Keeping Honduran children from gang life through the gospel

Honduras is said to have one of the highest murder rates in the world.

Accoridng to Reuters, about 200 have had to flee from cities like San Pedro Sula in a month’s time earlier this year.

The violence stems from the “maras” (organized criminal gangs), which are related to drugs and organized crime. Sadly, children are often drawn into the violence, one way or another.

World Missionary Press provides gospel literature in hundreds of languages for organizations and individuals around the world.

25, 000 CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE REACHED IN HONDURAS

One of its main distributors in Honduras is addressing these social issues with two very important tools: education and the Gospel. A branch of their ministry called Children’s Gift Ministry is reaching out to children specifically.

Helen Williams of World Missionary Press said that they received a call from this distributor, with a testimony of how the last shipment of booklets was helping their network of pastors.

“‘Because of what you sent us, we were able to evangelize more than 25,000 children and young people in this particular area”, she explained.

One pastor, for example, hands out the booklets with coloured teddy bears called “faith bears”. These are separated by colors to tell the story of salvation.

The booklets and the bears work together to help children understand the Gospel.

“If you reach these children, you have a chance to change a culture and change a community, and change a nation. And that’s what the Spirit can do through His Word”, Williams said.

“BACK TO CLASSES WITH JESUS”

They also have the annual program “Back To Classes With Jesus”. It provides children, aged six to 12, with a backpack full of supplies, enabling them to get off of the streets, out of the reach of the gangs and back into school.

Church leaders hold local, community-wide evangelism events. As they distribute the backpacks, pastors take the children through the Scripture booklets from World Missionary Press. Each child receives their own booklet.

Before the current school year began, World Missionary Press sent a large shipment of booklets, including some in the Miskito language. When classes started up, the back to school program had reached 30,000 children in 200 locations across Honduras.

“They are going to know the Scriptures, they’re going to have it in their hands, they’re going to take it home because it goes with the backpacks”, Williams pointed out.

EVANGELISM TOOL

In addition to the backpack project, these booklets are an important part of pastoral outreach, church planting, and discipleship.

“For many churches this is the only literature that they will have. For some Christians this is the closest they will have to a Bible of their own”, World Missionary Press said.

Later this year, World Missionary Press will be sending another shipment with about 500,000 pieces of literature going out. Williams says the shipment, made up of both Spanish and Miskito booklets, will be one of their largest to Honduras.

World Missionary Press aims to “equip ordinary, monolingual people to witness to their neighbours who come from other countries and have a different first language”.