Kids of Courage

A VOM worker boarded a plane to go to a place where Christians need encouragement. The worker, Jonathan, has served God as a pastor and missionary.

Jonathan sat down next to a lady from China. The government gives Christians a hard time in some parts of China. But thousands of people are turning to Jesus. After you read Jonathan’s story, you may understand how so many people are hearing the gospel.

Before the plane even left the ground, the lady turned to Jonathan and asked, “Do you know Jesus?” Jonathan told her that he did know Jesus, and she asked, “Are you a real Christian?” Then she asked him about his Bible reading habits and his prayer time, and if he shared the gospel with others.

When the lady was finished with Jonathan, she turned to the passenger on the other side of her. After she talked with the man for a few minutes, she said to Jonathan quietly, “You should pray for him because he doesn’t want to hear about Jesus.”

Jonathan realized that the lady’s husband was sitting in another row. “Would you like me to switch seats with your husband so you can sit with him?” Jonathan asked her.

The lady politely refused his offer. Then Jonathan realized that her husband was sharing about Jesus with the passengers around him. If he sat next to his wife, they would have fewer people to talk to.

To Talk About
• China has more than one billion people. About eight percent of them are Christians. Eight percent of a billion is 80,000,000 (80 million). If only 10 percent of 80 million Christians shared the gospel with one person this year, how many people would hear the gospel?

• If everyone in your class or family told one person about Jesus every month for a year, how many people would hear about Jesus during that year?

• The Chinese lady asked Jonathan, “Do you know Jesus?” If Jonathan had said no, what do you think she would have said to him next? What would you say to someone who told you that they did not know Jesus?

• Jonathan said, “I grew up in the church here in the states and for a long time I said no one has ever shared the gospel with me outside of a church building. I have never had anyone come up to me on the street and ask me if I knew Jesus or anything.” Why do you think no one in the United States had witnessed to Jonathan, but someone from China had asked him if he knew Jesus?