An Israeli defense spokesperson emphasized Al Shifa Hospital is not under siege and reminded the world that Hamas still has 239 Israeli hostages.

Meanwhile, missile sirens continue to sound every day in Israel. Over 9,500 rockets have been fired on Israel from both Hamas in the south and Hezbollah in the north since the war began.

Victor Kalisher of the Bible Society in Israel says Israelis are grappling with collective, generational trauma. “When someone has been through a trauma, everything that reminds you of that brings you back to the situation that you remember.

The Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington D.C., USA. (Photo courtesy of Tatiana Rodriguez/Unsplash)

“In our collective historic memory, we have the Holocaust. We have a lot of disasters. You know we celebrate Purim. It’s the story of Haman. And [then] Pharaoh. It is part of our identity. It’s not something foreign. It’s not a story about someone far. It is our story. We teach it to our children, we celebrate it every year, and we feel that it is the same thing. It happened to us again, and we are shocked.

“It’s the same demons that can chop heads off children, burn them, rape women and girls, and things that you cannot imagine…just unbelievable.”

Churches are asking the Bible Society in Israel specifically for biblical resources for traumatized kids and teens.

“We share resources for children and youth because they go through very difficult times. For children to go in this time, they have a lot of questions, they are afraid, the rockets are falling everywhere, the sirens are every day, and many of them are very scared obviously,” says Kalisher.

Messianic Hebrew resources for youth are limited. Over the last few years, the Bible Society in Israel has produced children’s books and resources in Hebrew that tell Bible stories, communicate Christian values, and engage kids at different stages.

(Image courtesy of the Bible Society in Israel)

You can support the Bible Society in Israel here as they develop more biblical resources in Hebrew for kids.

“We want to help them, to encourage them so that this time will not just be a time where they sit in front of the TV watching and scared and so on, but that they use it in a positive way and grow spiritually.”

Kalisher asks, “Pray that the Church will seek the truth biblically of what is happening and what should be the response of the Church…. We need to really seek the face of God. What is our role in this plan of salvation of yours, God? Because it affects every one of us.”

Header photo of Western Wall, Jerusalem, Israel. (Photo courtesy of Bruno Aguirre/Unsplash)

“We think we’ll [help] churches reach more than 75,000 kids this year!” says Mock.

Through the Immanuel’s Child program, SGA and partnering churches bring the hope of Christ to kids in Russia and the surrounding countries at Christmastime (also known as the former Soviet Union).

(Photo courtesy of SGA)

Mock says, “We talk about gifts; we talk about everything else. But if we’re not proclaiming the Gospel, it is not Christmas.”

For just $25, each kid getting an Immanuel’s Child gift will receive:

• A Star of Bethlehem ornament
• Christian children’s literature
• A special gift from local church workers

The program’s reach also extends beyond the Christmas season. “There are many Christian organizations wanting to do outreach during Christmas, that’s fantastic. But the work of the Church never stops at Christmas. Immanuel’s Child is equipping the Church for year-round discipleship.”

Through Immanuel’s Child, church partners receive the resources they need for year-round children’s ministry.

“We’re providing them with a Bible as well as Sunday school materials. They (SGA-partnering churches) take about $1 out of every one of the gifts [to] purchase chocolates during Easter, and they try to reach them (kids) during Easter.”

Help SGA reach entire families for Jesus this Christmas! Give here to Immanuel’s Child.

Children receive Bibles like this one in each Christmas gift. (Photo courtesy of SGA)

“About 20 percent of the parents come to faith in Christ during this outreach or get involved with the church and come to faith later. The structure of the program is amazing; I really invite your listeners to be a part of this.”

Header photo courtesy of SGA.

Greg Yoder with Christian World Outreach (CWO) says, “In Burkina with all that’s going on as far as different villages being attacked and things like that, it’s not safe for the kids to go to school. So we know they are closing.”

Village of Opportunity graduation in Burkina Faso 2023. (Photo courtesy of Christian World Outreach)

CWO is determined to keep their Village of Opportunity open in Burkina Faso, offering vocational training to female students.

“We teach sewing, cosmetology, and we started culinary classes. Actually, [we are] in the middle of a building project to build a kitchen classroom so we can even reach more young ladies.”

All the education is in a Gospel context, helping students grow in their faith or learn about Christ.

