My teammate Brooke and I live in a Muslim community in Northeast Africa where doors stay open and drop-in visitors are welcome.
Every day, neighborhood women stop by to greet us and chat for a while. But it’s their children who visit us most often and who stay the longest.
Normally, children don’t hang out in houses where there aren’t other kids. Brooke and I wonder why they keep coming to ours.
Even so, we welcome them in, play games with them, and tell them stories. Sometimes when they show up, we invite them in and then carry on with whatever we were doing. They don’t seem to mind. These kids appear to be perfectly happy just being around us.
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14)
Recently, though, Brooke and I decided to do something extravagant, and after asking their parents, we threw a neighborhood block party for the children.
We held sack races and carry-an-egg-on-a-spoon races. We even organized a competition to pick up marbles with your toes. The kids also drew pictures, made beaded bracelets, and played dominoes and memory games.
Brooke and I had made several piñatas out of balloons, shredded paper, water, and flour. At the end of the party, children took turns trying to break the piñatas open. When the candy showered down on them, they screamed with delight and skipped home with hands full of candy and cheeks sore from smiling.
As I pray for their little hearts, I ask God to help the families in our neighborhood know His unconditional love. I see how parents in this culture tend to stay emotionally distant throughout their children’s formative years. Older siblings often care for the little ones. And many kids take on household duties while still quite young.
As we share Christ with the families in our community, we know that the parents may see us as strange and foreign. The children, however, are growing up with us as a normal part of their daily lives. They’re seeing up close what it looks like to follow Jesus. Through us, God is shaping their view of the world and helping them encounter Christ in us.
Pray they see Jesus as we share His love with them and invest in their lives. And pray that our Gospel witness will transform our Muslim community and introduce the next generation to Christ.
The refugee woman knew her young daughter needed life-saving heart surgery.
Click the button below to discover how God used a Frontiers worker to bring hope to a frightened Syrian mother.
**This account comes from a long-term worker. Names and places have been changed for security.**
Original article: https://www.frontiersusa.org/blog/reaching-little-hearts
