In this final part of the series on children and salvation I want to suggest 5 different ways we can share the Gospel with children.
A good illustration is captivating, clear and true to the Bible (without needing to be twisted!). Here are 5 of my favourites.
1. The wordless book
This great book was first made by Charles Spurgeon in 1866 and now produced by the Child Evangelism Fellowship. It has not words in it, but each page contains a colour. See the graphic below for more details.
2. The exchange at the cross
This is a way that we share the Gospel with all children. It works really well with very young children.
Have a large cross in the room, with some smiley face hanging off it (enough for every child to have one and some to spare).
One person comes on looking very sad with a sad emoji sign. They approach the cross and swap the sad emoji for the smiley face. ‘Jesus swapped my sadness at the cross.’
Another person comes on with the word naughty on a sign and goes to the cross – ‘Jesus swapped by naughtiness at the cross.’
Someone else can come on coughing with a sign showing sickness. When they go to the cross they swap the sign for a smiley face – ‘Jesus swapped my sickness at the cross.’
You can choose other things to swap.
Explain how Jesus swapped everything at the cross. The children can then respond by writing/drawing on a sign (or taking a sad emoji sign to represent bad things). They can approach the cross and hand it over to Jesus who will swap their bad things for his goodness.
Following this we have seen two year olds grasp the Gospel and others freed from nightmares.
3. Flash paper
Flash paper is used by magicians to produce the flash of flame that appears as they pull out flowers from their sleave. It burns quickly, leaving no trace behind.
Using the flash paper to represent sin, we show children what happens when we give our sin to God – ‘If we confess our sin, God will forgive our sin.’ It goes without a trace, not a sign left to be seen. In the same way God removes our sin from us (as far as the East is from the West, he washes us whiter than the snow).
Who would want to hold on to their sins, when Christ has dealt with it.
4. Burning of sins
On a similar firey theme – we give children a sheet of paper to write on any sins they have done and any ways they have been hurt. These sheets have simple questions with spaces to prompt their thoughts:
Sin prompts:
Write anything you have done wrong.
Write anything you have said wrong.
Write any bad thoughts you have had.
Write anything you have not done that you should have.
Wound prompts:
Write ways you have been hurt in school.
Write ways you have been hurt at home.
Write anything else that is not right in your life/family.
This moment of reflection on their sins is an important space for them to realise that these things are the barrier between them and God. We are careful not to read what the children write (it’s between them and God) unless they are very young and need help. We also explain it’s the only time spelling does not matter as both you and God know what it says and you are the only people who will be reading it.
We then present the Gospel, talking about what Jesus did on the cross and the price he paid for our sin. After this we have a time to repent and then take the sheets out and burn them in a fire.
5. The origami cross
Check out our next blog where we demonstrate the origami cross with instructions. Okay so that’s the fourth blog in this three part series, but technically its part two of this blog.
What ways have you found to communicate the Gospel clearly to children?
Let us know in the comments.
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