The next school session starts in October, and CWO is raising funds to build an activity center at the Village of Opportunity.

“What that would be is a place where we can have activities for our own young ladies at the Village of Opportunity,” says Yoder. “But [we could] also rent it out, which would raise some funds in-country to help the school become a little more self-sustaining.”

Your gift to CWO goes a long way for educational ministry in Burkina Faso. Support CWO’s Burkina Faso ministry here!

Cooking school at CWO’s Village of Opportunity in Burkina Faso. (Photo courtesy of Christian World Outreach)

Yoder says, “We’re just excited about what’s going on in Burkina and how God is working in spite of the issues that are going on with the government and with the insecurity there.”

Header photo of kindergarten schoolchildren in Burkina Faso, courtesy of RobertoVi/Pixabay.

David Durance with TeachBeyond says, “Our concern is for this next generation. How is this next generation going to be raised? And is this going to be now a long-lasting place of instability?”

Schooling across the Sahel in particular has taken a hit with widespread unrest, and it’s kids who pay the price.

(Photo courtesy of TeachBeyond)

Durance says, “The unknown part of this is just how long this would take to resume services and bring some sort of normalcy. As we’ve seen elsewhere, it can stretch from all being one week to now weeks to months, and then kids will have missed a whole year of education. And how do we pick up after that? It’s always a huge challenge.

“I think that’s the big difference between natural disasters where you can quite quickly say, ‘All right, in a month, we’re going to be able to resume.’ When you have a coup, when you have uprisings, when you have unrest, we just don’t know.”

When they’re out of school, children are susceptible to recruitment by extremist groups and traffickers.

TeachBeyond supports displaced children wherever they can across the Sahel with Gospel-based education.

“The second is looking at working with these kids that have come out of these environments and recognizing that sticking them inside a regular classroom with regular teaching is not going to be effective. We need to deal with the issues that have happened – so thinking through trauma-informed education.”

Pray for these kids to learn to love God with all their minds and hearts! And pray also for stability and wise, godly leaders in the Sahel region.

Header photo courtesy of TeachBeyond.

We spoke with Heart For Lebanon’s Elio Constantine: “I would say that the biggest driving force for youth and anyone to leave Lebanon right now is the limited economic opportunities for them to make a decent living without being in debt, for them to be able to find a better future, better education for their kids, [and] better opportunities to prosper.”

(Photo courtesy of Heart For Lebanon)

Lebanon’s poverty rate has nearly doubled since 2019. Four years ago, 42% of the Lebanese population lived below the poverty line. Today, the national poverty rate is over 80%.

This also means most Lebanese families and young people can’t afford to leave the country, even if they wanted to. For those who stay, Heart For Lebanon connects with kids and teens through various educational and Gospel programs.

“Most of these children that we work with and help, their families do not have the opportunity to leave Lebanon,” says Constantine. “Most of them do not have the opportunity to take a vacation inside Lebanon. So getting a plane ticket or visa to leave the country is almost impossible for them.”

Pray for young people in Lebanon to find joy and hope in Christ that goes beyond their circumstances. Please also pray encouragement for the Church in Lebanon serving as the hands and feet of Jesus, even amidst their own struggles. Ask the Lord to be their comfort and strength.

(Photo courtesy of Heart For Lebanon)

Constantine says, “We give them a message of hope in a place where they think they have no hope at all, and if you grow up — wherever you go, if you stay in Lebanon or leave — have that message of hope stay with you forever.”

Learn more about Heart For Lebanon here.

Header photo courtesy of Heart For Lebanon.

The death toll is rising at an agonizing pace. Just over 110 people are confirmed dead, but roughly 1,000 people are still missing according to Hawaii Governor Josh Green. Less than half the burned region has been searched so far.

In a community grappling with grief, Child Evangelism Fellowship is ready to support families with their booklet for kids called “Do You Wonder Why?”.

Do You Wonder Why?, booklet by CEF. (Photo courtesy of Child Evangelism Fellowship)

CEF’s Matt Walton says, “It’s specifically to help children who are going through natural disasters or traumatic events that have those questions about, ‘Where is God in this? Why did God allow my house to be destroyed or loved ones to lose their life?’ So it deals with very, very difficult topics from a biblical perspective, but it gives clear answers and hope for kids who are dealing with this stuff.”

