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Showers for the Tender Harvest--"Let my teaching fall like showers on tender plants." - Deuteronomy 32:2
Let's "Apologize" To Our Kids
by Jill Nelson (Jill's bio)
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How do we know there is a God? Why do we say Jesus is the only way to salvation? Isn't anything we believe all right, as long as we're sincere?
Profound questions in a supremely confusing world. Our children will be confronted with these daunting puzzles long before we are ready for that to happen. An early and pro-active stance on the part of parents and children's ministers can help ease the confusion, and strengthen our kids against the wiles of the enemy.
Ah, but aren't these subjects rather deep for children? How much can they understand anyway? If we fall for those tired lines, we've issued an unwitting invitation for deception to overtake our children while they are yet young. We can tell them WHAT to believe in nursery school, but before they get much older we must begin to arm them with the knowledge of WHY it should be believed. I am convinced that if we do not effectively communicate the reasons for our faith while our kids are still kids, they will long have sought answers elsewhere before they reach adulthood.
The term for what I'm talking about is apologetics. The dictionary defines this unusual word as a "systematic argumentative discourse in defense (as of a doctrine)" and an "apologist" as "one who speaks or writes in defense of a faith, a cause, or an institution." The Apostle Peter was a premier apologist and instructs us in I Peter 3: 15 that we must always be ready to answer for our faith to an unbelieving world. He didn't say this charge applies only to adults.
One of the most effective subjects I have taught in my tenure as Children's Minister is Christian apologetics. I would cite an outstanding testimony from a fifth grade girl. During the course of a sleepover, her guest began asking exactly the questions I posed in the first lines of this column. My student, fully prepared with a clear and firm understanding of the reasons for her faith, was able to answer her friend's questions so effectively that a child was born into the kingdom of God that very night.
This was no light salvation or meaningless mental assent—as proven by a report from the child's mother. It seems the girl had begun to be a discipline problem at home and her grades in school were slipping. After this date, not only did her attitude improve at home, but her grades began to come up and she was a happier person. All because a ten-year-old was able to answer questions that often make adults stutter.
I hope it will become among our goals for the children in our charge that not one will leave elementary age without the ability to profusely "apologize" for their faith.
If this topic is of interest to you, and you would like to receive a brief outline for a course on Christian apologetics—kidstyle, please e-mail me and I will send it in the text of a reply (no attachments).
Copyright 2002, Jill Nelson. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.
| About Jill Nelson: Children have been the focus of Jill Nelson's ministry for twenty years. She and her husband have four--two boys, two girls--all teenagers. (Prayers, please.) Jill supervises the children's ministry at her local church and delights in writing her own material. Her heart is to glorify God by guiding children into a powerful personal relationship with Him. E-mail Jill |
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