Published by Good Book Company on May 15, 2026
Genres: Children's, Children's Educational
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Take kids on an exciting journey to discover that they are part of the amazing worldwide church.Kids will gain enthusiasm for going to church on Sundays as they discover that they and their local fellowship are part of something much bigger: a family of people worshipping God all around the world!
Join Tim Challies as he guides you on this illustrated journey through 10 countries. Your children will be delighted to meet fictionalised kids just like themselves as they discover…
Fascinating facts about life in each location
Fun stories about how life, worship and church community are different all around the world
A connected Bible passage about worship
Each positive, eye-opening visit to another country is based on Challies’ own travel experience and conversations with local church leaders.Use the included prompts to start conversations about the global church as a family or Sunday-school class.
Author Tim Challies has traveled to multiple different churches around the globe, experiencing their worship services, talking with church leaders, and observing how each congregation uniquely honors God within their cultural context. Challies wrote a book for adults about this experience, and this companion title for young readers introduces kids to what evangelical worship services look like in ten different parts of the world. (The original book for adults covers eleven stops, and I’m not sure why Australia got dropped here.) Each chapter covers a different location, and these sections all begin by introducing some information about that country, such as geographic details, population statistics, and how many people in that country identify as Christians.
After that, a fictional child takes readers on a tour of their everyday life environment and church experiences. The fully illustrated pages visualize the environment, cultural attire, and church meeting locations. Siân James did a wonderful job visualizing everything. The pictures are vibrant, colorful, and engaging, and because they show what everything looks like, the author doesn’t have to spend time describing things. Instead, Challies can focus on introducing each kid’s life experiences, how the gospel came to their country, and what their church is like.
Each section ends with some talking points for parents and kids, as well as a Bible verse that relates to what that section covered. Because this book has short sections and isn’t too wordy, it is great for a broad age range. Even very young children can follow along with this, while older kids can engage with it more deeply. Parents and church workers should know that they can download free supplementary resources on the publisher’s website, if they would like to do activities with kids about the content in this book.
God’s Great Big Global Church concludes by looking ahead to the greatest worship service ever, when people of all nations and languages will join together in heaven to worship God. This book has a great message of unity and shared purpose, encouraging readers with the knowledge that all around the world, there are other Christians who are following Jesus just like them. However, because this book is based on the author’s personal travels to like-minded congregations, it only describes Protestant evangelical churches. Some readers may wish that this book gave a broader taste of different types of Christian churches.
God’s Great Big Global Church: Visit 10 Kids and Their Churches All Around the World is an inspiring, educational resource. This book’s exploration of so many very different churches will broaden children’s horizons beyond what is familiar to them, and it celebrates what Christians have in common around the globe, regardless of differences in cultural practice.