At this time, Maui is discouraging too many organizations and volunteers from coming and overwhelming the island. Instead, CEF wants to empower local Maui believers to be the hands and feet of Christ with these booklets.

“What we’ve offered is to purchase and ship those [booklets] to individuals and churches that have the manpower or the ability to connect with people who are directly affected by this,” says Walton.

Please pray for the children of Maui – and all Hawaiians – to fix their eyes on Jesus for comfort and hope.

Walton asks, “Pray that God opens doors for hope conversations about the Gospel for those that don’t know about Jesus. For those in those communities that God put there long before this ever happened, give them opportunity to share the light and the hope that comes from only having a faith in Jesus Christ.”

You can support CEF’s ministry here and have an eternal impact in Maui.

Header photo courtesy of wildfire devastation in Maui. (Photo courtesy of Hawaii National Guard/Flick: https://rb.gy/miqwz)

Lebanon is host to roughly 1.5 million Syrian refugees. When COVID-19 shut down schools, many refugee children didn’t have internet access. So remote learning wasn’t an option.

Then, with Lebanon’s economic collapse, many Syrian parents kept their sons out of school to work.

“But for girls, it’s premature marriage” that pulls them out of school, according to Nuna* with Triumphant Mercy Lebanon.

“The father wants to have his daughter settled somewhere so they find a cousin, they find somebody that is related to them that can marry the girl and then she can still be in the family and, at the same time, be married.”

One-fifth of Syrian teenage girls in Lebanon today are in child marriages.

(Photo courtesy of Triumphany Mercy Lebanon)

Along with environment factors, cultural and religious expectations also play a significant role in the Syrian Muslim community, leading to teen girls getting married young.

Triumphant Mercy Lebanon provides education to Syrian refugee kids. Nuna shares one story of a Syrian teen girl who was recently getting ready to sit for exams.

“Her father said, ‘No, I don’t want her to go present her exams. I want her to get married and be planning for her marriage.’ We tried everything. We went and we visited and we sent teachers. We tried to talk sense into them. ‘At least let her go present her exams and come back, and then she can get married.’ But no.”

Without a full education, these girls are not prepared to provide for themselves or their children if their husband dies or abandons them. It also impacts literacy rates and their ability to engage in society or read the Bible for themselves.

Pray for Syrian girls to know their value in God’s eyes and have relationships with Jesus Christ. Ask the Lord to help refugee parents value education for their children and keep them in school.

Nuna says, “If they come to Jesus, if they get to know Jesus, He mends their hearts and He shows them the value of each person.”

Header photo courtesy of Triumphant Mercy Lebanon.

*Full name withheld for security.

After being denied access to the school to promote Good News Clubs®, CEF filed a lawsuit against the district and the superintendent for violating free speech and equal-protections rights. CEF’s goal was to regain access to the school property to minister to the children in need of the Gospel message.

“For years, CEF staff and volunteers haven’t been able to reach the children in this school district with the Gospel,” said CEF Executive Vice President Moises Esteves. “Every single year, children left these schools without the opportunity to experience God’s truth through our Good News Clubs. However, we are thrilled to reenter these schools and set up our programs once more, offering thousands of kids a chance to learn about God’s powerful love.”

Elementary school children (Photo courtesy of CDC/Unsplash)

The school district previously allowed CEF Rhode Island to run a Good News Club at the elementary school for the 2019–2020 school year before COVID caused the cancelation of all clubs in Spring 2020. When CEF Rhode Island requested to resume the Good News Club, as well as start a new club at another local elementary school in the district for the 2021–2022 school year, district officials failed to respond to repeated facilities use applications by CEF Rhode Island. For nearly two years, the district continued to block CEF Rhode Island from hosting its elementary school Good News Clubs on district school facilities. However, other organizations such as Boys and Girls Clubs, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Girls on the Run were given free use of school facilities for after school programs.

“CEF Good News Clubs positively impact the lives of children and their families,” said Esteves. “Millions of children around the world have found the saving grace of the Gospel through our Good News Clubs, then brought these lessons home to impact their families.”

At Good News Clubs, teachers who are screened and equipped lead action-packed gatherings every week, delivering timeless truths of the Bible in exciting, engaging ways. Good News Clubs do not charge a fee and welcome children with written permission from parents. There are currently more than 2,500 Good News Clubs in 1,660 schools across the United States, including in other Rhode Island school districts.

