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4. Gospel Conversation (Age 5)

Introducing Your Child to Christ

 

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What Is The Gospel Conversations Step?

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One of the greatest privileges as a parent is to help your child come to faith in Christ. Ages vary, but around the age of five is a great time to deliberately plant seeds of biblical truth to help them understand the gospel, which is why we’ve created the Gospel Conversations step on the Shema Path. As the primary faith trainer of your child, your goal should be to lead them to understand the gospel and make their own faith decision when they are ready.

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Like many parents, you may not quite know how or when to approach this exciting yet intimidating moment of parenthood. Maybe you worry that you won’t explain the gospel properly, or you’re tempted to just “leave it to the professionals” by relying on church or ministry events. While that’s understandable, God has given you the most important and influential role when it comes to leading your child to Christ.

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Put It Into Practice

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Here are five basic steps to help you feel more comfortable about the process when the time comes:

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• Step One: Lay a Foundation – Your son or daughter grows in his or her understanding of God by developing a foundation – hearing stories from the Bible, learning Scripture, singing about Jesus, and so forth. Your child also learns by experiencing life in your home, watching your example, feeling your love, and learning right from wrong. We see this in Deuteronomy 6:6-7 where it says, “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

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• Step Two: Discern Readiness – Do your best to discern when your child is mature enough to put the pieces together. Avoid the temptation to push for a decision before he or she is ready to truly grasp the gospel. Your child may intellectually understand before being socially or spiritually ready. Young children are usually bonded to their parents in such a way that they want to please them and do not have a full sense of a separate self. A child needs to understand that this is a personal decision and not just an opportunity to repeat rote answers.

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• Step Three: Ask Questions – If you feel your child might be ready, ask a few questions to help gauge his or her level of understanding. For example, read Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.” Then ask questions like, “What is sin?” “How does your sin affect your relationship to God?” How they respond can help you sense when your child is ready to understand two important concepts:

  • Jesus as Savior: The need for forgiveness and cleansing from sin which was made possible through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

  • Jesus as Lord: The need to submit to God as “the boss” by making Jesus Christ the Lord of one’s life.

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• Step Four: Guide Your Child in Prayer – Romans 10:9 says, “… if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” If you sense your child has a basic understanding of what sin is, as well as what it means to accept God’s gift of salvation and His Lordship, then you can guide him or her to pray along those lines. Instead of quoting specific words for your child to repeat, it’s best to prompt them to use their own words.

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• Step Five: Prepare Them for the Next Steps – Once your child has trusted Christ, you can begin the wonderful privilege of guiding their next steps of faith. Topics like Bible reading and prayer, baptism, worship, and even going to church now have new meaning and relevance, and you have the joy of modeling, teaching, and walking alongside them as they learn to trust, obey, and follow Jesus. 

 

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Additional Resources

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• The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name by Sally Lloyd-Jones

• Helping Children to Understand the Gospel by Sally Michael, Jill Nelson, and Bud Burk

• The Gospel Changes Everything (family devotional cards) by Tiny Theologians

• I’m a Christian Now! (younger kids activity book) by Lifeway Kids

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Guidance for your child's baptism preparation

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As parents, many of you have wrestled with the question of whether your child is ready for baptism at this time or not. That is not an easy question to answer, nor is it a small one. Baptism is, and should be, a big deal in the life of every believer. So, how can you know whether the time is right for your child to take this important step of obedience? 

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First of all, let’s make sure we are on the same page regarding what baptism is. Here is how we understand the ordinance of baptism according to NVCCC' belief statement:

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We believe Christ instituted the ordinances of water baptism and the Lord’s Supper, both of which are to be observed by believers until He returns (Matthew 28:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26).

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We believe by water baptism a believer is publicly identified with his Savior and that infants of believing parents may be dedicated to the Lord but should not be baptized until they can personally articulate their faith and the purpose of baptism.

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​Salvation and baptisms are the first adult decisions in a child's spiritual life, and parents and pastors should look for 3 things in a child wanting to be baptized:

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• Regeneration: Through the testimony of the child and their parents, there is evidence of a changed heart in the child.

• Readiness: As baptism is a personal expression of one’s love and identification with Christ, it is expected that this is a spiritual conviction of the child, not driven by the parent. It should be an event that is primarily meaningful to the child and initiated by the child.

• Reasoning: Does the child have an understanding of the gospel and the meaning of baptism? Some specific things to look for:

  • The child will be able to articulate the gospel in their own words, potentially including memory verses for support.

  • The child will be able to stand up in front of others and articulate their grace story in accordance with their age.

  • The child will know what baptism is: a symbolic display, a public display, a counter-cultural statement (even if they have to use their own words to communicate this).

  • The child will know what baptism is not: an action that leads to salvation, something “cool” to do, or a membership requirement.

 

Our experience has been that children 3rd grade or older are the ones most ready to take this step of obedience, though there are rare exceptions to that general rule.

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If your child has expressed interest in baptism on their own initiative, here are some questions you can ask to clarify their readiness. We recommend avoiding “yes or no” questions and leading questions (i.e., “Do you believe that baptism is a symbolic, public display of your faith in Jesus who saved you?”; “Do you believe that you are a sinner and that Jesus died on the cross to save you from your sins?”). 

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• Why do you want to be baptized?

• What do we need to be saved from? Why? What did God do to save you?

• Do you believe that baptism saves you? Why or why not?

• Explain to me how someone could know for sure that they are going to heaven.

• How do you feel about standing up in front of a group of people to share your story of grace?

 

​If after considering the above expectations, you believe that your child is ready for baptism, our team is excited to meet with them to help you confirm that decision. Proverbs 15:22 says, “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.” The NVCCC team is excited to be a part of the “many advisers” for your family as you process that decision. Below are the next steps in that process:

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1. Talk to the children ministry minister or pastors to let them know about your child's readiness and willingness for baptism.

2. Ultimately it will be your choice if your child gets baptized. However, a child needs to be able to fulfill the above expectations to be baptized at NVCCC.

 

Join the Celebration

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Whether this ends up being the time your child is baptized or not, baptism is always an awesome opportunity for your family to be confronted with the truth of the gospel: that we were once dead in our sins, but we have been raised to new life through faith in Jesus, the Son of God (Romans 6:4)! Make plans to join us for a baptism celebration and be sure to gather around the water with your kids to talk about this amazing picture of the hope we affirm!

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For additional thoughts on this topic, see the following:

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• When to Baptize Our Believing Children

• Saying "Not Yet" to Children on Baptism​