Middle East/Near East (MNN) — God sends hope into the unrest of the Middle East and Near East today through a simple tool called “Storytellers” for kids.

These devices from Keys for Kids are handheld players loaded with audio Bibles and more. They’ve been translated in Urdu, Pashto and soon to be Farsi to reach entire communities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and beyond! 

Greg Yoder says they’ve heard incredible stories from distributions just this year. “Where we’re actually seeing not just kids coming to faith in Christ, not only memorizing Scripture, not only memorizing the stories, but adults being able to see the simplicity of what it means to follow Jesus Christ and want that in their own lives.” 

In recent years, one player somehow reached the son of a tribal chief in Pakistan. He was notorious as a bad, troublemaking boy, but two days after he started listening, his dad said, “What is going on with you? You’re now a nice kid. What is going on?”

(Photo of a boy in Pakistan with a Storyteller courtesy of Keys for Kids Ministries)

His son said, “I know Jesus.” 

“What do you mean you ‘know Jesus’?” 

After his son started playing the storyteller for him, the chief then ordered 200 more players for other village kids. After the kids began to change, he instructed the imam to play the devotional content from the village mosque loud speaker. The village began to change!

There’s another layer! Not only Muslims but also Christians need the encouragement and content on these audio players. 

“The pastors and evangelists and lay leaders in this area of the world are saying they’re game changers, not just for evangelism, but for discipleship, because some of these pastors are learning more about the Bible than they’d ever known before,” says Yoder. 

“Since most of these pastors haven’t been Christians for very long — Muslim background believers — they’re learning as if they were a child learning about Scripture.” 

Today Keys for Kids is raising funds for thousands of players to load with content in Pashto, Urdu and soon Farsi. The opportunity is urgent, and the potential for impact is incredible! 

“Those two languages (Pashto and Urdu) need 10,000 units right now. Then, the Farsi translation project has already been started,” Yoder says. 

“We’re being told by pastors, especially in Pakistan, that they could use 3,000 units a month.”

Find your place in this story! Join the campaign with Keys for Kids to reach families in the Middle East and beyond with the hope of Jesus.

Header photo: Ameen, the son of a tribal leader in Pakistan, had a reputation as a rude and rebellious boy. However, his actions and attitude began to change after receiving a Storyteller. (Photo, caption courtesy of Keys for Kids)

Though faith may decline in the U.S., Keys for Kids’ Greg Yoder says, “There’s a craving for the Gospel in other parts of the world.”

For example, a Keys for Kids partner recently spoke with a former Taliban terrorist who came to Christ. Yoder says, “He happened upon our Urdu Storyteller and said, ‘Hey, do you have this in the Pashto language?’ They said, ‘Well, no, not yet.’ [He said,] ‘Oh, well, if you did, I could get them into Afghanistan.’”

Ameen, the son of a tribal leader in Pakistan, had a reputation as a rude and rebellious boy. However, his actions and attitude began to change after receiving a Storyteller.
(Photo, caption courtesy of Keys for Kids)

A Pashto translation is complete and available today, and distribution is slowly underway.

“You can’t even have a church in Afghanistan, and yet, people are coming to faith in Jesus Christ hand over fist. We’re excited to be a part of that,” Yoder says.

Christian resources for children are generally unavailable in non-English languages. That’s why Keys for Kids devotionals fly off the shelf nearly as soon as the translation work is finished.

“They’re spoken for or in the process of getting there. The need to invest in something like this is huge,” Yoder says.

“If they’re searching for truth, we, as followers of Jesus Christ, need to declare the liberating power of the Gospel and let the Holy Spirit do His work because He will do the work.”

Children aren’t the only ones who benefit from Keys for Kids resources. “Whole families are using these,” Yoder says.

“One example was a Storyteller [that] had gone about 500 miles. We handed it out in the middle of Pakistan. It ended up in northern Pakistan and had probably been listened to by three- or 400 people by the time it got to a distant family member.”

You can help Keys for Kids mobilize more resources here.

Header and story images courtesy of Keys for Kids.

