After church one Sunday, I ate with some friends and their young children. The three-year-old started talking about what she had learned in her class that day.
The conversation went like this:
Child: God loves everybody, doesn’t He?
Dad: What does John 3:16 say?
Mom (smiling): She doesn’t know John 3:16.
Dad: Everyone knows John 3:16!
We all laughed. Many Christians do know John 3:16, but we aren’t born knowing it!
Christian parents want their children to grow up knowing God. They want their children to understand that God sacrificed His only Son for their salvation. They want their children to be intentional about serving Him.
But how do we do that? How do we explain to a preschooler what the gospel is all about?
Educators have written entire books about the subject, so summing everything up in a short blog post can only skim the surface. But even skimming the surface heads us in the right direction.
Recognize that children are starting at the beginning. They aren’t coming in with preconceived ideology nor do they have understanding of the basics that most adults have at least considered. So we need to start at point one. We need to remind our children that God created the heavens and the earth and that “heavens and earth” includes kittens, bugs, parents, laughter, friends, blueberry muffins …
Repeat, repeat, repeat. Kids learn by repetition. Most can’t pick up a book or search a website so they learn through our words. We can pray with them. We can talk about God as the opportunities present themselves during the day. We can end the day by learning about a Bible character or event.
Regularly involve them in church. Teachers/leaders at church support what we teach them at home. “Not only are Dad and Mom saying this to me, but that friendly teacher/leader in my class. The story I heard in church is the same one I heard in that Bible book Mom reads me at night.”
Role modeling our own faith before them is the best communicator. Are we excited about Bible study, prayer, church attendance? Do we take our kids along when we visit at a nursing home or take soup to an ailing neighbor? Do we tell our children when/why we trusted Christ as Savior? (Sometimes our own faith story resonates with them in a unique way – especially if we trusted Christ as a young child ourselves.)
No, our children don’t come into the world with John 3:16 already memorized, but we can lovingly, patiently and consistently teach/show them the gospel message by what we say and by what we do.
