How many times have you heard the words, “Jesus died on the cross to pay the punishment for your sins”? Sometimes we sit in the church pew and we listen without processing what the preacher is saying. We’ve heard the Gospel so many times that it can sound like white noise in the background. But the Gospel is not white noise for our children. Children see things with a newness and unfamiliarity that we adults can’t.
After teaching an Easter Party Club one CEF Chicago worker said, “This past month CEF of Chicago hosted an Easter Party Club at a church where 10 children attended and heard the good news of Jesus Christ! We praise God for the children who showed up. Although a small number, many of them had a wonderful time laughing, smiling, and even tears filling their eyes after hearing what happened to Jesus as he was going to the cross to die. But smiles and eyes lit up when they heard that he rose again three days later. This is one of the joys of teaching an Easter Party Club.”
The reality that Jesus died to pay the punishment for sin has not lost its newness for children because for children it is new. They don’t have years of sitting in a church pew under their belt like we do. Even if they attend Sunday school regularly they may not be hearing the Gospel. Many churches assume that since the children in their children’s ministry come from Christian families they don’t need to hear the Gospel and the church centers their children’s ministry around spiritual growth instead. Of course everyone loves to talk about the Gospel around Easter and Christmas but that’s only two weeks of the year. If a child is sick or out of town they could miss out on hearing the Gospel altogether. So how do we make sure that every child has an opportunity to hear the Gospel? It’s simple. Teach the Gospel whenever it naturally appears in the Bible. It may take a little time and effort to get the hang of it but CEF offers a wide variety of training options to help you learn how to share the Gospel in every Bible lesson. To learn more about training opportunities visit https://cefchicago.com/eventstest/training/.
