Biographies are interesting and fun as well as a great tool\nfor teaching historical perspective. Billy Sunday lived in an era children are\nunfamiliar with. The culture of Pearl S. Buck was unknown to the western world\nuntil recently. And the Scottish missionary David Livingstone discovered one of\nthe world\u2019s largest waterfalls, Victoria Falls, while in South Africa. What a\nday that must have been for him to uncover one of God\u2019s most wondrous sights.\nSunday School is the perfect place to introduce biographies! So many\nmissionaries, pastors, and lay workers have told their stories in such a way\nthat children can vicariously participate in God\u2019s work. An intangible personal\ntouch is introduced when a child reads about the pastor who struggled with\npersonal problems, but through prayer and spiritual strength overcame those\nobstacles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Missionaries must face indomitable problems that students\nreadily associate with. Just learning the language of the country they will\nserve is a huge task for most missionaries. Then they must learn to live in a\nwhole new culture, perhaps adapting to a lifestyle they\u2019ve never known. The Boy\nScout might spend a week without electricity and running water, but has he\nthought about the missionary who might have to live that way every day?\nPersonal stories such as these bring living the Christian life into focus for\nyoung students because it is about a real person who did this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I admire parents who protect their children from too much\ntelevision and media hype. Nothing on television is \u201creal world\u201d except for a\nfew news flashes and it certainly has nothing to contribute to the Christian.\nReal life stories, on the other hand, not only tell truths about Christian\nliving, but can be read over and over. As a Junior High student I read the\nstory of Ruth from the Bible and then had to give a report about it. I included\nsome geography and history of Judea. By the way, I was in a public school at\nthe time and no objection was made to my choice (that tells you how old I am!).\nMy classmates found it most interesting and asked lots of questions after I\nfinished my report. They had always heard such sayings as be willing to lay\ndown your life for a friend or for your country, but the idea that Ruth would\ndo the same for her people fascinated them. Two other students later read the\nbook from the Bible!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[126],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7933","eutychus-article","type-eutychus-article","status-publish","hentry","category-eutychus"],"yoast_head":"\n