Leading Our Children to Christ: The Salvation Series (Part 1)

You are the one person in the world that has THE BIGGEST impact on your child’s ETERNITY! Let that sink in. Whew! What an overwhelming thought…that what I say, what I do, how I live my life in front of my children…THAT very well could impact their decision about eternity!

The salvation of my child. That is probably THE MOST IMPORTANT thing on the mind of Christian parents with young children. How do I answer their questions? When are they ready? What if they “get saved” too early, and it really is just a false profession?

This is something that was so intimidating for me as a new mom, so I assume it is the same for other young parents as well. I was afraid I would lead my child to a false profession of faith so that she would doubt her salvation later on in life. But at the same time, I was scared to death that she would never get saved if I didn’t kind of push her. Kids who grow up in Christian homes and who go to church every time the doors are open, don’t ever remember a time in their lives when they didn’t “believe in Jesus.” They’ve been hearing the gospel story since they were babies. So, if they believe that’s all they need right? What more is there?

The good news is that we DON’T HAVE TO be fearful about this. I believe most fear around this topic comes from not being PREPARED. It is pertinent that we as parents are READY to lead our children to Christ!

So think about it. Do you know how to take your children through Scripture and lead them through the plan of salvation from beginning to end? Could you answer their questions about sin? Eternity? Heaven and Hell? Is God really good to send people to hell? It’s time to educate ourselves!

We had friends who were raised to believe that you couldn’t get saved until you were 18. At that point, you would go through a class, get baptized, and that was salvation. They started questioning when their young son started asking about salvation. They were confused by children in our church who were getting saved. “How can they get saved so young?” they wanted to know. They started questioning us, they started searching for answers, and praise the Lord, the whole entire family was born again through that situation.

The fact of the matter is that Jesus WANTS children to come to him at a young age. Praise the Lord! He does not see children as a nuisance, always getting in the way…always getting into trouble. No, He says, “Suffer the little children to come unto me!” He wants us to TAKE OUR CHILDREN TO HIM. What an awesome God!

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“Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. And he laid his hands on them…”

— Matthew 19:13-15

Jesus had such a heart for children. In Matthew chapter 18, he advises us that we must become as a little child in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. In verse 14 of that chapter, he goes on to say, “Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” It is God’s will for children to be saved! Wow! Praise the Lord!

And this is where WE come in. They need a mama and a daddy who will lead them to Jesus! Don’t be intimidated! God loves your children even more than you do. You may have a huge burden for them to be saved, but God has an even greater burden for them! He is the one that gave His life for them! Knowing this, you can be confident that He will help you to effectively lead them to Christ! Pray for His wisdom and guidance to help you to know how and when to deal with your children and trust that He will do the work in His time.

So here’s the real question. HOW???

1. Teach Your Children Who Jesus Is.

Bringing your children to Jesus starts long before the time they actually make a salvation decision. They need to know WHO Jesus is if they are ever going to be drawn to Him! We must take the time to regularly instruct them in who He is. This is one reason why we are huge advocates of Family Bible Time. It’s a built in time in the family rhythm for Biblical instruction. But it doesn’t have to be just that. It can be talking around the dinner table, conversation in the car and so on. This is bringing them up “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

What are God’s teachings? How does He tell us we should live? Who is Jesus Christ? Teach them the the stories of his life as well as THE PERSON of Christ. He is God’s Son, He is one of the trinity, He is love, He is holy, He is kind, He is all powerful. He is the Creator. He has set general moral rules that truly work and bless people when they follow them! Teach them what he thinks about sin, and share the gospel—the death, burial and resurrection. He is the Savior!

We must actively lay a groundwork about who Christ is so our children can have a confidence in who they are trusting in. This is not a pushing or pressuring them into salvation. This is simply teaching them the basics of the Christian faith. As Deuteronomy 6 teaches, find as many ways as you can to incorporate biblical instruction into your home.

2. lIVE jESUS IN FRONT OF YOUR CHILDREN.

Children must see JESUS IN US if they are going to come to Him. Show Christ in your home! HE must be the focus of our living…every moment of every day! Is living a Christian life attractive to our children? Do they want what we have?

Our kids hear us railing on them all the time about their downfalls. You’ve got this sin and that sin…this problem and that problem. At some point they probably tune us out if that’s all we ever do is rail on their issues. Our children know they are sinners. WE HAVE TO DO MORE THAN POINT OUT THEIR PROBLEMS all day every day. They need a solution…A SOLUTION THEY CAN SEE US LIVING OUT.

