As smiling volunteers place red-and-green shoeboxes into the waiting, outstretched hands of children who have no concept of a gift or the love of Christ, a man wearing a shirt bearing the logo of Operation Christmas Child quietly watches with a look of reflection on his face. “Each time it captures my heart when I…
Operation Christmas Child
Celebrating 50 Million Children Discipled
“Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:14). Children are precious to God. The Bible tells us that “children are a gift of the LORD” (Psalm 127:3) and that we are responsible to train them up “in the way [they] should…
Operation Christmas Child
Taking the Gospel the Extra Mile in Cambodia
Just outside of a major tourist city in Cambodia, people struggle to make ends meet. Makara* and her family live in a one-room house, on a tract of land shared by many other members of their family who work in the nearby fields. Makara was hard at work last year when her daughter, Tola*, attended…
Operation Christmas Child
Shoeboxes Launch Outreach to Children in Western Mexico
Jesús was in trouble and he was afraid. He tried to hide from the police, knowing prison—and separation from his wife and children—awaited him. When the police caught Jesús, he was sentenced to seven years in jail in Mazatlan, Mexico. “My life was sad. I felt defeated,” he said. In prison, Jesús met Pastor Carlos,…
Operation Christmas Child
Children in the Pacific Take The Greatest Journey of Their Lives
If Vanua Levu isn’t the end of the Earth, it’s close. Rugged and isolated, the slender island is located 1,100 nautical miles northeast of New Zealand in the South Pacific, just east of the Coral Sea. It’s one of the 330 specks on the map that make up the Fiji archipelago. Ignored by most of…
Operation Christmas Child
Making Disciples in the Philippines
The boys and girls knew to quickly pick up their chairs and scoot to the side, clearing the narrow alleyway anytime a bicycle or motorbike needed to squeeze through. These interruptions to the discipleship class happened often enough that they had become normal, and the children and their teachers carried on with worship and Bible…
Operation Christmas Child
Q & A: Gospel Opportunities in Paradise
Meet Ravina Kumar, national discipleship coordinator for Operation Christmas Child in Fiji. She is one of 6,100 people globally who volunteer on National Leadership Teams to guide our efforts in evangelism, discipleship, and multiplication within their respective countries. Read on to learn more about how the ministry is advancing the Gospel in the Pacific through…
Operation Christmas Child
Making Disciples in Mongolia
Light, sky, land, and water appeared out of nothing. Next came vegetation, animals, and mankind. God called forth all these things simply by speaking, “Let there be…” (Genesis 1). While the story of creation may sound familiar, it is an entirely new concept for many boys and girls in Mongolia. At Living Stone Church in…
Operation Christmas Child
The Gospel Comes to Remote Parts of the Philippines
Princess used to worry a lot. The 13-year-old lives with her grandmother and they sometimes don’t have enough food for three meals a day. She rarely sees her parents, who left their remote village for the city in hopes of finding work and securing a better life for their family. But these days she doesn’t…
Operation Christmas Child
Young People Play Vital Role in Suriname’s Shoebox Outreach
Suriname bills itself as the greenest country in the world, boasting forests cover 93 percent of its land. Wherever you turn, from the coastal capital to the dense inland jungle, it’s true that the nation seems to burst forth with innumerable flowers, bushes, vines, and trees. Such vibrancy seems to characterize the Operation Christmas Child…