Greg Yoder, Executive Director of Keys for Kids, says, “We literally have kids that want to know spiritual truth in Pakistan – Christian and Muslim families! And the only thing holding us back is not having the funds.

“It just got me thinking, wow, we have the cure. If we had the cure for cancer, we would be providing this and money would be flowing in. But we have the cure for eternal life, and yet we don’t have the funds.”

(Photo of a boy in Pakistan with a Storyteller, courtesy of Keys for Kids Ministries)

Keys for Kids has translated Storyteller content into Urdu for distribution in Pakistan. Many Pakistani kids have to work to help provide for the family and they are unable to read. Biblical audio stories are a critical way to connect with these children and their families and introduce them to Jesus.

As word-of-mouth spreads, the demand for more Storytellers is growing!

Christian partners in Pakistan tell Keys for Kids they literally can’t keep Storytellers on the shelves, they go so quickly.

“As we’re hearing these stories from our friends there…they said, ‘We don’t have any more in inventory in the Urdu language,'” Yoder says. “I’m thinking to myself, ‘Why? Why is this?’ It’s simply, we don’t have the money. That’s the bottom line.”

The ministry knows one Pakistani pastor who says he could easily distribute 600 Storytellers per month, if only he could continue to get them.

Yoder explains, “One hundred and fifty people generally, on average, will listen to a Storyteller…. I mean, think about that – 600 [Storytellers] times 150 is 90,000 people; 90,000 people times 12 [months] is one million people!”

If just 20 churches, businesses, or individuals gave $500 a month to Keys for Kids, one million people in Pakistan would hear the Gospel over the next year.

Keys for Kids also plans to translate Storyteller audio content into Pashto for distribution in neighboring Afghanistan.

Give any amount today at the Keys for Kids website!

Yoder also asks, “Pray that somehow, beyond whatever we could ask or imagine, God would provide funding in the most amazing way, that we could see not only Pakistan but Afghanistan reached for the Gospel.”

Header photo courtesy of Keys for Kids Ministries.

In an Afghan refugee village in northern Pakistan, the tribal chief’s son was known as a bit of a troublemaker. But eventually, this boy’s rebellious attitude softened. He began to show more respect and kindness and even stayed out of trouble!

(Photo courtesy of Keys for Kids Ministries)

When his father asked what changed, the boy told him about a Keys for Kids Storyteller he received and had been listening to. The Storyteller is a solar-powered mp3 player containing an audio Bible and Keys for Kids devotionals. The boy told his chieftain father that he believed in Jesus.

Greg Yoder, Executive Director of Keys for Kids Ministries shares: “The Muslim village chief said, ‘If this can change my son’s heart, we need to have more in this village.’ So I believe it was about 200 of them that were delivered into this Muslim village.”

From there, even more village kids started loving the Storytellers and devotionals!

Yoder says, “The village chief was just so amazed at what was happening within his village, he decided that…accompanying the Muslim call to prayer, they were going to play Keys for Kids in audio over these loudspeakers from the mosque itself!”

Keys for Kids partners with FMI to distribute Storytellers in the Urdu language to kids in Pakistan. But now, they need your help.

“We supplied them with several thousand Storytellers and they’re all gone,” says Yoder. “They don’t have any more to distribute. So the best thing that we can do is raise more funds to produce more Urdu storytellers for the people in Pakistan.”

Find out how to donate to Keys for Kids Storytellers here!

Header photo of representative Pakistan mosque, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Iranian leaders have cracked down on schools, arresting several minors and beating others. Some have disappeared altogether. Parents have been warned to keep their children out of the protests. Security forces have entered some schools, demanding security footage.

Greg Yoder with Keys for Kids Ministries says, “These kids and teens want to know the truth. They’ve seen the collapse of their culture. They’ve seen the lies they’re getting from the Ayatollah, and they’re seeing the oppression that comes with that. As they look for the spiritual truth, they’re rebelling against something they know is a lie.”

Iranian church

Iran has one of the fastest-growing Christian communities in the world. Iranian believers live isolated lives, but they still have access to Christian tv, radio, and other media.

