Lindsay called one day close to Easter and asked to talk about Owen, the firstborn of her three boys. Owen is four. Lindsay explained that Owen had learned in Sunday School that he should tell his neighbors about Jesus, and well, that was exactly what he wanted to do. He had been pestering her for weeks now, and after praying and talking to her husband, there just really wasn’t any way out. Lindsay wondered if they could come down and talk to me.

When Ryan, Lindsay, and the three boys got to my porch, Owen seemed to have lost his zeal.  It was a lot scarier to talk to strangers about Jesus than he had imagined. He hid behind Mommy’s legs. (I have been on evangelistic visits where I wished I could hide behind somebody’s legs!)  But I sat down by the little brothers in tow in the wagon and Lindsay broke the ice.

Lindsay: “Tell Miss Robin about the picture you drew,”

Owen: “The one of Jesus on the cross?”

Lindsay: “Yes. That one. Why did Jesus die on the cross?”

Owen: “To forgive us for our sins.”

Lindsay: “And how do you get Jesus to forgive your sins?”

Owen: “By asking Jesus to forgive you.”

Lindsay: “Can you ask Miss Robin if she has asked Jesus to forgive her sins?”

Owen: “Have you asked Jesus to forgive your sins?”

Miss Robin: “Thank you for asking that Owen! Yes I have, a long time ago. But I am very proud of you for telling me about Jesus, and coming to see me.”

After Owen got down to business he also told me about the symbolism of each Resurrection Egg in the package, (all 12, and he didn’t miss a one.)  Of course I gave him copies of Answers for New Christians, BiC’s Baptism, and The Grumpy Monk.

Owen blessed my socks off. Watching him conquer his fear and obey his Lord at four years old kind of made me think about my level of obedience. Lindsay reported that after they left my house he proceeded to all the other neighbors  that were home. He knocked on the doors all by himself and told his neighbors that Jesus loves them. I kind of think that is what Jesus was talking about in Matt. 28:19-20.  This is a memory I will treasure forever!

When I started growing as a Christian, after I was an adult, I joined an evangelism class. One of the exercises we did was write our testimonies. This seemed simple enough, until I tried to do it! We were supposed to tell what our lives were like before Christ, how we became  Christians, and what difference the Lord made in our lives. I had been in church all of my life, but my spiritual experience was all jumbled up! I could not articulate my salvation experience.

I remembered being baptized at age 5 in our church swimming pool. (We didn’t have a baptistry yet.) I don’t remember anything else about that “salvation” experience. I just remember being baptized. After hours of soul searching and prayer, something came back to me that was buried deep in my subconscious. I remembered a revival service when I was ten years old where a preacher named “John 3:16 Cook” gave a fiery testimony. Now I vividly recall the entire service. At the end of the service he said, “If you don’t remember the day and the time that you gave your life to Christ, you need to do that today.” Those words jarred me, and I felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit. I went forward to receive Christ, although I had already been baptized.

This part is funny to me, because it is so typical. When I was presented to the church, our deacon said, “Robin has come forward today because she doesn’t remember the day and the time that she accepted Christ, and she would like to do that today. But she did already do that, and we all remember it.” And that was it. Nothing more was ever said to me or about my decision until the day I got the assignment to write my testimony. I believe that the service with John 3:16 Cook was the time when I was saved.  After finishing my testimony writing assignment, I went on to be baptized by my Pastor, Dr. Anthony Jordan. The reason I was baptized again was to get my baptism in the proper order…after my salvation. I have had perfect peace about my salvation and baptism since this time.

This is one reason I believe that it is so important to help children drive down stakes and remember their salvation experiences. That’s why I put the keepsake section in the back of Answers For New Christians. This little scrapbooking section lets children take pictures of their churches, thier pastors, their Sunday School Teachers to keep in their books. There is a place for the child to write his or her salvation memories, and a spot for parents and teachers to write blessings and prayers for the new Christian. These types of affirmations are very helpful. It affirms and helps children remember the details of their salvation experience.

Early one morning during Christmas break I was doing my treadmill drudgery at the gym.  A ornery looking little boy came over and started running on the treadmill next to me. He was so cute, about 10 years old or so. Since I have two boys (grown now) it was natural for us to start talking. He was a real little man. He told me all about football teams and who was going to win the Super Bowl. During the course of our talk, he told me that his dad was the man at the desk, and he was staying with him during Christmas break. After we parted ways I felt a leading from the Holy Spirit, and wondered about his salvation.

