Is God’s Word Enough?

When I told my new neighbor what I do for a living, he laughingly responded with, "Well, why would you want to do that?"

He's not the first person to react that way; some Christians are skeptical too.Our vision at OneHope is to see every child and young person around the world engaged with God's Word.That’s a tall order, but so far, nearly 1 billion children and youth have been reached with God's Word through multiple mediums, outreaches, partners and programs.

Three things have helped us become a more fruitful ministry.

Research

After visiting the “Christian” nation of Swaziland and seeing that most Swazi’s were Christian in name only, we launched our first major research initiative called the Attitudes and Behavior of Youth (ABY) project. This quantitative study--to our knowledge, the largest on this topic ever conducted—examined the daily life of teens and trends around the world. From 2007-2011, more than 152,000 13-19 year-olds in 44 countries on 5 continents answered questions about their lives.

The analysis from this ABY study revealed that there is a global "teenage" norm that crosses cultural, regional, and religious boundaries. Information like this is revolutionary for anyone working with children or teens; that's why we freely share our research and findings.

Not only does our research help us innovate cutting-edge Scripture engagement tools, but it has also created natural inroads to relationships with amazing local partners here in the US and around the world.

We use this research to give us a bird's eye view of the intended ministry demographic. Next we hone in to gather location specific input from children, youth, leaders and educators in each of the countries we serve. Finally we start crafting age specific, customized Scripture engagement programs and products.

Outcome-based Ministry

We have implemented an Outcome-based Ministry (OBM) model to ensure that our work is really changing lives. Being an outcome-based ministry means that we start with the end in mind. Then we research and customize, test and record. It's a lot of hard work, asking, listening measuring, but we are about life-transformation.

We do whatever it takes to help successfully reach kids with God's Word in a way they can receive it. We create visual mediums like trading cards or the GodMan film for pre-literate/illiterate audiences or areas the printed Word cannot go, and even step into highly-competitive arenas to create online games like Incredible Islands, films like En Tus Manos, and mobile apps like the Bible App for Kids (coming late Fall 2013).

OneHope’s Scripturally-based message of God's love is always the same, but as we find what is currently captivating children and youth, that's where you'll find us researching, re-thinking and retooling the mode of delivery.

Partnerships

We cannot do this on our own. That's why we form new partnerships so that we can work with and through local churches, ministries, and organizations to amplify Kingdom reach.

I understand first-hand the awful problems kids around the world are facing. In Swaziland a little girl in a red sweater approached one of our team members at a gas station and offered to sell herself to him for $2 so she could buy herself some food. This little girl, along with billions of children around the world are, indeed, facing some of the World's worst problems.

If we truly want to make a lasting, life-altering change in the lives of young people around the world, we have to take care of the root of the problem, not simply assuage the symptoms. That’s why we give God’s Word to children.

God's Word is powerful. It holds THE answer to every problem, and there is no justice-social or otherwise-without first introducing young people to Jesus Christ.

There are billions of children and youth in the world today, many whom have not yet received God's Word.

When I think about the power of God's Word to change lives, and imagine how different the world could look like if we actually reached every child with God's Word, the answer to my neighbor's retort then becomes, "how could I not?"