Thursday, January 12, 2017

TRAIN YOUR CHILD TO BE A GOOD WITNESS

Overview
The story of Naaman and the young girl from Israel (2Kings 5): As young as the children are, they can share the love of God with others! But they will need our testimony!

The children are the future of the church. Each year thousands of children and young people attend Christian clubs, summer camps, Christian festivals and church events, through which they learn to love Jesus. But there is also the need to multiply our numbers as believers; therefore we should be passionate about finding ways of mobilising the young people into the mission of sharing God's love to those around them.  Our children can be agents of transformation because the influence of the young on their peers is huge.
The Naaman story makes me believe that the adults’ or parents of the young girl really taught her about this wonderful God. To the extent that, she readily realized that, that God she knew in Israel, was the best for her master’s (Naaman) situation.

Importance of witnessing
Every believer has been commanded to go and tell others about God (witness). Witnessing is not a task for adults only but adults- as parents, teachers, pastors or friends, must play an involving role in making evangelism a part of a child’s life. As adults, age can catch up with our strength and therefore it is very necessary that we harness the energy of the young to ensure continuity of this task of witnessing.

Why should we witness:
       i.   It is commanded by the Lord Jesus. (Mark 16:15-16; Acts 1:8- read).
      ii.   It is the Plan of God to save and reconcile man to Himself (John 3:16). We reciprocate God’s love by helping others find salvation in Jesus Christ. People are lost and we must reach out to them with the saving grace of Jesus. See how people are turning to other means to relate to God. Put MHB338 (rescue the perishing) into practice.
    iii.   We are watchmen. Ezek. 33(6) and are responsible to send the message of salvation.
    iv.   Jesus is coming again and soon to judge. (Acts 1:11; 2Corin. 5:10)
     v.   It makes us wise in God’s sight. (Prov. 11:30b). With these reasons, we need to take witnessing a serious issue to encourage the children to partake in.

How do we mobilize/ encourage the child? Where do we start?
Training the child for evangelism is not a work only for the leaders of the Church or their teachers at Sunday school but for all adult believers. But it is worth noting that training the child for evangelism is a different process than training adults within the church.
We can start training the child at home and through our child evangelism ministries by:
       i.   Informing the child that God has instructed all of His believers to spread the gospel to the world including him/ her and that this is part of their calling. (Matt. 28:19-20; Ezek. 33)

      ii.   Teach moral stories about God and encourage them to share with peers at school/ neighborhood and to a next step of inviting their peers to fellowship (eg. Naaman story, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego story, etc.). When they grow up, it is easier for them to partake in the adult witnessing plan eg. The Jehovah’s Witnesses’.

    iii.   Explain to the child how other children are more likely to listen to them rather than an adult. In some cases, when a child hears how God has changed a peer's life, he or she is more likely to want to know more.

    iv.   Practice with the child often, until they become more comfortable speaking to others about God. Pair them up and instruct them to take turns sharing the gospel and pretending to be a non-believer. (know this: witnessing is not mere theory but practical)

There will be challenges with training the children as with all other training  but we need to be patient and spend time with the children on how to witness. Once you consider witnessing as a compulsory task for the believer and a life-long adventure, it becomes part of your family and the church’s activities.

Obstacles to witnessing

But we need to clear these:
 (i)  Denominational barriers (ii) Church traditions (contrary to scripture) (iii) lack of courage (due to sin + knowledge of scripture)  (iv) Revival of religions (esp. New Age)  (v) lack of commitment (vi) Anti-God (through politics) (vii)  inconsistency in the lives of Christians.

Biblical Examples

·     To the adults, I share with you the story of Paul & Timothy. How the training of Timothy by the mother and grandmother made it easier for Paul to adopt and use Timothy to strengthen the churches. As an adult, how many times do you pray or study the word of God with your children?

·     To our children, I say see how the young girl telling Naaman about the wonders of God saved him (Naaman), for which today we share in the story and sing about it. How many times do you share what you learn at Sunday school with your friends? We should tell our friends about the good lessons we are taught at church than waste much time discussing football and wrestling!

Conclusion
Adults, the Child today is an important resource for the church’s witnessing plan tomorrow. Let us mobilise and train them now to take over tomorrow, and one day we will be amazed at how God used them to show others how truly He is a God, who so loved the world!
Read 2 Timothy 2:1-2. Let us also like Paul, in our old age, tell this message to our children.

Amen!

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