Keys for Kids Ministries had big plans for Iran. Yoder says, “One of the next languages that we’re going to be translating Keys for Kids and Unlocked into is Farsi. We already have a relationship, we already have an understanding. The only thing that’s really preventing us from doing it is funding.”

“We know that if we provided Keys for Kids and Unlocked into Iran and into Farsi, that it would be exponentially used in Christians’ lives and kids’ lives.”

You can support the translation work here.

Keys for Kids is partnering with FMI to do the Farsi translation work. But before that, they are working on getting the Unlocked and Keys for Kids devotionals translated into Urdu for readers in Pakistan and Pashto for readers in Afghanistan.

Ask the Holy Spirit to move in young people across Iran, giving them hope, strength, and love.

And pray the violence against Iranian children would end.

The header photo shows scenes from a protest in Iran. (Photo courtesy of Darafsh, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

About the Bible

It’s the first new Protestant Bible to be printed in Pakistan since before the Partition when India and Pakistan became separate countries. That Bible was translated by a German missionary from English to Urdu. This new Bible is being translated from the original language into Urdu.

Nehemiah says, “We used to receive printed Bibles in Urdu sometimes from China. Most of the time, they came from South Korea.”

But the supply of imported Bibles slowed down over the past few months. FMI needed a new way forward. Nehemiah says, “Literacy is a big problem in Pakistan. We wanted to try to get something people can understand. So we are using an easy-reading version of Urdu.”

Nehemiah says the Catholic Church did print an Urdu Bible, but it is a very large and heavy book. FMI wanted to make a thin, portable Bible.

But they had a difficult time obtaining scritta paper, the thin material often used in Bibles. Eventually, they obtained a supply. Nehemiah says, “I won’t be able to share more detail from where we got this paper. But praise God, we have that paper in our hands. And one of our brothers who’s from the Muslim majority rendered his services to use his printing press.”

“Please pray for the process. Please pray for the people.”

Pray these new Bibles would reach many people across Pakistan. Pray also for the logistics. FMI will need to ship the Bibles from the city where they are being printed to different parts of Pakistan, or even across borders.

Header photo courtesy of FMI. 

Monsoons and catastrophic flooding have killed thousands and displaced 33 million, destroying huge amounts of infrastructure. Pakistani officials say the floodwaters might not completely subside for 3 to 6 months.

AMG kits

AMG International is providing emergency kits for people affected. Bill says, “These kits will include powdered milk, some medicine for fever and cough (because there are lots of illnesses going around now as a result of the standing water), some fresh water, and some tablets to help purify water. Depending on the area and depending on the needs there, we include a small pot to boil water in.”

“We include some small kitchen items to help them sustain themselves.”

AMG plans to distribute these kits through a network of local churches. They want to follow up with people they help with every two weeks to make sure they have what they need.

In the kits, AMG will include some Christian literature in Urdu. Bill says, “The Gospel is carried through relationship. These people are in desperate situations, so they’re in survival mode. We’re trying just to meet them exactly where they are. We want to be there. And we want to have developed that relationship through this time, so they can see that we care for them.”

Get involved

Bill asks readers to pray for AMG partners as they help their neighbors. “It’s very difficult for them to see their countrymen in great need. They desire to help, but helping can also be fatiguing and emotionally draining. So just pray for strength and the ability to sustain these efforts.”

Each kit costs $54. AMG wants to send them out to 100,000 families in Pakistan. You can help here.

Header photo courtesy of AMG International. 

Weeks of heavy rains and floods have affected 33 million people; the number of people in makeshift shelters increased by 190,000 since last week. Record-breaking deluges killed at least 1,400 people, washing away roughly $30 billion in housing, farmland, and livestock.

Despite difficult circumstances, believers press on to reach families for Christ. “It (the flooding) is not stopping our partners,” Greg Yoder of Keys for Kids Ministries says.

“In fact, we received pictures and video of our partners in the studio working on the audio portion of the Urdu project.”

