How To Lead A Child To Christ

The goal of every children's ministry worker is to see the children they teach come to an acceptance of Christ as their Savior. Yet, when the moment comes, I've seen many teachers balk, afraid they don't know enough or they might miss something. They call their pastor, letting him "finish the job."

The goal of every pastor and church leader is to equip church members to be able to do this important work! As I've expressed often in this blog, my guiding verse is 2 Timothy 2:2: "And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others." You can lead a child to Christ. Here's how:

When I talk to a child about salvation, I use a combination of what is known as "The Four Spiritual Laws" and "The Five Finger Exercise." Kids are great at spitting back what they've heard all their lives. It's important that you get beneath the surface with them, that you discover their motives for wanting to accept Christ and that they believe with their heart that Jesus is the Son of God. So, after I've explained each step, I ask the child, "Are you ready for this?" It's amazing to me that, if children aren't ready, they will at one point back down, and say, "No I'm not ready."
Let's go through the steps.

1) Believe. I ask the child, "Who is Jesus? What did he come to do? Why did Jesus die? How do you know this?" I explain that belief means we accept these facts are true. I cover the first three steps of the Four Spiritual Laws:

• God has a wonderful plan for your life.




• Man turned against God by his sin.




• God loved man so much he was willing to sacrifice His Son so He could regain a relationship with man.
  

All this is in termsthe child can understand. Then I ask, "Do you believe that Jesus is God's Son and He died for you so you could go to Heaven?" If the answer is "yes," we move on.

2) Repent. I define repentance by walking one way then turning around and walking the other way. Repentance means we are willing to admit we have done wrong, we are willing to stop doing wrong, and we are willing to start obeying God and living life His way.

I ask the child, "What have you done wrong? Are you sorry you did those things? Do you do things that God doesn't like?" This is a hard but crucial step. Some children have a hard time admitting they have done anything wrong. If they can't admit they have sinned, it's best not to press them and wait until they are ready. You haven't failed. You are planting seeds that show them what is needed. The Holy Spirit will begin to do His job of convicting them of their sin.

3) Confess. Confessing is not just telling a church congregation you want to accept Christ. Confession means you are willing to show other people you believe in Christ, that you will stand up for Christ, that you can admit to others that you are a Christian, even when it may be unpopular to do so.

I ask, "Would you be willing to tell your friends and other people that you love Jesus? Who would you like to tell? Are you willing to show you believe in Jesus by doing what He says?" Again, the answer to this question is crucial. If the child says yes, go to step 4.

4) Be baptized. I realize baptism by immersion is controversial. Baptism as a crucial part of salvation is not merely my opinion. I go by what Scripture says. I invite you to check out such passages as Acts 2:38, Romans 6:4, I Peter 3:21 and the stories of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 and the Philippians jailer in Acts 16.

I explain that baptism is a symbol of what is happening inside us. When we are baptized, we show other people that we are willing to "die" to the old way we used to live and become a new person, a person who loves God and wants to commit the rest of our lives to following what God says. At this point, we show the child the baptistry, and explain how someone is baptized. We ask if the child has any questions about baptism and how it's done. Finally we ask, "Are you ready to be baptized?" If the child says no, we assure them that they can tell us when they are ready at any time.

5) Live the Christian life by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is more a point of reassurance. I tell the child that sometimes it will be hard to do what Jesus wants them to do. But God has provided a helper called the Holy Spirit. Any time, they don't know what to do or they find it hard to obey God, they can ask for God's help. When they become a Christian, I tell them, God will always be with them and He will show them how to live the way He wants them to live.

Sharing Jesus becomes addictive. Once you've experienced the thrill of leading a child or anyone for that matter to an acceptance of the transformational gift Christ offers, you will want to do it again and again and again. I can't wait to hear your stories!

It's Easter Egg Time!

This is the week of my annual Easter Egg dying party. As soon as we had children, I wanted to recapture my fond memories of dying Easter eggs at Grandma and Grandpa Sharp’s house. I never liked Easter egg hunts, mostly because I couldn’t see well and everybody got to the eggs before I could get close enough to see them. I have fond memories however, of dying eggs with my grandparents. Grandma would mix the dyes and scold Grandpa to come help the children dye eggs, “We have to do this. We always do this, yada yada, fuss, fuss.” Grandpa would grumble, but as he sat down next to me, I would catch his characteristic closed mouth grin that communicated he was enjoying himself.

My parents lived too far away to continue the grandparent tradition but that wasn’t going to stop me. As soon as my girls could sit at a table, I introduced the time honored tradtion. However, there are only so many eggs preschoolers can dye and so many eggs a family can eat. The next year, we invited the children of the Methodist minister to dye eggs with us.

The next year, I decided to turn it into an outreach party. And so the famous Wingate egg parties were born. Each year, we tried to invite different people. One year, I invited my Sunday school class of 5th and 6th graders. Price of admission: one dozen hard boiled eggs and one friend. Another year, I invited my seventeen piano students. Half of them were from churched families; the other half were not. I asked a few leading questions about why we dye eggs before Easter, and my churched kids were off and running in telling the Resurrection story. Yet another year, we made a cake in the shape of a cross/ I simply asked, “Why the cross?” Again, those that knew were eager to tell.

I feared my girls and their friends would outgrow the Easter egg dying tradition; instead, they have become more creative. They’ve drawn Resurrection messages on the eggs with white crayons before dipping them in the dye. They learned how to blow out raw eggs then paint the shells with acrylic paint. We keep saying we’re going to dye eggs one year using natural dyes like tea and red cabbage. This year, we’re going to wet the eggs, then wrap them in different colors of tissue paper. When the eggs dry, we’ll peel off the tissue, to reveal beautiful colors. Some of the girls’ high school friends eagerly accept their invitation each year, saying, “That was so fun last year.”

We pray as we invite friends and we leave ourselves open for divine opportunities. They always come. One year, one girl burst into tears when my husband took pictures, crying, “I hate having my picture taken. I’m so fat and ugly!” I took her aside and discovered a world of hurt and lack of confidence from a horribly low self image. I was able to share with her about One who made her and accepted her as she was.

This year, we decided to invite the high school Sunday School class I teach and the younger Sunday class, the third through fifth graders. When I told my youngest daughter, now a junior in high school, she said, “That’s a great idea, Mom. That way, when I go off to college, you’ll have a group in the making so you can keep having your Easter egg parties.” With a bit of sadness, I realized an era was coming to an end, yet Christine was right. Even without my own children, I can keep telling the wonders of the Resurrection story through Easter eggs.

It almost seems too easy, too fun. I get to share Jesus and my love for him while doing an activity I absolutely love to do and I get to be around people I love to be with – children and teenagers. But maybe that’s what Jesus meant in Matthew 28:19. The Greek word for “Go” actually means, ‘As you go.” As we go about our daily lives, doing what we do, using the gifts God has given, Jesus asked us to make disciples. Whether it’s dying Easter eggs, participating in a softball team, or being part of a band, we’re to be Christ’s representative, building relationships and showing Jesus has made a difference in our lives. Sounds like a great idea to me!