Were you ever a junior soldier? I was—in fact, I got saved at a junior soldier camp when I was six years old, after which I became a junior soldier. One of the great disciplines that I learned in my junior soldier days was to “Read your Bible, pray every day!” (as the old Sunday School song goes). The idea is that prayer and Bible reading—what The Salvation Army used to call spiritual “rations”—is meant to be as regular and frequent as breakfast or physical rations. God and toast—get it?  

Even if you weren’t a junior soldier, if you are reading this, you probably know one. To help our junior soldiers nail this basic spiritual discipline and get to know Jesus better, the brand new, 365-day rations resource called God & Toast is now available online for free. You and all of the kids you know can download it here: God & Toast. 

It’s been field-tested for years with a bunch of kids in different contexts. Each day’s activity is based on “JR SOLDIER”:

JR:     Jehovah Rocks 
S:      See it 
O:      On it 
L:       Learn it 
D:      Do it 
I:       In it 
E:      Eat it 
R:      Read it 

The daily activities include prayer, a daily Bible reading, teaching, a spiritual discipline, a glimpse into The Salvation Army, a memory verse (including explanations) and a practical challenge. The daily “Do it” challenges range from fun adventures to intercessory prayer and evangelism.  

God & Toast also features a free accompanying album of 40 original memory verse songs called God & Toast, composed and performed by Phil Laeger, along with singing companies from around the world (including our own North York Temple Singing Company). It’s available on Spotify, Apple Music, etc. There are 40 weekly memory verses, plus 11 weeks on the doctrines and one on the junior soldier promise, so that kids will internalize basic truths of the gospel and great commission.

This is a resource that your favourite junior soldier can do by herself every day, all year long. Or maybe all of your favourite junior soldiers can do it together, connecting with each other to talk, share struggles for prayer and victories for celebration. This gluten-free, high-protein regimen works not only with toast but also with eggs, bacon and cereal!

Let us know how we can support the junior soldiers taking the plunge at CANBDA.youth@salvationarmy.ca.