Since 1955
We support people who are beaten, tortured, laughed at, imprisoned, falsely accused, disowned, ignored and hated simply for following Jesus.
Make sure you get your hands on our new 45-minute Christmas-themed session plan with games, video, Bible discussion and inspiring stories from young Christians facing persecution for their faith in Jesus.
Help your group see how young Christians around the world are seeking peace this Christmas and encourage them to send their own words of peace to raise brave faith in them and in teenagers facing persecution.
Download the session now using the form on this page!
Open Doors Youth NANO are a series of themed simple session outlines that focus on incredible stories from persecuted Christians. Whilst the sessions all highlight the context of persecution, you can use the material to work through key discipleship themes.
We passionately believe the persecuted church has much to teach us about what being a Christian looks like – our persecuted family aren’t just victims, but courageous and passionate followers of Jesus who can inspire and challenge us to a braver faith. And that’s why we’ve put these ideas together.
Free themed session outlines
We’ve created NANO as way to show that the real stories from persecuted Christians can inspire all kinds of areas of our faith as we grow as Christians. We shouldn’t just hear from our global church family one Sunday a year or when the theme of persecution arises in the news. Persecuted Christians have so much to teach us about prayer, forgiveness, passion, worship, giving, distraction, hope, perseverance, God’s plan for us and much, much more. And the lessons they can bring to us just seem all the more authentic and valuable because of the context of threat, violence and intimidation that they live with.
Just sign up to check out the sessions and see for yourself. We’re releasing sessions regularly (every 2-3 months). Most will have videos, all will have interactive activities, Bible material and prayer times, plus all have been written to work both online or in person (depending on lockdown restrictions). The outlines aren’t exhaustive – they can be used as a script for a session or you can take the elements you think that will work for you and adapt the rest.. you’ll know what will work best in your group.
The current sessions
Prayer series – featuring Pete Grieg video explainers To launch Nano we’ve created a series on prayer. These four short sessions look at what prayer is (and how to do it authentically), answered prayer, unanswered prayer and how to persevere in prayer.
Forgiveness session
A simple session featuring an incredible video story from teenager Jeovani whose life was radically changed after an attack on his church several years ago. Includes game ideas, Bible reflection and questions along with suggested prayer points too.
Truth or Lie session
A session outline focussing on truth and lies, looking specifically at the way Christians in India are being excluded, threatened and attacked because of the lies being told about them. This session has some real concrete actions to take that will help your group make an active difference to the situations facing Christians in India.
Identity session
A simple session focussing on a video story from Manga in Nigeria whose dad was killed in an attack by Boko Haram. Manga was left with serious scars after the attack, but instead of letting those who gave him the scars define his identity, he chose to see the scars as a sign of how God saved his life. It’s a powerful story that we’ve combined with some Bible passages, discussion points and a reflective prayer activity too.
Cred session How much importance do we place on what others think of us? We all want to have a good reputation, to have decent cred, but do we forget to prioritise the fact that it’s God’s love for us that matters most. This session uses the incredible story of teenager Soy in Laos to inspire us to let how God sees us come first. Featuring Soy’s video story plus Bible, prayer, game and discussion ideas.
Change session How do we react when faced with change and uncertainty. Learn from young Christians in China whose youth camp was raided unexpectedly by police.
Brother Andrew: A disciple of Jesus Christ A simple session that explores the inspiring life of Brother Andrew, encouraging us to say ‘yes’ to God and to be braver in our journey with Jesus.
Get some or all of the sessions using the form below – all are simple downloads, so you’ll get them immediately. Woo.
God with us: Christmas themed youth session outline…
We know Christmas is a manic time – there’s always lots going on, and it’s sometimes hard to find time to plan a decent session or small group because of all the parties, cakes and treats! But, don’t panic, we’re here to help with a little pre Christmas gift for all you busy youth workers!
We’re created a simple Christmas session outline that you can use with only a bit of planning and prep (of course, you can use the session as you want and put in as much or as little of your own content and effort as you see fit). The session includes some teaching on the Christmas story, discussion points, stories from courageous Christians, a video, interactive prayer activities and some fundraising ideas too.
The session focuses on the theme of ‘God with us’ – a key part of the Christmas message. We’ve used the story of Jesus, Mary and Joseph’s escape to Egypt after the visit of the wise men to introduce the experience of displacement and persecution facing Christians around the world. Then the session focuses in on Syria as a specific example of where our church family are facing threats, intimidation and violence.
Download it by filling in the form opposite and sign up to stay in touch with us too!
All events will feature a speaker from the Middle East
We love youth leaders. In fact, if you are a youth leader, we’d love to get to know you a bit better and meet in person.
We’re holding a bunch of leaders’ gatherings throughout March across the UK and Ireland – and we’d love you to come along. These events are for church and youth leaders to connect and engage more deeply with the persecuted church. It’s an opportunity to meet face-to-face with a leader from the persecuted church, to share with them and learn from them. Come and be inspired, enriched and strengthened in your faith.
There will be some special youth leader times at these events, so book on (they are all free).
