Sharing the Gospel while Working in a Christian Pre-school, Summer 2018.
- hemadeusalive
- Aug 12, 2018
- 5 min read
Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
As the college semester ended in May, I remember praying that I would have the chance to daily glorify God in my next job by having opportunities to share the gospel. I hesitated from applying to many places for a summer job because of it; and although I was very convicted, I was also very worried about actually finding one. At seemingly the pinnacle of my worry, the preschool connected to my church announced they had some job openings. I was incredibly apprehensive about applying because of my lack of experience, but decided to anyways because I knew that a Christian organization would allow the gospel to be shared. By the Lord’s will alone I ended up getting the afternoon position, and it has been the most fulfilling job I have ever had. As the summer now comes to an end, I want to share the most profound ‘teaching moments’ I have had. I hope this post is able to encourage all those who read it, because the kids I spent time with over the past three months have been the greatest encouragement to me!
For a bit of context, I taught rising 1st graders (5-6yo) in the afternoons each day. They have worship and bible time each morning, and then they watch a bible video about thirty minutes after I get there. After that, the day is open for more recreational things, like recess and gym. The first time I shared the gospel was after the week of videos that centered around Creation, Adam and Eve, and the Fall (Gen 1-3). By this point, I had gotten into a routine of reading a book to them during snack time. This was mainly for my sake; I was desperately wanting some peace and quiet during that time of the day. The character in the book I chose that day had disobeyed her parents, and one of the kids said “This is just like when Adam and Eve disobeyed God!!!” The conversation just naturally led into talking about what ‘sin’ was from there. I said that what Adam and Eve had done was a sin, and then I asked them if they knew what that word mean. They did not, and so I explained it as “breaking God’s rules”. I asked them if they had ever broken God’s rules, and the conversation went something like this: “My friends, have you ever broken any of God’s rules?”
“NO!”
“Well, have you ever told a lie?”
“YES!”
“Well, one of God’s rules is ‘Do not lie’, so you have broken at least one! I have broken it before too.”
“Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”
“Do you want to hear more of God’s rules to see if you have broken them?”
“YES!”
And so I went through the Ten Commandments, explaining each one and making sure that I emphasized that we can never follow all of these rules all the time, which is why we need Jesus. It was like the lightbulb turned on for some of these kids. They asked things like “You mean THAT’S why He died for us?!” and “Because He died we can go to HEAVEN? Even though we BROKE THE RULES?!?!?” It was a very awesome conversation to have. I found myself thanking God that He sent His son to die for me as well as thanking Him for that opportunity to talk to people so young and have them understand. Seeing their reactions made me think that this is how it should be! We should be so amazed each time we hear this amazing news. It is so easy to become distracted and desensitized to the gospel, the very thing that gives us life.
After a couple of conversations like this with the kids, I decided to try and start catechizing (which I called ‘quizzing’ in front of them). This seemed very practical for several reasons, those being that I had to explain what sin was each time, and I wanted the kids to articulate the gospel rather than just listen to me share it. I had done some research, mostly to see if there were some old church catechisms that I could copy. However, in the end I decided to wing it. As a class, the first couple of times we tried it were very rocky. I started on a Thursday, and that Monday I decided that if they hadn’t made efforts towards memorizing the answer, I would back off and regroup. I was very surprised when they all came to class and recited the answers perfectly! From there on, catechizing went way better than I ever could have expected. They remembered the answers to my questions, constantly asked me if I could ‘quiz them’, and even asked me to add questions! It gave me great joy to see that this was something they liked to do, and it encouraged me. I pray that they remember these answers. The ‘quiz’ loosely went like this:
-“Do we deserve to go to Heaven?”
–“No.”
-“Why not?”
–“Because we sin.”
-“And what is sin?”
–“When we break God’s rules” or “When we value ourselves above God”
-“Why do we get to go to Heaven, then?”
–“Because we believe and trust in Jesus Christ”
-“And what did He do for us?”
–“He died on the cross for our sins!”
This was very simple, but very effective for some of the kids. It was also a good way to open up the conversation to more spiritual questions when I asked them one-on-one. I spent many afternoons having question/answer time about subjects like prayer, trusting God, why God doesn’t ‘speak’ like He did to Abraham (sorry, continuationalists!), etc. The questions they asked me sounded like they were coming from adults! Their capacity for understanding is so great, even though they are so young. I wish I could detail every single small conversation on this blog and commit it to memory.
In short, these kids are so amazing and dear to my heart. Although I was their teacher for these few months, they taught me a great deal about grace, patience, kindness, and love. Please pray for these children each day and that the Lord would grow the seeds that have been planted this summer, that He would grow their faith. They are so young, and sometimes I fear that when they go on to elementary school they will forget these truths and grow up unchanged by the gospel. I know the Lord saves whom He chooses, and I pray that these children are truly saved. The majority of these children do not go to church, and some of them have parents who don’t believe in the innerancy of the Bible. Please pray that the Lord brings these parents to know Him. I have two more weeks until I leave for study abroad, so please pray that God uses the time I have left with these kids for His glory. Thank you.
EDIT: While I didn’t hand out tracts for these children to have, I did use one to go through the Law with them. It was the ALBERT BRAINSTEIN tract that Living Waters provides.
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