“Children need the Gospel now more than ever before. In a world filled with such darkness, many find the light of Christ to be the first experience of hope and love they’ve ever had,” said Esteves.

(Photo courtesy of Child Evangelism Fellowship)

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “This is a great victory for Child Evangelism Fellowship and the students and parents of the Providence School District. Public schools cannot discriminate against Christian viewpoints regarding use of school facilities. Child Evangelism Fellowship gives children a biblically based education that includes moral and character development. Good News Clubs should be in every public elementary school.”

Child Evangelism Fellowship, which was founded 86 years ago, has been establishing Good News Clubs® in countries around the world for decades. Clubs are thriving worldwide, in countries including Australia, Cambodia, Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Uganda.

Last year, through CEF’s combined ministries, more than 19.5 million children worldwide heard the Good News. In 2022, more than 439,000 teachers were trained around the world.

For more CEF news, see the ministry’s latest edition of the online magazine Impact.

Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) is an international, nonprofit, Christian ministry that has been dedicated to seeing every child reached with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, discipled and established in a local church since 1937. CEF is located in all 50 American states and in most countries around the world, with over 3,500 paid staff and tens of thousands of volunteers around the world.

Header photo courtesy of Joe Gratz/Flickr.

ECM’s Lorella Rouster says, “We got started in this just last year when we realized that many of the unreached people groups of the world are the Deaf communities.”

(Photo courtesy of Every Child Ministries)

Before ECM launched their new Deaf outreach, all Gospel ministry to the Deaf in DR Congo was in the East. Western DR Congo, however, had no ongoing ministry presence to the Deaf.

One of the biggest needs ECM discovered in western DR Congo is many Deaf children in hearing families don’t have the chance to learn sign language.

“They really don’t have any way to communicate with anybody,” Rouster says. “They don’t understand anything in church, they don’t understand sign language without being taught it or having the experience with others who know it, anything on television, anything on radio — they’re cut off from everything.

“We have been trying to get some children into the special Deaf school where they can learn sign language, and therefore they can be exposed to the Gospel as well as having the opportunity just to make a decent life for themselves.”

You can sponsor a Deaf child in the DR Congo with ECM and give them the opportunity to know God’s love for themselves!

Click here for ECM’s child sponsorships.

Please pray for Deaf children and their families in DR Congo to embrace relationships with Jesus Christ and, in turn, minister to other Deaf individuals in their community!

Header photo courtesy of Every Child Ministries.

In the report, the commission also recommends the U.S. State Department continue to designate Russia as a Country of Particular Concern.

Eric Mock with Slavic Gospel Association says, “With the war beginning, there’s a clear delineation. You’re either for the war and for Russia, for the country, or you’re against it.”

The Church in rural Russia is helping vulnerable people and embodying the reign of Christ on earth. (Photo courtesy of Сергей Горбачев from Pixabay)

In some cases, Christians in Russia have been arrested, but it has more to do with their speech against the war in Ukraine and less with their faith denomination.

However, some Christian denominations outside the Russian Orthodox Church are being specifically targeted for being perceived as “Western influence.”

Mock explains, “You have a situation where, in the midst of this war, Western forms of Christianity as they would deem it is bad for the country in general. So I don’t think we can talk about religious freedom apart from the growing forms of nationalism.

“Rather than it being actually a persecution of those who claim Christ, we have to recognize some of the actions are more a function of nationalism than a theological position or a rejection of Christ as Lord.”

Yet, Mock reminds that what happens at the national level doesn’t always tell the story of what’s happening in a local sense. In faithful, Bible-believing churches all across Russia, believers continue to share the Gospel.

Summer camp for kids. (Photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association)

“All across Russia right now, they’re having absolutely amazing summer camps…. While we talk about different religious freedoms, SGA is targeting as many as 75,000 kids to come to these Russian, Belarussian, Ukrainian (and all the countries we serve) Baptist churches that are proclaiming the Gospel.”

If you want to provide biblical encouragement to families in Russia, you can support SGA’s summer camp ministry here!

Pray for Russians to know truth in Christ.

Header photo courtesy of Random Institute/Unsplash.