God is using the 12-lesson discipleship course from Samaritan’s Purse to reach Spanish speakers in the U.S.
Sunday School lessons have changed a bit at Iglesia Casa Para Todos. In recent months, the small Spanish-speaking congregation in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has been teaching their children from the 12-lesson discipleship course The Greatest Journey.
This is the follow-up program for children who receive Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts at church outreach events in dozens of countries. It’s translated into dozens of languages, including Spanish. Each lesson walks young people through what it means to follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
While the curriculum has been used internationally to teach the Gospel, a number of Spanish-speaking churches across the United States are using La Gran Aventura, the Spanish translation of The Greatest Journey, during Sunday School. The lessons are also a way to mobilize children for God’s global mission.
Yadira Duenas, Operation Christmas Child project leader at Iglesia Casa Para Todos, said it caught the attention of church leaders because it is “attractive, simple, and engaging.”
“It’s focused on discipleship. It’s not just telling disconnected stories—every single passage selected is essential to spreading the Gospel,” she said.
Leaders are intentionally working with students to deepen their understanding of God’s Word.
Pastor Juan Bonilla agreed with Yadira and immediately wanted to start using it in children’s Sunday school classes. He is passionate about encouraging people to live for God’s Kingdom, and he knows that teaching boys and girls how to faithfully follow Christ is essential to discipling the local church as a whole.
“We reach the kids, we can reach the family,” he said.
Nearly 40 children, ages 6-12, enrolled in the The Greatest Journey lessons at Iglesia Casa Para Todos. In addition to reading stories from the Bible and learning practical ways to apply God’s Word, children are also led in singing, dancing, and in a time of prayer.
“We taught them from the beginning how to worship,” said leader Natalie Contreras.
Contreras said they have watched the children grow in their love for Jesus and in excitement that they have a relationship with Him. And leaders have been delighted to see children come to faith in Jesus.
Since the beginning of the lessons, 11 children have professed faith in Christ! These same children were encouraged to share their faith at home, and, because of their witness, two new families started attending the church with them.
Children are eager to expand their knowledge and participate in class.
Inspiring Children for The Great Commission
The vision to use the discipleship lessons in the United States started when Samaritan’s Purse Hispanic Ministries presented the curriculum at the United conference, a Billy Graham Evangelistic Association event for Hispanic pastors and church leaders.
“We are here to equip, mobilize, and partner with the Hispanic church,” said Christian Kolar, project manager of Hispanic Ministries at Samaritan’s Purse. “With The Greatest Journey, we’re equipping them to have a robust, solid curriculum that can engage their kids and mobilize them.”
Brandon Pineda, another leader in the program at Iglesia Casa Para Todos, said he’s seeing this happen in families, in part, because the lessons require the involvement of parents and guardians.
“The way this program works, it will not just bring kids to God, but it will bring parents to God,” Pineda said. “A parent needs to work with the child to do the homework. They have to learn about the Bible, and they have to have time to read the Bible so they can explain it to the child.”
Boys and girls have grown a deep passion for God and His global mission through this course.
Yadira said that many of the children are bilingual in Spanish and English and is helping them understand that this opens doors for more evangelism and discipleship opportunities. To foster this skill, the leaders teach lessons interchangeably in English and Spanish and use American Sign Language to show students that it can be helpful to bridge language barriers.
The boys and girls were encouraged to consider themselves missionaries in their homes, among their friends, and in their community. “Missionaries share, pray, and love people they don’t know but who Jesus knows,” Yadira said.
Yadira encouraged them during class to say, “Jesus wants me to share the Good News!”
Ready to Be Sent Out
Yadira recently led a celebration of the first group of children to graduate from The Greatest Journey. When the students gathered on stage before the congregation, everyone lifted their hands out to them and prayed that Jesus would use them as missionaries in their community. The celebration concluded with the students performing a dance to worship music. At the end, they boldly proclaimed, “I am a missionary!”
The children celebrated finishing all 12 lessons of the discipleship course.
Church members have been encouraged by the students’ passion for the Gospel. They are already planning ideas for the next time they teach this class and are excited to keep collaborating with other project leaders that they met at the United conference, gathering more inspiration for costumes and decorations that match the lessons’ themes.
They are excited to see many other Hispanic communities transformed through The Greatest Journey. “I think this curriculum is going to help not just our church, but it’s going to start helping a bunch of churches,” Brandon said.
Please pray for our team as they work with more Hispanic churches to equip their children for evangelism and discipleship through The Greatest Journey. Pray also that the students would have boldness to share the Gospel in their communities.