The next day I brought the whole library of my books up to the gym. I presented my new friend with signed copies of Answers For New Christians, BiC’s Baptism, and The Grumpy Monk. He was very happy with his new books and I felt good giving them to him. The next time I saw his dad, he thanked me for the books, and confided that he had been very concerned for his son’s salvation, and that the little boy had been asking to be baptized.

Yesterday, my little friend’s dad told me that since that time, he and his son had started going to church together, and that the boy was scheduled to be baptized in September. I praise God for leading me to share my gift with that little boy. I am continuing to pray that he will grow up to be a great man of God.

The book of Genesis is very helpful in helping children understand sin. When teaching kids about sin, I like to start at the beginning! ( How’s that for a unique method?) When telling this story, I like to read the account from the Bible. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1   Be sure to read these first two chapters together.  Read with confidence, declaring the beauty of the beginning. (No, some slime did NOT crawl out of a pond and turn into a frog that turned into a bird that turned into monkeys that turned into people.)

Chapter 3 starts the story of Adam and Eve.  From this story children need to grasp that Eve had a choice, and she chose to disobey God. Adam had a choice, and he chose to disobey God.  That choice was costly, it cost Adam and Eve eternal bliss in the garden with God, and it cost us this priveledge too.  (Sin always hurts us and others.) Children should understand that sin is anything we do that goes against what God wants us to do. We can know what God wants us to do by reading His word and praying.

When our children disobey, we must make sure that they know exactly what they have done wrong. We must point it out, and then refer back to God. We must help children to understand that when they disobey Mommy or Daddy, they also are disobeying God. Reminiscent of David, when he was sorrowing over his sin said to God, “Against Thee and Thee only have I sinned.”

Your converstation could go something like this, “Why did you talk ugly (or whatever the offense was)  to Mommy just now?  What does the Bible say about this? I also like to ask, ‘How do you think it makes God feel when you sin and do (whatever it was)?’”

At this point, you get out your Bible and look up the verses Honor thy father and thy mother, Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right; and a couple of verses on the tongue. Then allow the child some time to think about what he or she has done.  Allowing a child to sit for ten minutes or so alone without the benefit of TV, or other electronics, or stimuli can give the Holy Spirit a chance to speak to him or her.

This is not a quick or necessarily easy way to teach kids about sin. It requires parenting by real parents, not government regulated proxies. It requires a commitment to the heart of your child, and a willingness to see childhood sins as God sees them, and not overlook them. (Little sins become big ones later on!) Children develop and understanding of sin through repeated teaching of God’s word and godly discipline.

Would you like see a video of me reading Chapter One of my salvation curriculum, Answers For New Christians?

When I first started working with New Christian children, I was really surprised at how few of them understand sin. This is the reason that Answers For New Christians starts with the story of Adam and Eve. After all, how can you be saved if you don’t know that you are a sinner? What are you saved from?

Part of the problem is the fact that children are afraid if they say they did something wrong, they might get in trouble. So it’s hard to know. But I remember one little girl  who was about five years old.  She was in the the New Christian class. We went through the story of Adam and Eve. We went over Romans 3:23. and Romans 5:8.  (Bear in mind, that in order to be in this class, a child had to profess a desire to be saved either in a worship service, or to a parent or teacher. So most all of the children in our New Christian Class had already prayed to receive Christ.) When I got to the sin workbook page in Answers For New Christians, I asked her the question, “Are you a sinner?”

She did not hesitate.  “She looked me square in the eye and said, “NO!”

I was a little taken aback, and went over the material again. I asked her again, in a little different way this time, “Have you ever sinned?”

She repeated her answer. I went over the river and through the woods, explaining sin, how I had sinned, and everybody, even she had sinned.  Then it got ugly. She got angry and wrinkled up her little brow, and informed me that she had NEVER sinned.  At that point, I had to just gently tell her that the Bible said that she had sinned, and that I would pray for her. This child had not been saved, because she had never come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. No matter how great our Bible stories are, the Holy Spirit is the one who draws people to himself. As parents and teachers we must pray for our children to realize that they need to be forgiven of their sins.