England:
Bedworth
Location: Life Church,
Bedworth Date: Tuesday 10 March Time: 11.00am – 3:30pm
Leeds
Location: South Parade Baptist Church,
Leeds Date: Wednesday 11 March Time: 11.00am – 3.30pm
We know Christmas is a manic time – there’s always lots going on, and it’s sometimes hard to find time to plan a decent session or small group because of all the parties, cakes and treats! But, don’t panic, we’re here to help with a little pre Christmas gift for all you busy youth workers!
We’re created a simple Christmas session outline that you can use with only a bit of planning and prep (of course, you can use the session as you want and put in as much or as little of your own content and effort as you see fit). The session includes some teaching on the Christmas story, discussion points, stories from courageous Christians, a video, interactive prayer activities and some fundraising ideas too.
The session focuses on the theme of ‘God with us’ – a key part of the Christmas message. We’ve used the story of Jesus, Mary and Joseph’s escape to Egypt after the visit of the wise men to introduce the experience of displacement and persecution facing Christians around the world. Then the session focuses in on Syria as a specific example of where our church family are facing threats, intimidation and violence.
Download it by filling in the form opposite and sign up to stay in touch with us too!
We love youth leaders, you’re all very special indeed, and here is a bunch of inspirational and challenging resources you can download, adapt and use with your youth group.
We’d love to know what you think of these resources and find out what sort of things you’d find helpful for us to produce to engage better with your groups in the future so do get in touch. We’re also out and about visiting groups and churches quite a bit, so if you’d like to request a youth speaker at a youth event you organise, then do drop us a line.
In places where the Bible is banned, followers of Jesus memorise it. Hidden Word is a new resource to inspire young people to learn Scripture. The pack comes in a buriable bag, and includes six weeks of devotions and challenges, a leader’s guide, a ‘Hidden Word’ New Testament and Psalms, memorisation aides and a wealth of ideas, activities, stories and prayers.
The pack is available for a £14 minimum donation (including UK postage), with discounts for 5 copies or more. The price for each pack includes the cost of sending a Bible to a persecuted Christian.
See. Change.
Around the world Christian women and girls are doubly vulnerable to persecution because of their faith AND their gender. Many suffer hidden, unseen persecution. We want to see Christian women and girls reach their potential, and that is what the See. Change. campaign is all about.
Download a special See. Change. youth session outline and introduce your group to Leah from Nigeria, who Jesus over her freedom.
Talks/Presentations and Notes
We’ve created a few little presentations and talks with associated PowerPoints that you can download and use to give a talk on the persecuted church. Themes include ‘Guts and Courage’, ‘Pray With Them’ and ‘One Family’. Adapt and share as you see fit.
Write a letter to a persecuted christian
We know that persecuted christians need our encouragement and support. As well as praying for them we can also write directly to them, sharing Bible verses and thoughts of encouragement.
Walk, bake, ride, run… With them
Running, walking, baking, swimming, cycling… you can do just about anything to raise money for your persecuted family in Iraq and Syria by doing the things you love. Get tips, stories and all the help you need with our free fundraising pack. Download it today!
One Family sessions and devotionals
A group session and series of three reflections on the theme of family. Includes a standalone youth session resource with additional devotions for youth groups to take away!
A free downloadable guide with four video based sessions including faces from Soul Survivor, Fusion and Summer Madness. Get your group thinking, discussing and praying about a radical relationship with God.
Secret Screening: Free event pack
Run an evening event with your group and focus prayer and discussion on the church in Syria. Hold a Secret Screening and base and evening of prayer and fundraising around our quality short film ‘The Cost’. Get a free downloadable pack, with resources to help you plan, advertise and run your Secret Screening below.
Ten Steps with the persecuted Church resource
A prayer, reflection and action resource inspired by the small steps taken by persecuted Christians around the world. Inspire your youth group to step up and step out in faith.
Blackout is a sponsored fast. It’s a challenge to spend the weekend in silence, either by not speaking and/or by staying clear of social networks. We hold a Blackout weekend each spring and hundreds of youth groups and people take part, raising money and prayer for persecuted christians.
Secret Church
Secret Church is a totally different way of doing church. Powerful, interactive, full of worship and faith, this is an experience that will help you to journey deeper into the world of the persecuted church. Find out more and run your own Secret Church service at the link below.
The Cost
The Cost is our little Open Doors Youth magazine. We mail it out around 3 times a year. You can view old editions at the link below and sign up to receive future mailings too.
Videos
We produce quite a few videos and films to tell the stories of brave, courageous and inspiring christians who know the true cost of following Jesus. Here’s some of our faves – please do share them with your groups and use to generate discussion and prayer.
We occasionally put up a few talks on Sound Cloud that will inspire and challenge your faith with stories from the persecuted church. Have a look at the page below to listen in…
Our summer 2014 campaign saw over 1000 people ‘Wake Up and Pray’ with us. Although the campaign has now long finished, you can still download the reflection guide and adapt the sessions to use as youth group sessions.
Read Samil’s incredible story of brave faith: “before it was difficult for me to love people who hate and hurt me for my faith, now I can bless them, I can pray for them…”
Make sure you get your hands on our new 45-minute Christmas-themed session plan with games, video, Bible discussion and inspiring stories from young Christians facing persecution for their faith in Jesus.
