When Athena was 8 years old, she received a gift-filled shoebox through Operation Christmas Child. Living in an impoverished area of the Philippines, the young girl had never received such a present.
Athena began to learn about how much God loves her when she read The Greatest Gift, a Gospel story booklet Samaritan’s Purse developed for shoebox recipients. She was so excited to learn more about God that she then participated in The Greatest Journey, our 12-lesson discipleship course.
Not only did Athena become a Christian during The Greatest Journey, but some of her family members have also trusted in Jesus Christ. We praise God for how He’s working and expanding His Kingdom!
More than 13 million children across the world have graduated from The Greatest Journey since it began 10 years ago in Ecuador. Nearly 9 million boys and girls have made decisions for Christ. We’ve also trained more than 920,000 volunteer teachers to lead The Greatest Journey.
As children come to faith, they are then sharing the Gospel with family and friends. We praise God that these evangelism efforts are resulting in the multiplication of believers as well as churches.
National Collection Week was November 18-24, but you can still help bring Good News and great joy to a child in need by building a shoebox online.
Please pray for the millions of children worldwide who will be receiving shoeboxes in the coming weeks and months. Pray for God to open their hearts and that whole families and communities will be changed by the power of the Gospel.
The Greatest Journey is an exciting evangelism and discipleship program designed to teach children how to become faithful followers of Christ and to share their faith with others. We offer the program to children who have received Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. Boys and girls who complete The Greatest Journey course receive graduation certificates and New Testaments in their own language. We’re able to provide all the study materials, a graduation certificate and New Testament for only $6 per child.