Sharing the Gospel with your Children

When I was at the Desiring God 2010 National Conference, I happened across a small, spiral bound book entitled, Helping Children Understand the Gospel.  I thought it might be worthwhile to share a few thoughts from the book as I happen upon them. 

• As God's sowers, we are called to: 1) Pray for the hearts of children, because without the Spirit of God working in them they cannot be saved (1 Corinthians 3:5-7), 2) Teach the Word of God diligently all the time, in all places, under all circumstances (Deuteronomy 6:7), and 3) Model a life of faith evidencing that we love the LORD our God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our might (Deuteronomy 6:5).
• When presenting the gospel to children, it is important to emphasize that salvation is not based on anything they do, but on what Jesus accomplished on the cross.  In the Introduction to the Firm Foundations curriculum, Trevor McIlwain explains it this way:  "The Gospel is not man accepting Jesus as his savior, but that God accepted the Lord Jesus as the perfect and only Savior two thousand years ago.  The Gospel is not man giving his heart to Jesus, but that Christ gave His life, His whole being, in the place of sinners.  [...] The sinner is only to trust what has already been done on his behalf." 
• There are genuine conversion of young children, but many times we confuse spiritual interest with saving faith.  It is easy to confuse childhood curiosity with conviction. [...] We need to impress upon children that the person who is truly trusting in Jesus will continue to trust in Jesus.  [...] Persevering faith is a sign of genuine faith. 
• The job of the sower is to keep the Gospel in front of the child--to keep sowing the Word of God upon every opportunity; to break up clumps of soil with discipline and training; and to water the seed with unceasing prayer. 
• We must also be intentional in cultivating the soil when sowing spiritual seed.  If we want the Gospel message to be understood and embraced, we should create an environment where the Gospel will flourish.  A child without rules or discipline will have trouble embracing the Gospel.  He has not learned that rules are non-negotiable, that there are consequences to actions, or that authority must be respected.  Why would he ever believe that God is sovereign over all His creation?  Or that the Ten Commandments are God's absolute rules of conduct?  Or even that wrongdoing results in punishment--that he needs a Savior because hell is real?  We are so afraid of being labeled "legalistic" or "fundamentalistic" that we don't give children behavioral expectations or even moral standards. 
• Chlidren will never love the atoning work of Christ on the cross if they don't understand how much they need a Savior. 
• In days gone by, children learned the commandments before they learned John 3:16, because only then did John 3:16 have real meaning for them. 
• A big mistake that many Christian parents make is to jump too quickly to the Gospel without giving the child time to grasp the implications of God's holiness and his sin. 
• Remember that conversion does not always happen instantaneously but often involves a journey of questioning, evaluating, struggling, and learning to trust.  Conversion is a process.  The struggle is good--the ugliness of the human heart needs to be experienced and grieved over. 
• Conversion is a process, not an event. 
• The danger we need to be wary of is assuming that a child is saved because he articulates a knowledge of God and the Gospel.  [...]At times we may not know for sure whether faith is genuine or not.  We can have a reasonable hope that a child may be truly converted, but if we do not know, we should continue to present the truths of the Gospel. 
• We do have hypocrites among the children of our churches.  For those who think they are saved but show no evidence of saving faith, we need to lovingly discern whether there are evidences of saving faith and challenge them to examine their hearts and lives. 
• Embracing the Gospel is not simply a one-time decision.  The truths of the Gospel should embrace all of life.  We must therefore teach the Gospel diligently--when we sit down at home or walk along the way, lie down, or rise. 
• Ultimately, saving faith is not determined by our presentation of the message, or the manner in which we present it.  We are called to be faithful and "acquaint" our children with the sacred writings, but it is God alone who brings about saving faith.  We can prepare the soil of a child's heart.  We can plant the seed of the Gospel.  We can water the Gospel by explaining and reviewing its amazing truths.  But that Gospel seed will lie dormant in the heart of a child until God, if He wills it, by the power of the Holy Spirit causes that seed to burst forth into newness of life. 

The authors conclude by going through 10 devotionals for presenting the gospel to your children.  If you are interested in obtaining a copy, you can get it here for $7.50.