I Heard Good News Today

Title: I Heard Good News Today
Author: Cornelia Lehn
Major Themes: Missionaries, Christian History
Synopsis: Ninety-three short accounts tell the story of missions around the world from the time of Christ until now.

We have read I Heard Good News Today twice now. I don’t remember if the boys enjoyed it the first time, but this time through the six-year-old considered it boring at first. It seemed to grow on him, however, and by the time we finished it (over a year after we started), he was enjoying it. I sure enjoyed it!

There are 93 short stories in this book, making it a good choice for morning Bible time. Each story tells about someone who shared the Good News of the Gospel with other people, and lived out his faith in daily life. The stories are arranged in sections, so if you want a story from a particular part of the world it is easy to find one. You’ll find a few stories from the Bible and the apostles as they left Jerusalem to preach in other parts of the world. You’ll also find stories from Europe, India, China, Japan, and the Americas, as well as other regions.

I Heard Good News Today is a great introduction to mission work around the world. It does seem to focus on Mennonite missionaries; there are quite a few stories about Mennonite Central Committee workers. I particularly enjoyed chapters 17-19, about Peter Dyck helping the Russian refugees who were trapped in Berlin at the close of World War II.

WARNING: There are mentions of persecution and violence in various stories—might be good to pre-read so you know what is coming.

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Related posts:

Rescue and Redeem The Story of the World series The Timechart History of the World A Child’s History of the World