Earlier this week we wrote about some of the wonderful things happening in our Kids of Courage ministry... one of my personal favorite ministries of VOM, and today I was informed about a blog post that I just have to share with you because it's someone who is teaching their child about the persecuted church. This is very cool.
The blog is called Explore and Express: Thoughts about children's spirituality, Godly Play and art education, and it is written from Berlin, Germany. In the post we want to share with you, Leann is a guest who is posting on the blog. The blog belongs to Sheila, so if you look at who posted the entry, you'll see Sheila's name, not Leann.
Leann shares in her post about how she is teaching her son how to pray using an interactive chart. There are two sentences that her child has to focus on, so that he can pray. I pray for____ and I am thankful for _________. A great lesson for all of us!
Leann mentions the following about how she has taught her son to use the chart and what she offers for resources.
At the bottom, he’s placed that he’s thankful for two of his cousins, as well as a printable about a persecuted people group in Central America (this is usually located under the “I pray for…” section and not the “I am thankful for…” section).
When I first began this chart, I was seeking additional resources that could complement it. Here are a few of our favorites:
- We Choose Virtues clue cards
- Character trait printables found here (I print 6 to a page)
- I’ve been eyeing these prayer cards for a while, from Prayer Products
- scripture memory cards – your own memory work or print a set of ABC scripture cards
- unreached people group cards
- prayer calendar for persecuted Christians, found within the activity books from Voice of the Martyrs/Kids of Courage
I love that this interactive prayer chart allows my son to have the freedom to choose what he’d like to pray for. It is teaching him to have compassion and gratitude, by reminding him to be thankful besides being earnest. Most importantly, it’s building a foundation of coming to the Father with an open heart about any problem, situation, or care – and, in my eyes, there’s nothing else more important to teach him.
As you can see, the prayer calendar for the persecuted Christians is one of the Kids of Courage activity books. Her son prayed for Chiapas that day. Pretty cool, and I'm pretty sure that this mother is going to have her son rise up and call her blessed.