The sentiment expressed by the apostle John is one with which many Christian parents can identify:

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” 3 John 1:4 NIV

Before our children can learn to walk with God, they first need to be taught the message of the gospel. Only then can they have a meaningful opportunity to come to a personal faith in Christ for salvation. Only then can they begin their journey with God.

Furthermore, putting the gospel in context is a valuable help in understanding its message. When children have a creation-to-the-cross perspective of the gospel message, it becomes the framework upon which the rest of Scripture can be built.

Many of us want our children to have a good grasp of the good news but we have questions and concerns as to how we can teach them. We may be thinking:

•  “What should I teach? What’s essential for my children

to understand about the gospel?"

•  “I don’t think I am a gifted teacher, but

I want to do my best. I need some help.”

•  “I’m not sure my children are interested. I don’t want

to bore them or turn them off.”

•  “I’m skeptical of my children’s capacity to understand

such things at their age.”

•  “What do I do if my kids have doubts about the Bible and I can’t answer them?”

As an equipping ministry, we would like to share the following tried-and-tested ideas that have helped many parents with this task. But first, it would be beneficial to understand some of the key challenges.

“How do I share the gospel in a way so that they have strong foundations upon which to build their Christian lives?”

1. A lack of context provided for understanding the message

The gospel of John is what most believers turn to when sharing the gospel. This is rightfully so, because this is the main purpose for which the book was written. John himself stated:

“These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:31 NIV

The message was clear to the original audience. Those of Jesus’ day knew the background stories and understood the Old Testament history that John draws on to explain the gospel.

However, the accounts we read in John took place millennia ago in another time and culture far removed from the world with which our children are familiar. Today we don’t have the same background knowledge that John’s original audience had. If you were to read just the first two chapters of John with your children and then ask them to highlight every mention of a person, place, event or any other piece of information that they didn’t understand, you would likely find huge portions of text highlighted.

In the first two chapters alone, there are no less than 55 references to concepts, customs, characters and geographical places which are either foreign to most people today or their significance isn’t understood. This includes such terms as: Lamb of God, Moses, priests, baptizing, Jewish Passover and temple.

In such cases, communicating the gospel clearly will be a challenge because they lack understanding of the context of the message.

2. Use of a haphazard approach to reading the Bible

Think of what would happen if you played out this scenario with your children. Pick out a new book to read to them, first opening it to the middle. Begin by reading aloud a section before flipping back to the introduction to read. Continue by jumping to another chapter. As you skip from page to page, not only would you probably succeed in confusing your children, but they would also feel very frustrated by the way they heard the story told in bits and pieces. They will end up not understanding the story at all or seriously misunderstanding it.

Children today don’t have the same background knowledge that John’s original audience had.

How then should we share the gospel in a meaningful way with our children? From our experience, here are five recommendations:

1. Stick to the core message

The Bible is a big book and it speaks about hundreds of controversial subjects and covers many aspects of life. When sharing the gospel, it is important to stick to the gospel and not get sidetracked by other subjects. The gospel is the core message of the Bible and we want to stay with this topic first.

2. Develop a “clothesline” of key events

In sharing the gospel, we want to focus on certain key events of the Bible that relate to this topic, beginning in Genesis and progressing to the cross. It’s akin to hanging up only certain articles of clothing on a clothesline. Focusing on the big picture of the gospel means that we will be leaving out many stories. There will be “gaps in the clothesline,” so to speak. Once your children understand the gospel message, that will be the time to go back and fill in the gaps.

3. Stick to the four irreducible minimums of the gospel

In order for the gospel to make sense to your children, you need to focus on four key essentials in your explanation of the good news. Neglecting any one of them deprives the gospel of important content necessary for your child to make sense of the gospel.

These four irreducible minimums are:

Frequently, the first point—a Holy God—has been understated or overlooked yet it is key to one’s grasp of the gospel.  For more information on the irreducible minimums, read this article.

This chronological method of sharing the gospel has an added benefit: it provides an important framework for helping your child understand the rest of Scripture. With the core story in place and the foundation set, when a child reads the rest of Scripture, he or she has enough structure, background and understanding to properly understand the other sections of the Bible. The clothesline is in place and the child can hang the other portions of Scripture in its correct place.

Time Requirement: Do this as fast as you can but as slow as you must. This helps the children understand the story as one narrative while ensuring they understand. This will take approximately 2 hours on average.

