Four children are a far cry from the forty we typically welcome the first Sunday of the school year. But we still had Kindergarten Bible school this past Sunday—not play time, not childcare, but real live Bible school, masks and all.

We made a cotton ball sheep craft, searched for lost coins, watched the Gospel Project’s story of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. We had some help from Fred the sheep in retelling the story, sang a song and and started telling the missions story about a boy in a land with no Bible. The only thing missing was the Goldfish crackers.

On Friday, we came full circle to a different reality.

Glenn Deckert, who serves with his wife, Ann, Lorraine and me in organizing the Friday prayer meeting for the persecuted church, began his prayer sheet this week with some jarring prayer requests.

1. Children in war-torn lands like Syria and Yemen or those of displaced families as in Nigeria and Burkina Faso who have missed years of schooling as they have had to move from place to place.

2. Children in places where they are forbidden to have religious education of any kind as in China and Tajikistan.

3. Children who have lost one or both parents as in Syria and Mali, and those who have lost limbs or eyesight from bombings and devastating Islamic attacks.

4. Those who as early teenage girls have been kidnapped, forcefully converted to Islam, and sexually abused and/or married to much older Islamic men, as in Pakistan, Egypt, and Nigeria.

These requests for children hit hard as I read through them and kept seeing the faces of the children we had the joy of teaching for the first Sunday since March 8.

In the King James Version, Luke 18:16 reads, “Jesus said ‘Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for such is the kingdom of God.’”

Suffer little children. No, Lord, we don’t want little children to suffer these atrocities. Suffer, no, Lord, we don’t want anyone to hinder these little ones from coming to you.

And then another dimension of this hits me with new force in an email from one of our persecution-focused ministries. They reported:

Boko Haram Is Recruiting Young Children in New Drive

09/15/20 Nigeria (ICC) Boko Haram continues to plague Nigeria and the Lake Chad region with extremism and violence. Recent research has shown that the group is increasing its efforts to recruit children. They recruit younger children to act as suicide bombers, and older children, many of whom are already victims of the group’s violence, as soldiers or suicide bombers.

HOW TO PRAY

• Pray for protection for vulnerable children in this region.

• Pray for Boko Haram leaders to come to know Christ.

• Pray for protection for local Christian communities from attacks.

Horrifying. But the prayer request for Boko Haram leaders to come to know Christ is worth taking seriously. Imagine all those lost sons in Nigeria running into the Father's open arms, repenting and receiving forgiveness. And as we pray for this kind of faith and repentance, why limit our prayers only to Boko Haram?

Let us pray for China and its President Xi Jin Ping and North Korea and Kim Jong-un and his sister Kim You Jong.

Let’s pray, too, for the Christian families in places like China and Tajikistan, who face the dilemma and challenge of teaching their own children about Jesus and being charged with a crime.

As contentious and difficult as our pandemic situation is, our children are free to come to our church and learn about Jesus. We are free as Kids’ Harbor leaders to teach them about Jesus. Parents can point their children toward Jesus. It’s rough going for us with school options this season, but we were free to teach our children the glorious truths of Scripture last Sunday. And with that, there is much joy. (Parents, we're ready for your kids! In eight days, all grades open up.)

As we enjoy the freedom to openly teach our own children at College Church, let us give thanks to God for each one of the little hearts for theirs is the kingdom of God. And not our kids only, but the hearts of children facing so many different challenges across the globe.

Jesus is not far from any of this. He had words of woe for those who do harm to the little ones. KJV "suffer" means allow them, don't forbid them; yes, children, come, come. Good Shepherd love—a harbor, a refuge, a light for every child in every country.

“Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

Pray with me. May revival come soon. Yes, Jesus loves them.