A Family Tradition
Recently I was on Twitter and one of the people I follow and who also follows me, mentioned that he uses the Voice of the Martyrs map that we send out every year in our monthly magazine. He told me he uses it as a tradition in his family and so I asked him to tell us about it. Listen to how Scott Welch teaches his kids about the persecuted church. Please leave us your comments below.
A Family Tradition by Scott Welch
Read Scott's blog - Our Sovereign Joy
When the new year rolls around, it is always accompanied with excitement and expectation. Everyone hoping that the new year will be better than the last. Resolutions are made. People say that they are going to lose weight or stop smoking or spend more time with their families. There are New Year’s traditions: eating collard greens or pork, watching football, going to parties. I have been asked by Persecution blog to tell you about a special tradition that began in my family about five years ago.
We have been long time readers of Voice of the Martyrs. I believe that it is a sin to ignore the sufferings our brothers and sisters are enduring for their faith in Jesus all over the world. VOM is one way to keep your finger on the pulse of the persecuted church. But what does this have to do with my family tradition?
Every year, VOM sends out a world prayer map. This map shows where Christianity is outlawed or severely restricted all over the world. For four years now, we have been posting this map in a prominent place in our home. Usually, it’s in our dining room. So, if you eat a meal with us, you will be made aware of persecution just by looking up at our wall. But what is really exciting to me about this tradition is its impact on our three children.
Susie, 9; Rachel, 7; and Luke, 5 have gotten used to seeing our persecution map. In fact, every December, they begin to ask when the next year’s map is going to be arriving. The moment we receive the map, all three of our kids are eager to take the old map down and hang the new one up. They immediately begin to point at the countries that are colored in, asking which countries they are. For four years now we have been able to use the map to educate our young children how believers, and other children, are treated horribly all over the world just because they love Jesus.
It brings me great joy to see how this affects my young treasures. Yes, they voice their thankfulness that we live in a country where this kind of persecution does not exist (at least not yet), but they also are inspired by those all over the world who stand up for Jesus, even when facing death. They learn that Jesus is more valuable than our lives and that He is worth dying for. They also learn to pray for those who are being imprisoned, beaten, and killed for their belief in the Savior.
It would be an understatement to say that I would encourage you not only to get VOM and their prayer map. I challenge all of you, especially if you have young children, to make a BIG DEAL out of the map. Use it to teach, use it to inspire, most of all, use it to glorify our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.