Sharing the Gospel with everyone you encounter

If you have children at home, if you are a grandparent, an aunt, or an uncle, or a member of a church, and you are wondering, "How do I share the Gospel with a child?" Allow me to share my experience as pastor of Mills Home Baptist Church located on the Mills Home campus in Thomasville.

I am in a unique position. I am beyond blessed to have children sitting in the pews with our adults every Sunday morning. I look out into the congregation and know first and foremost that I am presenting the Gospel to everyone—we worship together. The morning's message isn't two sermons—one for children and one for adults. The positive results are evident through the children. Since God has called me to be the pastor, I have seen children from the ages of seven to eighteen place their faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the work of the Spirit. It is the harvest from seeds planted.

Jesus shares with His followers the Parable of the Sower. He recounts the story of a man who spreads the seed of the Gospel everywhere he goes. How the seed grows depends on how the soil receives it. The parable is clearly about Jesus and how the good news is for everyone. It is also a lesson about how you and I should share the Gospel. It is our role, as ambassadors of Jesus Christ, to share the Gospel with everyone. So instead of asking, "How do I share the Gospel with a child?" We can ask ourselves, "How do I share the Gospel with anyone?"

Rev. Luis Quintanar

I reframe the question from what I have learned as Mills Home pastor. For nearly 140 years, we have been the church for children in our care—as well as the adults attending. We do not separate the two. Not because children are unimportant, but because the question of how to share the Gospel is the same. I have found sitting side by side with adults encourages our children's spiritual development.

Consider Jesus preaching from a boat off the shore of the Lake in Galilee: Were children present? You better believe it! What happened in Mark 19 when children were in the presence of our Lord? The disciples rebuked the ones who brought children and Jesus was not having any of that. Something incredible happens when our children are in the same room the Gospel is being preached.

Our children are present during the Sunday morning service, or at any time our families come together during the week as the church. There are moments when small children can't handle being in the service. We encourage our parents and cottage parents to step out for a moment with the child. It is okay to give children a moment to reset and retry. We have learned that children respond very well to consistently communicated expectations. Despite the challenges, I welcome our church pews being filled with children full of energy and wonder—children whose lives are being impacted daily by the cottage parents and the ministry.

At Mills Home Baptist Church, this one thing has proven beneficial when sharing the Gospel with our children. We share the Gospel with the same intention as you would speaking to an adult. This does not mean I use big seminary words, but I also do not talk down to them, respecting them, never underestimating the Spirit's way in reaching their hearts. The children that we love deserve to know the truth. It is the blood of Jesus that saves. In more one-on-one settings, I use a method of sharing the Gospel called "Three Circles." The North American Mission Board's "Life on Mission" app is great. It helps you walk through the gospel using three simple circles. The first circle represents "God's Design." The second is used to have a conversation about "Brokenness," and the third is used to outline the "Gospel." The circles illustrate the transformative power of the Gospel. This tool has been incredibly useful to me.

Finally, I intentionally point children to Jesus through every story of the Bible. It can be tempting to point our children to David as the main character of the story of David and Goliath. But the true meaning behind that story is how Jesus is going to slay sin one day for all humanity in the same way that David defeated Goliath. Thanks to Jesus's sacrifice on the cross, you and I are allowed to live like the Israelites: free from our oppressors. The Israelites were oppressed by the Philistines, but we are oppressed by sin until Jesus saves us. I carefully and intentionally engage with our Lord Jesus as we open the Word with our children. I believe it is vitally important for children, youth, and adults to experience the full truth of Jesus through the Scriptures.

My prayer for you is that God will empower you to faithfully share the Gospel with everyone you encounter.

Written by Rev. Luis Quintanar, Pastor, Mills Home Baptist Church