The Solution:
Teach Children the Why and How of Inviting
Elementary-age children are capable of understanding why sharing
their faith is important. They can comprehend that God made all
people in his image and that he longs to have a friendship with
them.
Use these ideas to teach children how to share their faith:
- Infiltrate your ministry with the message that God wants to
have a relationship with every person, and it's important for us to
love everyone and help others understand that he loves us all.
- Use the Wordless Book and the Gospel Flipper-Flapper, two
excellent tools developed by Child Evangelism Fellowship
(cefpress.com).
- Form pairs and use role-plays to help children become
comfortable inviting friends to church. Brainstorm responses to
common objections, such as "Church is boring" or "I don't believe
in God."
Problem #2:
We Teach the Wrong Story
Ask children what it means to be a Christian, and you'll
frequently hear answers such as reading the Bible, going to church,
praying, and doing good things.
When I conducted baptism interviews, I used to be dismayed by such
answers. A quick survey of moral-development theories by Jean
Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg reminded me that children naturally
see right and wrong in terms of keeping rules and avoiding
punishment. However, the whole point of Christianity is that we're
unable to keep the rules, so we need a Savior. Once we become
connected to God, our mission moves from rule-keeping to loving God
and our neighbors.
Abstract concepts such as grace and love take longer for children
to grasp. As a result, kids naturally fall back on concepts they
understand, thereby reducing Christianity to an exercise in being
virtuous. Such black-and-white thinking is what causes children to
categorize everyone they meet as either good or bad, heroes or
villains. To young minds, God loves the good people but hates the
bad ones.
My wife, Amy, and I have been encouraging our middle son, Nate, to
befriend and share his faith with a classmate named Alex, who
struggles with learning and misbehaves so much he seems to have a
standing appointment with the principal. His classmates have
decided that Alex is bad news, and many just avoid him. Nate
invited Alex to church, only to have Alex explain that he's a bad
kid, so God doesn't like him. Church isn't a place for such kids,
in Alex's mind.
We subtly reinforce this teaching by using curriculum that reduces
Christianity to a moral code. In our attempts to make the Bible
applicable, we disconnect Bible lessons from their broader context
and attach morals such as "Be kind," "Be loving," or "Be
industrious." There's nothing wrong with these virtues because part
of God's plan involves restoring his people's moral character. But
Scripture is driven by God's motivation: He's committed to the lost
and broken people he made. He extends himself to the point of death
out of his love for us all.
