YOU’RE SENDING GOD’S WORD TO HOSTILE LANDS
Chai lives in a majority-Hindu nation where believers are often persecuted for their faith … Chai didn’t see any reason to expose herself to being ostracized for a God she didn’t really know or believe in.
But then her mother brought her a gift from church, a Book of Hope. Chai began reading the book, and she was quickly drawn into the life story of Jesus …
“I realized how important it is to give your heart to Jesus,” Chai says. “I realized Jesus is a loving God who died for my sin.”
She prayed the prayer included in the book and dedicated her life to Christ!
Today Chai happily attends church with her mother and is growing in her faith.
Your gift of God’s Word is transforming young lives, even in regions where there’s intense opposition to the Gospel. Thank you!
PRAY FOR PERSECUTED BELIEVERS
by President Rob Hoskins
Almost 6,000 Christians were martyred for their faith last year around the world; 4,650 of them were in the nation of Nigeria1 … which was removed from the U.S. State Department’s Special Watch List that tracks severe violations of religious freedom.
Hearing news like this moves us to want to save those who are being oppressed for loving Jesus. However, it’s also in these moments when our efforts can feel most futile and hopeless. How can we possibly do anything to help believers in hostile nations when even their governments are unable or unwilling to end the violence?
As I reflected on this question, God reminded me that we do not have the power to end the persecution His people are facing daily around the world on our own. Only through God and His power will anything change or improve. When He invites us into this work, we must answer.
Above all, we must pray.
Prayer activates a process of intervention through the Holy Spirit in every nation, and it’s through prayer that the underground Church around the world is growing. God is still doing something incredible in these countries, even when all we see are distressing headlines and statistics. Jesus gives His people hope in the midst of oppression.
Even if Nigeria, or any other country confronting religious persecution, isn’t at the top of the watch list, it should be at the top of our prayer list. I encourage you to take a moment to pray for our brothers and sisters around the world facing persecution today.
__________________
1Aaron Earls. (2022). “1 in 7 Global Christians Faced Persecution in 2021.” Lifeway Research. January 28. Accessed May 20, 2022. https://research.lifeway
.com/2022/01/28/1-in-7-global-christians-faced-persecution-in-2021/.
A family Transformed!
Their home had always been chaotic—
Yomali’s parents fought constantly, and sometimes there was even violence.
Then the pandemic came, and lockdowns in their home nation of the Dominican Republic made everything worse. Now 11-year-old Yomali was continually trapped at home with her angry and bitter mother and father.
Eventually, her parents split up … in some ways that made things easier, but Yomali missed her father and wanted her family to be made whole again.
Thankfully, you reached out to Yomali through the church in her neighborhood, which began a program of distributing the Book of Hope. Yomali loved it!
“From this book, I learned that God can solve anything, even my family’s problems,” Yomali said.
She asked her friends at church to pray with her, and today her parents are reconciled!
Thank you for showing Yomali the way to new life in Christ and connecting her with a loving faith community where she finds support and inspiration.
5 MILLION CHILDREN TO RECEIVE GOD’S WORD THROUGH MATTHEW AND FRIENDS
YOU CAN EMPOWER NEIGHBORS TO REACH NEIGHBORS WITH THE GOOD NEWS …
… EVEN IN LIMITED ACCESS REGIONS
Violence, discrimination, and oppression against believers, including burning churches and assaulting pastors and evangelists, in many regions of Southeast Asia make it a region of “limited access” for sharing the Good News —
Yet even in these limited access regions, OneHope has vibrant church and ministry partners dedicated to sharing Jesus with the next generation.
One of the best ways to make this possible is our Matthew and Friends program, named for the apostle Matthew who brought his friends to Jesus.
We train thousands of local believers how to use a special-edition Book of Hope in conjunction with the Superbook videos from our partners at CBN for in-home Bible Clubs.
People might be afraid to attend a church in nations where Christians are persecuted, but they are likely to go to a neighbor’s house. This is a wonderful way to reach out in limited access areas.
Children have responded enthusiastically! Already 7.5 million have been reached with the Good News through this program … and this year our partners believe they can reach another 5 million!
IN A MAJORITY-HINDU NATION, YOU SHARED THE LOVE OF JESUS WITH THEM!
Laxmi and Geeta were close in age — only one year apart. And as sisters, they went everywhere together.
When they were invited to a Christmas party in their neighborhood last year, they were excited to go!