That’s difficult… because we’re not Jesus! But we are called to be like Him! We can be walking in the Spirit and living out a life that is holy like He is holy. BE IN GOD’S WORD DAILY. You can’t be like Him if you don’t know who He is. PRAY. This Christian life takes so much prayer, but it’s one of the first spiritual disciplines that is dismissed due to lack of time. I read my Bible, so that should be good enough for today. No! Take the time to pray FOR YOURSELF! You need wisdom, you need power, you need strength to show Jesus to your children.

Do your children see Christ’s love in you? Do they see His patience in you? His kindness? His gentleness? His concern? His grace? His mercy? Is your daily life speaking a different message than the words you say? It reminds me of the old children’s song… “Your walk walks, and your talk talks; but your walk talks louder than your talk talks.” It’s true for us adults too. What is your life speaking to your children? Don’t expect your children to be attracted to Christ when they can’t see Christ in you.

Satan will always try to get us to walk in the flesh…especially when we’re raising children. Think about it. If he gets our children, he gets the next several generations. The cost is too high to be constantly living in the flesh when we’re trying to lead our children to Christ. We’ll fail.

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“But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. ”

— Romans 13:14

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“And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”

— Ephesians 4:24

Let me ask you this. How often do you change your clothes? At least once or twice daily, right? If not more? How often are you “putting on the Lord Jesus Christ?” We must clothe ourselves in Him often if we are to live out Jesus in front of our kids.

This leading our children to Christ deal is not just a one time thing. It is literally living out the gospel in your DAILY LIFE.

3. Invite your children to Jesus.

The stage is set. For several years, you’ve been showing your children who Jesus is both by your teaching and by living out the gospel in front of them. You’ve shared the gospel message many, many times. And now you’re not surprised that they’ve started asking questions. You’ll often hear, “I want to get saved mama!” No need to stress! This is what you’ve been hoping, praying and preparing for!

When your children come to you about salvation, don’t dismiss them without sharing the gospel yet again. When they are really young, you might find yourself thinking, “They are way too young to understand.” But don’t miss the opportunity! It might not be the time they accept Christ as their Savior, but you’ve planted yet another seed. In Mark chapter 10, we see how displeased Jesus was when the disciples pushed the children away:

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“And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, HE WAS MUCH DISPLEASED, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. ”

— Mark 10:13-16

Forbid them not mama. Take them up in your arms, put your hands on them, and bless them with the words of Jesus!

4. Share the gospel with them.

This is the part everyone fears the most. What if I miss something?! Being prepared ahead of time helps to calm our fears around leading our children to Christ. Write down the plan of salvation, put notes in your Bible. Be ready to take your child through the entire gospel from beginning to end BEFORE they come to you that first time.

It’s important to be thorough and discerning. A young child may need to hear the gospel explained over and over again before they finally have an understanding and are ready to be saved. Be very careful about pushing children into salvation too soon. Children want to please. They’ll say a prayer with absolutely no understanding if they know how badly you want them to.

Use a Bible. Not saying that a phone or a tract cannot be effective, but if you have the opportunity, open up the Bible and share God’s words about salvation from there. When they come to you, you could say something like, “It’s awesome that God told us how to be saved in His Word! Let’s see what HE has to say about it.” Help them understand that this is not man’s idea, this is

Use stories and pictures that children can relate to to help you explain concepts that might be more difficult to understand. Use tools such as a Wordless Book or an Evangecube. And if you don’t know where to go next, you can always use a kids tract as a guide. (But hopefully, you’ll have prepared beforehand and you are ready!)

Most importantly, pray that God would direct you to the right verses to use with them. Every child is different. You may find that each time you explain the gospel, you use different verses depending on the person. This is why it’s so important to be knowledgeable about the different verses you could use.

And lastly, be ok with them not praying right then. It’s ok if they’re not ready yet!

Now it’s time to lead your child through the plan of salvation! In Part 2, we’ll go through how to actually show your child how to be saved, what verses to read to them, what kinds of illustrations to use, and what to do if they aren’t quite ready!

Praying that this is helpful to you as you navigate leading your little ones to Christ. I’m looking forward to sharing more again next week.

Sarah