Want to share missionary biographies with your children? I’m going to share how you can do so in an age-appropriate way. I’m also going to give you a look inside six resources we’ve used in our home, so that you can determine which series is the best fit for your family.

Things to consider when preparing to share missionary biographies with your kids

Take a spiral approach

Ease into it by introducing your child to a missionary’s story in the simplest form when they are young. You can then revisit their story adding more details as children get older.

Borrow books where possible

Borrowing books or purchasing second-hand will allow you to check a series for suitability and still keep costs down.

Read books yourself first

Missionary biographies can contain upsetting content. Reading these yourself, or other books about the same missionary, will inspire you and help you answer questions.

Don’t disregard a series that is below your child’s reading level

Consider using a series below their reading level if you think it would better inspire them. Our reason for sharing these biographies with our children is to demonstrate that there are a million different ways to live out our faith. The goal is for them to enjoy reading them!

So here’s are some resources I think you will love …

Do Great Things For God Series

This is a beautifully illustrated series about the lives of inspiring Christian women. These picture books are perfect missionary biographies for reading aloud to four – six year olds. Or they are lovely books to use as an introduction to a deeper study, but there are only ten books in the series at the moment.

Heroes For Young Readers

This picture book series is vividly illustrated and rhyming throughout. These books have more detail than the Do Great Things For God Series and are a good option for five – seven year olds. There are more than twenty books in the series.

Lightkeepers

Each book in this series contains ten short biographies. These books could be a helpful bridge between the picture book biographies and chapter books biographies. However, I liked this series mostly because it quickly helped me decide which missionaries my children would most engage with. If you were sharing these with your children, I’d recommend this for ages around six – ten years.

Trailblazers

These chapter books are great for eight – ten year olds, and there are more than sixty in the series! I’ve found these stories to be sensitively written so that even the heroes death is not shockingly upsetting but shared in such a way that points to the hope they had as a believer and the legacy they left behind. These books are written by various authors. Some easier to read than others but each one worth the read! This is the series that I am currently sharing with my daughter, age nine.

Christian Heroes Then and Now

This series is more comprehensive than the Trail Blazers and there are about fifty books in the series. These books inspired and educated me, but I personally feel that my daughter will get more from these books when she is a little older. For this reason, I would recommend this series for children over the age of ten.

The Torchlighters DVDs

Each episode is a 30 minute animation, telling the story of a Christian hero. These are great to watch once children have read about a particular person, but they could also stand alone and just be an enjoyable and enriching DVD for a rainy day! The Torchlighters website also has free coloring pages and quizzes! My daughter enjoyed these when she was nine.