COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR KIDS ABOUT JESUS

Talk about what they learned at church.

At Revolve Kids, your children are learning from a curriculum called The Gospel Project. It is a fantastic program that we pay for (and it’s worth every penny!). Here are some questions that may help you to start a conversation about what your kids are learning at Revolve.

What did you learn today?

This isn’t because you want your child to be able to recite what they learned. This is because you want to be able to go home, read the passage yourself and pray for God’s wisdom about how you can speak that truth into their lives in the coming weeks (using what they learned at Revolve Kids as a springboard).

How does what you learned about point to Jesus?

The Gospel Project is designed to do more than just teach kids Bible stories - it is designed to help children to see the big story of the Bible, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Although this might be challenging for them to answer, try to help them see how it points towards Jesus, the need for a rescuer to come and save the world.

Be intentional.

If your methodology for teaching your kids about Jesus is to do whatever happens naturally, then you most likely won’t teach your kids about Jesus much at all. You need to be intentional to integrate faith into every area of your lives. This doesn’t mean that you necessarily walk around reciting doctrine, but that you have a plan and that you stick to it (loosely…). What does being intentional look like? Here’s an example:

Your son or daughter just explained to you that they learned about the prophet Elijah standing up to the prophets of Ba’al in 1 Kings 18. Here are some steps you could take to be intentional:

• Go home and read the passage. Even if you’ve read it 100 times, read it again.
• Pray about how this passage can be real in your own life. What truths can you glean from it? Ask yourself the question, “What does this passage mean for me Wednesday morning?” In other words, make it practical and real.
• Pray and search for organic, natural opportunities to bring it up throughout the week. Maybe God gave you an opportunity to be bold at work about Jesus w/ a co-worker. Use that as a reference and bring it back to what they learned about (standing up for God).

This is what it looks like to be intentional. You are, essentially modeling discipleship with your actions (which is exactly what Jesus did). You are teaching your child how to take God’s truth and make it real in your life. This is what being intentional looks like!

Schedule family worship time.

Although you shouldn’t be dogmatic about it in an unhealthy way, it IS healthy to have a scheduled time to worship the Lord with your family. What this looks is up to you and your family’s personality, but we would encourage you to include a few elements:

Prayer that includes worship, confession and requests.

Don’t just pray for things. Make sure that you spend time worshipping and thanking God for his goodness and what he has done. Use the scriptures as a springboard for this. If the Word says he is the Creator then spend time worshipping him as such.'

Reading the Bible together.

When your kids are very young this could be a child-friendly version (some resources listed on the last page) or even an iPad app that makes the Bible accessible for kids.

Discuss what you read.

Don’t just read the Bible and shut it. Talk about it. What did it say? What does it mean? If it is true, what should you do about it? Ask your kids to paraphrase it in their own words or to retell the story.

Come up with a family plan to live the Bible out.

Did you just read about taking care of the poor? What better way to drive it home then asking your children to help you come up with a plan for how you can live that out as a family.

Healthy worship as a family doesn’t have to look polished, perfect, or highly structured, but it should be intentional and consistent!

Be normal.

Oh look! Your children came home from school and you were casually sitting in your easy chair, next to a roaring fire, tweed jacket on, pipe in hand, reading the family King James Bible ready for family devotions. Don’t be that dad or mom. Be normal. Be yourself. Talk about Jesus while you are on road-trips, fishing, laughing, crying, whatever it might be. Don’t be awkward, just be yourself.

Be a disciple.

The simple best thing you can do is to be a disciple of Christ yourself. A disciple follows Christ by identifying with him publically and obeying his commands. You need to hear what the Bible says, embrace it in your life, and live it out. If you do that, discipleship will overflow naturally because Jesus will be a part of your day.

If you look at the way that Jesus discipled his followers, it was very natural because he was just being himself. He would see a fig tree and use it as an example to teach a spiritual truth. He would share meals, go fishing, and make jokes. He was intentional to use opportunities to bring the reality of God into every conversation, not because it was forced or contrived, but because it was an overflow of who he was and his relationship with God the Father.

Be a disciple. Be a disciple who makes disciples. There is no one in this world that you will impact in a greater, deeper way than your immediate family. Embrace that responsibility and be faithful with it.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

• Bible App for Kids (ideal for toddlers through early elementary) - available for iOS and Android by the makers of YouVersion
• Bible Storybook God’s Love For You (ideal for young elementary)
• The Jesus Storybook Bible (ideal for elementary age)
• The Picture Bible (ideal for older elementary) or the Action Bible
• The New City Catechism (ideal for older elementary through adults) - available online or for iPad