Show Them Jesus: Teaching the Gospel to Kids

by Jack Klumpenhower

Did I read you right? Did you say “Ask Jesus into your heart and you’ll be saved” is not the good news? Kids do need to respond to Jesus in faith, and the call to do so is part of the good news. But the good news is also more than just “Ask Jesus.” We too easily turn faith into little requirements—like saying a certain prayer—that end up being all about something external we must do. On Pentecost, Peter preached the good news of what Jesus has done (using the Old Testament like Joe did, I might add). He didn’t immediately ask for a behavioral response, but first let that good news lead to a heart response: “Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’” (Acts 2:37) Only then did Peter tell his listeners to repent and be baptized, as a necessary part of what God was already working in them. I’ll say more about how the good news works in nonbelievers in chapter 3.