From HOME to ROME:
Paul & the Underground Church Mission Project

Operation Kid-To-Kid

Meet Ehab.  Ehab is 10 years old.  His family lives in a village set deep in an impoverished rural area of the Middle East.  And while Ehab and his family live on the brink of poverty, he considers himself the richest boy in his village.  Ehab has a treasure… one he keeps tucked beneath his straw mattress. 

It’s not a Bible.  Owning one would be an invitation to his radical neighbors to “purify” him and his family of their religious beliefs.  To be caught reading a Bible wouldn’t do – but hidden beneath his mattress is a short stack of My Monthly Bible Reader magazines, simple “comic books” that fly beneath his village’s disapproving glare. 

You see, Ehab is a Christian – as is his entire family. 

They’re the underground church. 

During Rome VBS, we’ll visit an “underground church.”  We’ll share with those first-century believers what the Apostle Paul taught and what we experience in the Roman Marketplace.  We’ll offer much-needed encouragement. 

Through Operation Kid-to-Kid, we’ll do precisely that for real – and give children like Ehab a powerful opportunity to grow in their faith. 

Throughout the Middle East and North Africa, the International Bible Society works through ministry partners to distribute issues of My Monthly Bible Reader to thousands of children.  The books are illustrated – much like comic books. 

But unlike comics, the contents are life-changing.  The Bible Readers share the Gospel and help children grow in their Christian faith.

In some areas, Bible Readers are distributed each month without any interference.  Children line up to receive the Bible Readers and race home to read them. 

But in areas like where Ehab lives – the rural, impoverished villages so heavily recruited by al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups – books are passed out quietly.  To be caught distributing them would prompt powerful persecution. 

The only way to get Bible Readers to kids in areas like Ehab’s is to work through the International Bible Society’s network of ministries and churches.  So, we’re asking you to help us collect money to make Bible Readers available to children that want to learn about Jesus.  With most doors to sharing about Jesus firmly shut, it comes down to this:  children must tell their friends about Jesus.  These monthly Bible Readers are a perfect tool to help that happen. 

For every $4.00 we collect, we can give one child an annual subscription to Bible Readers.  And to make it interesting, we’re going to have a contest like we did for Rainforest Adventure.  Only this time we’re going to see how many annual subscriptions the boys can donate, and how many annual subscriptions the girls can donate!  After all, part of our ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is to share the good news about Jesus to people all over the world! 

To check out more information on this mission, click either of these programs below:

Operation Kid-To-Kid                         My Monthly Bible Reader