage you,” Hutchcraft says. “Be patient and remember in God’s Word, don’t give up. That’s what Jesus told his disciples: ‘pray and don’t give up.’ Because what? You’re going to see a harvest. It happened in my life, and I think it’s going to happen in your prodigal’s life too.”

Hear more! 

There’s a way to receive more insight and encouragement on this topic from the Hutchcraft brothers. Listen to their March 4, 2025 podcast episode of Go M.A.D. with Doug and Brad, “A Jesus of Their Own Pt. 1: Pursuing the Prodigal.” It’s available wherever you listen to podcasts. Look for part 2 coming later in March! 

Header photo courtesy of Denis Pozdeev via Unsplash.

The conference speaker invited pastors to come forward if they had a child who was spiritually wandering. Hutchcraft witnessed the majority of the pastors and their wives come to the front to pray. 

“I think the visual of seeing so many shepherds with their hearts broken for their own lambs did something in my heart,” he says.

(Image courtesy of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries)

It led him to write a booklet called “A Jesus of Their Own: Fighting for Faith in the Next Generation.”

“If you’ve got a son or daughter who’s away from the Father, there are some ways to pray, many of [which] were inspired by Hosea experience in the Old Testament,” Hutchcraft says.

If that’s your experience as a parent, here are the brief prayer points Hutchcraft shares. You can find them in full in the booklet here.  

• Lord, frustrate their sin. “A prayer that their sin will not work for them, and it will be unsatisfying and cause them to rethink how they’re living.”
• Lord, block their exits. “Whatever their go-to is when things get rough… Make their go to a ‘no go.’ Block their exit so there’s only one door open to them when they hit a wall. And that is Jesus.”
• Lord, get their attention. “Psalm 119:67 says, ‘Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I obey your word.’ [Pray that God will] do something that would be a wake-up call for them.”
• Lord, remind them of Jesus. “Most of the young men and women from Christian backgrounds I know who are wandering, it’s not because of Jesus. It’s because of Christians. It’s because of Christianity. But thankfully, Jesus didn’t say, ‘Follow my followers or my leaders or my religion.’ He said, “Follow me.’”
• Lord, send a messenger. “Lord, you know the kind of person they would listen to. Send that kind of person who loves you into their life.” 
• Lord, do whatever it takes.

A biblical story of hope

Hutchcraft reminds us of the story in Luke 7 where Jesus raises a widow’s son from the dead. 

“There’s this beautiful little phrase: it says, ‘And Jesus gave him back to his mother,’” he says. “Jesus is still doing that miracle of bringing back to life people we thought were gone, and giving them back to a praying mom or dad.” 

Hutchcraft encourages parents to keep praying and serving God’s purposes in their lives. Our children’s struggles don’t disqualify us.

“What the devil does with the wandering child is to shame the parent, because the real target is the pastor, the shepherd, the Christian leader. The accuser of the brethren says, ‘Who do you think you are to be bringing Christ to other people?’” Hutchcraft says.

“You bring that child to Jesus and let Jesus do His mighty work in their life. But don’t abandon His work. Don’t back down. Don’t retreat because of the attack of the enemy. You’re the real target. Take your stand against the devil’s schemes and let Jesus do that work in your child’s heart to bring that lamb back home.”

Header photo courtesy of Ali Haghighi via Unsplash.

(Image courtesy of SAT-7 USA)

Meanwhile, parents in Lebanon are concerned their children could be radicalized by extremist groups like Hezbollah, which are eager for new recruits.

Joe Willey with SAT-7 USA says, “When there is instability there, and whether a government is toppled, whether there are natural disasters, whether there is conflict between other nations, there are voids. And into that void, something will go.

“That concern of any parent, whether it’s in the US or around the world, is, ‘Are my children safe?… Will my children survive?'”

Even beyond Lebanon’s borders, the threat of radicalization is felt globally.

Germany is still reeling after a Syrian refugee sped a car through pedestrians at a Christmas market, killing five people and injuring over 200.

In the United States, a car-ramming terror attack targeted New Year’s revelers on a packed New Orleans street. At least 15 people died and dozens were injured. The attacker, a US citizen and army veteran, was potentially radicalized and had an ISIS flag in his possession.

