Valentine’s Day is celebrated every year on February 14. But why? Many buy cards and candied hearts and do not know there was a man named Valentine. Who was the man behind this holiday that has become known for cupid, chocolate, roses, and love notes saying, “Be my Valentine?”
Use this lesson plan as guide for introducing children in small groups to the concept of persecution.
Objectives for This Lesson
Students will learn the meaning of persecution. They will learn that people in some other lands are not free to pray, read the Bible, go to church, or tell others about Jesus.
Question: What can kids do now to prepare to serve the Lord as adults?
Answer: Read, read, read! Read your Bible. Read good books. Read the news. You can learn so much about God and the world without even leaving your home.
Question: How many children do you have?
Answer: I have three children, ages 13, 11, and 9; girl boy girl.
Question: What would you like kids in America to know about persecuted Christians?
Answer: I would want them to understand that persecuted Christians are not super Christians, but are ordinary people who through God’s grace and power have been enabled to do extraordinary things. We serve the same God and have access to the same grace and power. (See James 5:17.)
Question: What have you learned from persecuted Christians?
Answer: True joy does not depend on circumstances.
Question: What is the scariest situation you have encountered in another country?
Answer: I was caught in the middle of a coup in Southeast Asia and had a soldier wave an AK-47 in my face and fire shots over my head.
[A coup [pronounced “coo”] is a sudden takeover of a government. An AK-47 is a kind of rifle.]
Question: Should we feel guilty when we hear stories about persecuted Christians?
Answer: Absolutely not. Jesus says those who are persecuted are blessed! We should thank God for their bold witness and pray that we might be bold too.
A mosque where Muslims worship
From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?”
But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” — John 6:66–69.
Netta and her family were Christians in a Muslim country. It can be difficult to be a Christian in a place where Muslims often get better jobs and are treated well. Sometimes people who were raised in Christian families are tempted to leave their family’s faith and become Muslims.
Netta loved Jesus and loved going to church. But when she was 9 years old, the rest of her family became Muslims. Netta would not join them. Her father even offered her money if she would agree to be a Muslim. Netta did not take the money.
By the time she was 12, Netta’s father had kicked her out of the house. She babysat for other families in return for a place to stay.
Netta is now married. She has never had children and is praying for a child. She witnesses to Muslim women and tells them about the goodness of Jesus. Christians around the world are praying that she will be a good witness and that Muslim women will come to love Jesus like Netta does.
(To protect their identities, the names of some of the people on this website and some identifying details have been changed.)
Betty as a teenager
Nine-year-old Betty and her little brother lived with their parents in a small Colombian village. Their father was a pastor, and the people of the village loved him. He helped them find ways to meet their daily needs as well as their need for a Savior.
Paramilitary soldiers did not want Christian pastors to be leaders in their community. They wanted all the power, and they wanted the people to respect only them. They warned Betty’s father to stop helping the villagers.
(Paramilitaries are people fighting to keep power away from guerrillas in Colombia. Guerrillas carry out acts of war even though they are not part of the regular army. Both guerrillas and paramilitaries are outside the law. The Colombian army fights against both groups.)
Betty’s father wanted to do the will of God rather than the will of the paramilitaries. He continued to do his job.
Two weeks after the paramilitaries warned him to stop, three men dressed in black came to Betty’s door. They said they had “a few questions” to ask her father, and he left with them. He never came back. The paramilitary men shot him and he died.