Keys for Kids partners in Pakistan.
(Photo courtesy of Keys for Kids Ministries)

Together with FMI, Keys for Kids helps Pakistani church planters reach entire families for Christ. The ministries equip national church planters with Storytellers. These “solar-powered audio mp3 players help disciple and lead people to Jesus in Pakistan,” Yoder says.

Support the Urdu Storyteller project here.

Each Storyteller contains the Bible in Urdu, as well as Keys for Kids devotional material. “Keys for Kids is spearheading the initial cost of the units; this is something our partners want to use on a regular basis,” Yoder says.

Thank God that believers can still access the studio and work on recordings. Pray the Lord will make a way for church planters to receive the Urdu Storytellers, and distribute them in villages affected by flooding.

“When the weather tends to rear its ugly head like this, everything’s delayed. That’s going to be a problem for us,” Yoder says.

“We’re not going to get them into the hands of group leaders and kids to share the Gospel and disciple new believers as soon as we wanted to. But, at the same time, God has His plan in place.”

Header image is an aerial photo taken during 2022 Pakistan floods. (Wikimedia Commons)

Nehemiah says the content is stored on solar-powered mp3 players. “Right now, we are in the process of editing and proofreading. That was one of the struggles we had. Because there were not many Christian children who were able to speak good Urdu. They are able to speak street Urdu.”

FMI has worked on an Urdu print Bible as well.

Nehemiah’s trip

Nehemiah will soon take a trip to visit Christians in Pakistan. He plans to visit the FMI partners, many of whom have suffered severe persecution. Nehemiah says, “Pastor Adam saw his sister and brother-in-law killed by a militant attack a few months ago.” You can read more about that story here.

The family is still on the run. Nehemiah says, “They tried to relocate them in one city. But there was another situation they had to flee from there. I am sure that meeting will be very emotional.”

“When I meet our persecuted partners and hear their stories, honestly, I get encouraged because of their faithfulness.”

Nehemiah will also take time on the trip to visit churches and partners in Kenya, near the border with Somalia.

These churches also endure stiff persecution and the risk of extremist violence. Nehemiah says, “There was a time when even Kenyans were not allowed to go there. This part of Kenya is opening up a little bit now.”

How to pray

Post-COVID air travel can be chaotic, so pray Nehemiah can catch all his flights. Pray also that his presence will be a blessing to the churches.

Nehemiah asks for prayer for his family as well. “It’s about a six-week trip. So please pray for my wife that God will grant her strength to take care of our two children.”

The header photo shows Urdu writing published in 1920, outlining the history of the Urdu language. (Photo courtesy of Русский: Лаал, ВаазFrançais : Laal, WaazEnglish: Laal, Waaz中文：拉阿尔，瓦阿兹Português: Laal, Waazالعربية: واز لالEspañol: Laal, Waaz, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

G300

That’s the inspiration for the G300 discipleship program, which can be found in the back of the Mission Cry Bible in English and Spanish. Mission Cry partners have also begun translating this content into Farsi, Urdu, and Chichewa, the most widely spoken language in Malawi.

Jason Woolford says, “My heart was to see around the world 300 people coming together and making a difference. When the world looks at these 300 people, they’ll say, ‘It must only be God, because there’s no way that these 300 are accomplishing that.’”

The G300 program teaches what it means to be a Christian, such as putting trust in Jesus and not being afraid of enemies. Woolford says, “I think it’s great because it gives not only the teacher, the preacher, the evangelists, but it also gives the individual some ownership. It gives them something to believe in, to understand that they’re a child of God.”

“As I say, my last name is not Woolford, it’s God’s son. People get a full understanding of what it is to belong to a family, to a unit.”

Want to get involved with this project? You can support Mission Cry as they send Mission Cry Bibles all around the world. They also deliver used Bibles and Christian books, and all of these books travel by shipping container. So far, Mission Cry has been given to 178 nations.

Woolford says, “But then also, pray for our brothers and sisters around the world that are so hungry for Bibles.”

Header photo courtesy of Mission Cry.