Radicalization can happen suddenly or slowly over time, starting at a young age. Hezbollah’s recruitment tactics in Lebanon even include summer camps for kids, targeting children as young as six years old, according to The UN Refugee Agency.

(Photo courtesy of SAT-7 USA)

For parents in Lebanon seeking safe entertainment options, SAT-7’s satellite television program, SAT-7 KIDS, offers Gospel-focused entertainment for children.

Willey explains, “Not only do Christian families and Christian children watch it, but we also have messages — and we’ve had many — from parents of children of other faiths who say, ‘I can put SAT-7 KIDS on and I can be confident that my children are going to hear something that’s good.’

“‘They’re not going to hear something that could radicalize them. They’re not going to hear something that I don’t want them to hear. They’re family values.’ And of course, what we know is they’re speaking about biblical values.”

Pray for children in Lebanon to put their trust in Jesus Christ rather than the false promises of extremist groups. Ask God to give parents wisdom, that they may also follow Jesus and point their kids to biblical truth.

“We certainly at SAT-7 have a mission to really minister to children because these children that are living and have lived in war zones have lived in such chaos,” Willey says. “They are being shaped – and they will either be shaped by that violence, or they can be shaped by the Gospel.”

Learn more about SAT-7 KIDS.

Header photo: Hezbollah fighters train in southern Lebanon, May 2023. (Photo courtesy of Tasnim News Agency/Wikimedia Commons)

The Christian community of Madison, Wisconsin — and across the United States — is still grappling with this tragedy. Reflecting the truth of 1 Corinthians 12:26, when one part of the Body of Christ suffers, we all suffer.

Greg Yoder, Executive Director of Keys for Kids Ministries, says it’s also a critical reminder that all children and teens need the Gospel, no matter what kind of school they attend.

(Photo courtesy of Hiroyoshi Urushima/Unsplash)

“We know that there is evil in the world, and we know also that, as parents, our first mission field [is] our kids,” he says.

According to the United States K-12 School Shooting Database, there have been 323 school shootings in 2024, although many resulted in no victims or injuries. The database defines school shootings as incidents where a gun was brandished, fired, or a bullet hit school property for any reason. While that number for this year is slightly less than 2023 (which saw 349 school shootings), these incidents have been steadily rising since 2020.

“It’s a heart issue,” Yoder emphasizes.

So what does our culture do about a heart issue, aside from offering “thoughts and prayers”? As Christians, we truly believe in the power of prayer as we ask God to move in our minds and hearts. But Yoder encourages believers to pair prayer with action.

“I’m saying talk. I’m saying preach the Gospel to these kids because it’s the Holy Spirit that’s going to change a heart and a life. You can send people to counseling. You can give them opportunities to interact with special groups in schools, public schools, etc.”

Yoder adds, “Unless we’re sharing the liberating power of the Gospel with those kids, with our kids, with adults even around us, that is the only thing that’s going to change our culture.”

Conquering Fear devotional with Keys for Kids, available on YouVersion. (Image courtesy of Keys for Kids)

To help you biblically support the kids in your life, Keys for Kids has a 7-day devotional on the YouVersion app called Conquering Fear.

“We use this [devotional] a lot, especially during COVID and when there have been school shootings in the past,” says Yoder. “We encourage people to go there, download the YouVersion app, [and] look for Keys for Kids and Conquering Fear.”

You can find the devotional link here.

Then, please pray for the Abundant Life Christian School community to sense God’s comfort, and healing for those still in the hospital.

Header photo courtesy of Pixabay.

Toward those ends, the CCP’s prime target today are children. Children and families of Muslim and Christian faith are feeling the pressure. 

Erik Burklin with China Partner recently gathered with around 40 pastors from mainland China and 40 leaders mostly from the U.S.

China Partner equips local Chinese church leaders.

“One of the big concerns that they shared with us is the government is now enforcing this law of not being allowed to share the gospel with minors. Anybody under the age of 18, for instance, is not allowed to go to church. They’re enforcing that now, more,” Burklin says. 

The ban has been in place for years. In some areas of China, Burklin says children are not allowed to even enter a church building. In other areas, the rules are less strict. 

