Teaching My Child About Persecution

My toddler just turned three and, in many ways, it is a sweet age. He’s more verbal than he was a year ago, can process bigger ideas and internalize them in ways that sometimes seem advanced for his age.

We read the Bible a lot together and talk about concepts like God and Satan, sin and salvation. I can just see the words fly off the page and soak deep into his heart, filling him with awe and wonder and curiosity. Just this morning over breakfast, as we sat eating our cereal together, he told me that he’s not going to be afraid at school today because God is in his heart. Things like that make my momma heart melt.

What Am I Teaching My Child?

I haven’t had too many hard conversations with him from the Bible yet. He knows that sin is “bad” and that we should obey God. We have a Bible ABC book and “N” is for naughty, with a correlating picture of a man stealing some food. My toddler knows that Satan wants us to believe that God doesn’t love us, but that’s a lie. This is a good start, but we’re just scratching the surface in many ways.

I would like to talk to my toddler about things like poverty, disease, death, the struggles of life and more. It’s not always easy to, though, because 1) they’re abstract concepts that are hard for little ones to grasp and 2) we don’t experience these struggles in big doses in America. Many Americans might even say that they don’t want to tarnish their child’s innocence by bringing these subjects up.

Persecution in Iran

Yet, I read a story the other day from Open Doors USA that pierced straight to my heart as a mother, and it opened my eyes to the sort of conversations that other mommas are having with their children around the world. The story is about a mother in Iran, who is teaching her daughter about persecution. You see, in that country, persecution is very real. It is something that Christians have to deal with every day, and they have to prepare their children for its grave realities, whether they are ready for them or not.

I was already on the brink of tears after reading the opening lines. The mother knows that she will most likely be taken in the upcoming days because of her faith, and she tells her little girl, “Don’t worry. The Bible tells us it is normal to be persecuted as believers. They will take us to prison, ask us some questions, and hit us. Then we will come back.” I read those words over and over again, thinking about if I could ever say such words to my toddler son. I know that we will not experience that sort of persecution in America, but I can certainly teach him what the Bible says about it. I can also teach him about how to care for and pray for believers around the world, including children just like him, who are dealing with persecution on a daily basis.

I want my son to have a heart for persecuted believers. I want him to have a desire to pray for them, support them and care for them as he can.

Praying For The Persecuted Church

Hebrews 13:3: “Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” 

Matthew 25:35-36: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me.” 

It is hard to be a Christian in Iran. Protestants and evangelicals who teach in Persian are persecuted, house churches are illegal and conversion from Islam is deemed impossible and proof of apostasy, a crime punishable by death. Here’s one report from the Daily Beast on the devastating treatment of Christians in Iran. Christians are arrested and thrown in prisons, where they suffer interrogations while they wait for charges that range from oppressive to unpredictable. This report from the World Watch Monitor shows that four house church pastors were just recently jailed with a ten-year sentence for “promoting Zionist Christianity”.

I want to find time this week to sit down with my son, show him a map of the world and talk to him about Iran. I don’t need to go into all the terrible details of the persecuted church with him; he is only three. But I can tell him that there are children just like him in Iran who love Jesus and people are being mean to them because of their faith. I can tell him that sometimes these children are separated from their mommies and daddies. I can tell him that we care for these families because they are our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we can spend time together praying for them, for God’s protection over their lives and for strength and perseverance in their faith.

Will you and your family join me in praying for persecuted believers in Iran this month?

Want to learn more about Open Doors USA? Check out this post here.