This week, we’ll travel to the northern part of Brazil to meet a colporteur named Maria. Colporteurs sell religious books door-to-door for a living, but Maria didn’t simply sell books to earn a wage for herself. She realized there were many congregations in her area meeting in bad conditions, and they didn’t have enough money to find a new place to worship or to build one of their own. Maria wanted to help, so she began to use the money she earned from selling books to purchase land for these groups, where Maranatha later constructed churches.

Your kids will see how one person fully committed herself to give to the Gospel call in whatever way she could, and they’ll consider how they can contribute themselves.

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Pre-video Discussion Questions
Have you ever given something important of yours to another person? What was it, and how did it feel to give it away?

VIDEO
In today’s video, a woman sells books to buy land for congregations in need.

Post-video Discussion Questions
In the Bible, a man asked Jesus what he could do to have eternal life. You can read about it in Matthew 19. Jesus told him to keep all of the commandments in Scripture, but the man already did that, so he asked what else he should do. Jesus urged him to sell everything he owned and give the money to the poor. But this was too much for the man because he owned a lot of nice things, so he went away, sad. You may not have a lot of possessions like this man or books to sell like Maria, but are there ways you could contribute to the mission to spread God’s love? What can you think of?
Maria gave away something very important—her money! Jesus’ call to spread His love was so strong for her, she was willing to take the money from her job and use it for God. You may not have any money from a job, but do you have any items in your house that you aren’t using anymore that you could sell and donate to God, like Maria?

Prayer Points
For creativity to give to God’s work however possible.
Ask kids what they would add to the prayer list.

Did You Know?
Many of the churches Maranatha built in Brazil are One-Day Churches, which provide a strong metal frame and roof for a congregation. The church members can then build up the walls with nearby materials and paint the walls how they see fit.