Afghanistan (MNN) — The Taliban’s domination of Afghanistan is not without threads of hope.
Greg Yoder with Keys for Kids Ministries says, “There just aren’t any churches there. The ones that were there aren’t in existence. I mean, when you think of 65 million speakers of the Pashto language, and only 20,000 known Christians [in Afghanistan] and most of them are gone, there’s a huge need.”
Last month, Keys for Kids raised $50,000 to begin translating their Storyteller resources into Pashto. The project is in partnership with FMI.
“We’re talking about solar-powered MP3 players that have Scripture and Keys for Kids stories that point kids to Scripture,” says Yoder. “So because it’s easy to understand, everybody can listen to it, everybody can understand it.”
(Keys for Kids Storytellers are loaded with Scripture and Bible-centered audio resources. Photo courtesy of Keys For Kids)
These resources will help reach the next generation of Afghans.
“We know that between the ages of four and 14 (known as the 4–14 window), 70% of people [who] come to faith in Christ do so in that that window. So it’s the most fertile ground. It’s in that demographic [that children] are looking for spiritual truth.”
But with the opportunity also comes danger. Yoder says that those involved in recording Keys for Kids resources and Scripture into Pashto are risking their lives to do so. That goes for those who will eventually carry the resources into Afghanistan too.
“Just to be thought of as a Christian and Afghanistan can get you killed or, worse, tortured, so that you give up other Christians that you know of,” Yoder says.
“We’re excited to be [in] the partnership with FMI, dealing with people who know how to get these things in, who are bold, who aren’t ashamed of the gospel, and are going to take it into regions of the world where it’s desperately needed. That’s the only hope they have.”
Keys for Kids and its partners need your prayer support more than ever.
“Pray that the Holy Spirit will go before us and just begin working in the to soften the hearts of the Afghan people, especially those who speak Pashto,” says Yoder. “We have an opportunity to get these Storytellers in the next year into regions that we’ve never ever expected, with couriers we never expected to be couriering these things.”
Learn more here about Keys for Kids’ heart to bring children to Christ around the world.
Header photo of girls in burqaas is a representative stock image courtesy of ArmyAmber via Pixabay.