“[In less restricted areas] they don’t have necessarily ‘Sunday school’ [as] we (in the West) would think of it, but they just host these children and have a safe place for them to be while their parents are worshiping in the church service,” Burklin says. 

The increasing challenge has led to a practical approach among the church leaders. One leader put it this way: “We’re rethinking how we do ministry to parents.”

“They’re actually having a very concentrated effort to equip parents to reach their own children for Jesus Christ, very similar to what the Jewish people were doing in the Old Testament,” Burklin explains.

Family discipleship is something every Christian family should be doing. In China, they are looking for increased resources. One leader told Burklin earlier this year, “Could you please help us get better materials so that we can teach our children?”  

Pray for China’s church

Pray for wisdom, strength, faithfulness and endurance for the Chinese church under pressure. Pray for parents and children to be equipped to share and receive the gospel of Christ. 

“They were asking for us to pray for them for wisdom on how they should operate in the future, how they should continue to stay within the law and yet stay true to Scripture, which is always kind of a tension that Chinese Christians have in China,” Burklin says.

Learn more about the mission and strategy of China Partner here. But don’t miss this word of encouragement. 

“In spite of all the government restrictions that are being imposed on religious activities, we sense from the leadership there not a sense of fear or depression — just the opposite. A lot of optimism, excitement,” Burklin says. 

“Within their system that is very restrictive, God is still moving. God is in control and using these men and women for His glory [to be] a witness and salt and light in their society.”

Header photo courtesy of China Partner. 

The attack left two students and two teachers dead. Nine others at the school were wounded. It’s the 45th school shooting this year in the U.S., according to a CNN analysis. It’s a sobering reality for families in the back-to-school season.

“You can’t say, ‘Okay, I won’t be afraid anymore for my kids.’ That’s not real,” says Ron Hutchcraft with Hutchcraft Ministries. “But we can deny [fear] the driver’s seat. It doesn’t have to be the source of our decisions that we make with our children, of our attitude, of our conversations.”

Hutchcraft says children today face cruelty from fellow students, lies that are taught in the classroom as truth, and pervasive cultural pressures from media. It’s tempting for parents to respond by trying to control everything for their children, but that’s exactly what we shouldn’t do.

Children today face pervasive cultural pressures from media. (Photo is a representative stock photo courtesy of Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash)

“If I’m afraid as a parent, then I will probably react by pushing harder on my child because I’m afraid. So I’ve got to keep preaching to them and trying to protect them — and in so doing, I’m probably pushing them away,” Hutchcraft says. “I’m going to overreact to things. I’m going to sow fear in my child. There’s no wonder that God says ‘fear not.’”

He points to 2 Timothy 1:7 as a special encouragement for parents and grandparents.

“It says God has not given us the spirit of fear, but he’s given us power, love, and a sound mind. I think that’s the ability to think straight,” Hutchcraft explains. “Fear distorts reality. It makes the problems and dangers bigger and shrinks our faith.” 

Instead, parents can help their kids look to Jesus as they deal with challenges at school. It could be as tangible as praying together in a living room chair.

(Photo is a representative stock photo courtesy of Laura Ohlman/Unsplash)

“If we can establish in our home a sense of the realness, the closeness of Jesus that they can take with them when they walk out that door, it makes them make different choices, and it’s a tremendous antidote to fear,” Hutchcraft says. 

Ask for God’s mercy for the families touched in the Apalachee High School shooting. Pray that God gives Christian parents courage and trust in Him to stand against fear.

5 key scriptures for courageous faith

If you’re a parent looking for a practical next step, Hutchcraft shares five Scriptures to walk through with your child.  

1. You are the light of the world. Matthew 5:14–16
2. Cast all your care on God. 1 Peter 5:7
3. Take your stand. Ephesians 6:10
4. Guard your heart. Proverbs 4:23
5. You are God’s masterpiece. Ephesians 2:10

“If they can go armed with those five truths, those are five powerful fear-fighters and [make-a-difference] battle cries,” Hutchcraft says. 

Header photo is a representative stock photo courtesy of Taylor Flowe/Unsplash