They live in a majority-Hindu nation, and come from a non-Christian family, but they knew many Christmas traditions that have gone global. They had fun at the party, and even took home Christmas gifts: their very own copies of the Christmas-edition Book of Hope.
They’re young teenagers, 13 and 14. They didn’t read their books right away … and even forgot about them … until their father died, and they felt heartbroken and alone. Sad and searching for solace, they opened their books.
“We read a story that talks about children coming to Jesus, and Geeta and I really wanted to come to Him, too,” Laxmi said. They read on and found that they could pray to meet Jesus and make Him Lord of their life, so they did!
“From then on I never felt lonely,” Laxmi says. “I found comfort and confidence, and now we encourage our family members as well.”
Thank you for being there with God’s Word, hope, and comfort for these sisters!
FOUNDATIONS FOR FARMING SCRIPTURE PROGRAM SHARES GOD’S WORD — AND HELPS FEED A VILLAGE!
Her family needed food.
Lieketseng lives with her grandmother, sister, two aunts, and two infant cousins. Theirs is a large family to provide for in an impoverished village of the African nation of Lesotho, especially amidst the hardships and deprivation of the pandemic.
Although there were nearby farms, Lieketseng and her family didn’t have any land to work, so she had never considered agriculture as an option for them … until you sent the Foundations for Farming program. It’s a Scripture engagement program with an added focus on principles for growing crops.
Lieketseng and the other girls from her Bible study group were aided by volunteers from their village in planting crops in two uncultivated fields …
“We did our demonstration exactly as we were taught in the Foundations for Farming program to plant maize and beans,” she said.
“We saw other farmers doing their planting with heavy machinery … and toward winter we were shocked by the harvest from our fields! It surpassed those who used tractors and plows.”
The girls’ harvest yielded enough for each of them to take home food for their families — and now Lieketseng is using the little bit of land at home to grow vegetables according to the Foundations for Farming directions.
“Not only are we physically fed, but I’ve grown spiritually as well,” Lieketseng says. “I’ve seen God’s faithfulness, and it gives me hope that my family will survive all of life’s challenges.”
Thank you for providing hope for Lieketseng and her family!
NATION BY NATION
VENEZUELA — ABANDONED AND HOPELESS … BY AGE 8
Dyami’s mother disappeared from his life when he was just 8 years old. She left him and his sister with their grandparents and immigrated to another country to find work. Dyami felt abandoned — and angry!
His grandparents worked hard to provide for him and his sister but didn’t have the energy to manage a young boy whose behavior was disruptive and aggressive. Dyami ended up spending a lot of his time skipping school and roaming the streets.
But then he received the Bible App for Kids Book of Hope from the local church and began attending a Kids Club in his neighborhood. He learned about the love of a Savior who would never abandon him, and he chose to follow Jesus!
Today Dyami’s grandparents see a big change in his behavior, and he’s also taking his sister to Kids Club with him so she can learn about Jesus, too.
PERU
Lead Today is impacting young lives in Peru! Says one program coordinator: “I am very grateful to God and OneHope for the changes I have seen in our students, from starting out as shy, insecure, quiet kids to being bold, communicative, participatory, and with their faith stronger. Only God can work that way in their lives. My teenagers are all asking for a continuation of the course!”
COLOMBIA
Juliana was devastated when her grandparents died, especially because her father works long hours and is rarely home with her … Her grandma and grandpa were practically raising her. But the Book of Hope gave her comfort and peace as she discovered the love of a heavenly Father who is always watching over her.
God’s Word. Every Child.
YOU OFFERED HOPE IN THE MIDST OF HOPELESSNESS
Everything had gone wrong for Anish and his family.
They were orthodox Hindus and had tried to please the gods … but they came from a severely impoverished region of their majority-Hindu nation in Southern Asia … and it was a struggle to put food on the table.
Anish’s father decided he must go to a bigger city to find work — but he wouldn’t go without his family, as some people did, so Anish and his three siblings were uprooted and moved from their more rural area to a bustling city …
It was 2019. For a few months, Anish’s dad was able to work, and the family was able to eat — but then the pandemic struck. Now they were locked down, a family of six, with no money and no food.
As the eldest son, Anish felt an urgent need to help provide for the family … so as soon as he could escape lockdown, he began working for a local food service … whose owner happened to be a Christian. His boss invited him to a home fellowship where he received the Book of Hope and learned about Jesus.
Anish chose to dedicate his life to Christ, and just last November he was baptized!
He’s a joyful young man who still attends the home fellowship and loves to tell others about Jesus.
Thank you for sending God’s Word to transform his life.
