The Need to Reach Them as Children

Back in February we shared a testimony from one of our CMI Online students. In the TCE Level 1 course online, students are asked to post about their experience in sharing the Wordless Book with children.

The following testimony expresses the very point we strive to make with our TCE students—that we need to reach children while they are children, before their hearts become hardened to the Gospel.

Rosa (not her real name) just turned 15 the end of January. She is from El Salvador and is the sweetest, prettiest, brightest girl ever! I asked her if I could step outside of the tutoring and present the Gospel story to her. The reason I put it that way is that she has often told me how proud she is of being a Christian. She wears a beautiful gold cross and tells me she attends church every Sunday.

In a way I feel a little guilty. Why? Because first, she is not of the age group I am supposed to be working with; and second, she is probably already a child of the King. Still, I want to be able to write with integrity that I shared the message honestly, so Rosa accepted and I began.

I started with the gold page and she listened very attentively. I showed her the Bible I have with me and she looked at it lovingly. Then I showed her John 3:16 and we read the verse together. "For God so loved the world..." Again, she was right with me.

Then I began to go through the dark page, and she understood what sin is. She also understood that Jesus came from Heaven to die on a cross, was buried; and rose again. We read God's Word about Jesus shedding His blood for forgiveness, and her eyes became sad and she looked like she might cry. I asked her if she would like to become a child of God, and then she stopped. She looked at me and said she was not sure. She likes music, and not all of it is Christian. Then she exhibited incredible honesty and told me that she is not ready - with a clear heart - to become a Christian.

Wow. I smiled at her while asking God quietly, "Where do I go from here?" Well, God is so good. I told Rosa that it was a big step; that it was really wonderful of her to be honest; but that I had to tell her the choices were slim: one day she will meet Jesus in heaven or be forever separated from Him... she finished the sentence for me. But then I sensed she was struggling, so I handed her the Bible and told her how to read it; how the red sentences were the actual words of Jesus; how she might like to begin in the New Testament with the Gospel of Mark, and that we could talk anytime about being a Christian.

As I finish this post, the ending is in God's hands. I now understand what we learned early on in our course; how important it is to reach the little guys, for the world catches up with them really fast. My daily prayer list will now include Rosa, and I ask the rest of you to also keep her in your prayers.

You might want to use excerpts from this testimony in TCE classes such as, Importance of Conversion, Importance of Reaching the Child in the Neighborhood or How to Lead a Child to Christ. We so often share statistics about how most people come to Christ as children. Testimonies like this one are a good way to illustrate the truth that we need to reach children while they are children!

It is also a powerful reminder that we must not assume a child is a Christian just because he or she goes to church, wears a cross or even uses biblical terminology. We must question and probe a child’s understanding and bring him or her to a point of decision as God’s Spirit leads. Challenge your teachers to this end…and keep Rosa in your prayers.