Read: Cover one chapter a day over 10 days, or two chapters a day for five days; or cover the whole book in one sitting. However, do not rush through it.

Ensure understanding: Ask your children the questions at the end of each chapter. Make sure they can answer all the questions accurately. If they are not able to, read the relevant portion and ask the questions again. Do this till they understand it clearly. Do not progress in the story before that.

Retell: At the end of the book, ask them to retell the story. Listen to the details as they retell to check for understanding. If they forget or stumble, go back to that section and read it to them again.

Believe: Ask them questions found at the end of the book and in this link to determine what they believe.

Reinforce: Play them the optional audio CD that accompanies the book. You can put the CD on while they follow along with the book or play it like an audiobook during a car ride. Do this often till they know the story well.

Visual Aid: If you would like a lamb as a visual aid to help them remember the message, you can consider using this.

Colour: Offer colouring pages to help your children remember the main points.`

Craft: Do a lamb craft as a fun activity to reinforce the lessons. Try this.

Study: Using a Bible, help your children look up the verses listed at the bottom of the pages in The Lamb. Explain the Bible verses in the context of how the book was presented to them. This trains children on how to look up Scripture and gets them into the habit of always checking what is taught against what God’s Word says.

Additional tools: The Lamb is also available in DVD format. After you have guided your children through The Lamb, the DVD can be used to reinforce what they have learned. The DVD goes through the entire book.

they glean new insights and their depth of understanding increases

Grounding your children in the gospel is not as hard as it appears. Here are a number of testimonies sent to us of parents and children learning and sharing the gospel.

Mommy, I understand

Suzanne,* had an autistic son and she despaired over how she could share the gospel with him. After thinking about it, her friend Jill told her, “I think I have just the book for you.” She passed Suzanne a copy of The Lamb. Read what happened.

In-ká-hai captured the minds of my children

Our family has really enjoyed reading In-ká-hai! I have read it to the family, one chapter at each sitting. We finished the epilogue tonight and we will go through the study questions the remainder of this week. Read more.

It’s a shame I didn’t understand as a teenager. I might not have rebelled.

Recently my sister, Sue,* has been inquisitive about God and the Bible. I suggested she read, The Stranger. She told me she couldn’t put it down! She wrote me an email and I was so moved and thankful in my heart for God’s working in her life. Read more.

Make the gospel story a Christmas tradition

For many children, Christmas is the best holiday of the year with Christmas gifts, a tree trimmed with decorations, and feasting! They grow up with many happy memories of Christmas. As believers, we especially want our children to remember Christmas as a time when Jesus is the focus of our attention. We want to cultivate memories of celebrating God coming to earth to fulfill his promise of a Saviour. We want our children to recognize that Christmas is part of the larger story of the gospel of Jesus. Read more.

Teach God’s Word to your kids amidst the busyness

John sighed to himself as he tucked his children into bed, “How am I supposed to teach my children what they need to know about God when there just aren’t enough hours in a day!” Read more.

Worldview Rethink curriculum: a handy gospel tool for parents

It is important for moms and dads to ground their families in God’s Word. But many parents (especially fathers) are so busy providing, it’s difficult for them to find time to share the truths of God’s Word with their children. Many parents also don’t feel comfortable teaching the Bible because they haven’t had any “training.” Where should they start?

How do I use visual aids to teach the Tabernacle to children?

The Tabernacle of Moses can be a difficult subject to teach, especially to children. How do you explain the meaning of this seemingly obsolete structure, its strange furnishings, and all the complicated priestly rituals related to it? Pam, a children’s ministry director at a California church, found that with the help of the free Sunday school lessons and painting guide downloaded from GoodSeed, her first-to-fifth grade midweek group was soon absorbed in the great visual aid God gave the Israelites that points to Christ. Read more.

When family rejects the gospel

It’s heartbreaking when family, for one reason or another, don’t believe. If you have complicated family relationships where sharing the gospel is risky and discouraging, you’re not alone. Here are some encouraging insights and practical ideas for you. Read more.

I just can’t share the gospel with my family. It’s too hard.

Brother, sisters, parents, in-laws and children—they’re the people who have seen you at your worst, argued with you, who know your strengths as well as your weaknesses. Here are some stories of real people who shared the Good News with their loved ones. Read more.