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Learning to Forgive

Published on June 5th, 2020

The Philippines

Eighteen years ago this Sunday, missionary pilot Martin Burnham died in a gun battle. The battle was between men who had kidnapped him, and soldiers who were trying to rescue him, his wife, Gracia, and other hostages.

Read the following story about the Burnhams from the Kids of Courage archives.

Gracia Burnham was angry. A gang of violent Muslims had kidnapped her. Gracia did not even like to go camping. But the group forced Gracia and her husband Martin to live with them in the jungle. The jungle had no beds, bathrooms, stores, or air conditioning.

Gracia and Martin were missionaries in the Philippines. Before the men kidnapped them, Gracia homeschooled their three kids: Mindy, Zach, and Jeff. Martin, a pilot, flew mail and supplies to other missionaries in hard-to-reach places.

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Colombia Lesson Plan: Sticking to the Task

Published on June 4th, 2020

Objectives
Students will learn the meaning of perseverance. They will learn that God can help Christians overcome obstacles which threaten to get in the way of following His will.

Introduction
Explain: In some countries, Christians are forced away from their homes and villages because they follow Jesus. The Christians become refugees. Refugees are people who flee from an unsafe place to a safer place. But sometimes the refugee camps where they go are not very nice or comfortable.

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Ling Gets a Bible

Published on March 16th, 2020

BibleA handwritten Chinese Bible

Ling left her home in China at the age of 17. She believed that God had called her to share the message of Jesus with people in the villages of China. When she left home, she had no food, very little money, and no Bible.

Few people in the region where she lived had Bibles. Some people borrowed Bibles and copied verses from them by hand or memorized the verses. The few Bibles available had been smuggled into the area at great risk to the smugglers.

Ling walked from village to village telling people about Jesus. Sometimes she met someone who owned a Bible. She memorized verses from their Bible to share in the next village. Ling prayed that God would provide her with a Bible of her own.

One day, Ling heard about a woman four miles away who had some Bibles. The Bibles had been smuggled to China by missionaries. Ling hurried to find the woman. “No!” said the woman when Ling asked her for a Bible. “These Bibles are very valuable. How do I know you are even a Christian?”

Ling pleaded with the woman. Finally the woman said she would give Ling a Bible if Ling could say the Lord’s Prayer without making any mistakes. Ling went to another village to visit a man with a Bible. The man had copied his entire Bible by hand. His hands were bent from the thousands of hours he spent copying the treasured words.

Ling memorized the Lord’s Prayer from the handwritten Bible and returned to the woman’s house. The woman gave Ling a Bible! She told Ling that some Christians had died getting the precious books to Chinese Christians.

To Try: Copy a paragraph from the Bible. How hard would it be to copy the entire Bible?

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China: Willing to Serve

Published on March 6th, 2020

China

Gladys Aylward, a British teenager, liked to go to wild parties. She dreamed of becoming an actress. But her plans and habits changed when she accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior.

As Gladys grew in her Christian walk, she was saddened by the fact that millions of people in the world had never heard of Jesus. She believed that God was calling her to share the good news of the gospel with people in China.

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Escape from Kidnappers

Published on January 24th, 2020

A Pakistani girlA Pakistani girl

The following story about Parveen, a girl in Pakistan, is from the Kids of Courage archives.

“I am 13 years old, and I live in Pakistan. My name is Parveen.

“My father believes in Jesus. But when I was a year old, my mother left my father, became a Muslim, and married a Muslim man. My father remarried, and now I have a stepmother.

“I go to a Christian boarding school in a large city. In the evenings, a pastor’s wife prays with us. She told us that Jesus sacrificed for us because he loves us. I started studying the Bible every day. After that I decided to follow Christ and got baptized. I was very happy.

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