The churches are being offered free student manuals and other materials to reach
10,000 young people in 2013. The program will be expanded Australia-wide at a later stage. Dare to Be a Daniel helps 9 to 14 year olds to better understand their Christian belief and equips them to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with their peers.
The hope is to see this generation of boys and girls established and confident in their faith in Jesus, and with a love and desire to share their faith with their friends.
Churches will attend free teacher training half day seminars in Sydney, Parramatta,
Orange, Dubbo, Tamworth, Newcastle, Nowra, Wagga Wagga and Broken Hill on how to teach the Dare to Be a Daniel discipleship program.
Churches in Broken Hill contacted Billy Graham Evangelistic Association because their town was not on the list of regional Dare to Be a Daniel seminars and a seminar was hastily arranged for Broken Hill.
St Andrews Church in Hong Kong heard of the project through social media and have arranged to link in to the half day seminar via Skype as they want to run the program in their church at their own cost.
"A survey by the International Bible Society (Biblica) indicates that 83% of all US Christians make their commitment to Jesus between the ages of 4 and 14. There is no reason to believe that statistics in Australia are any different", said Jorge Rodrigues, Executive Director of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. "This is a critical age of decision for our sons and daughters and it is imperative that we reach out to them in a way that is both relevant and effective".
For more information go to billygraham.org.au/Dare-to-be-a-Daniel