My Child is Unsure of His Salvation. How Can I Help Him?

Many children question their salvation because they doubt the validity of an “experience” they had when they were younger. It may have been walking down an aisle, talking to a counselor, or some other action. As the child grows, he looks back and begins to wonder if he understood what he was doing or whether he was sincere.

When he goes to his parents for help, they may compound the problem by reminding him of what he did and even assuring him that he was sincere. The problem is that what seems clear in their minds is still not clear in his. Children should not base their assurance on their parents’ memory.

To help children, parents would be wise to guide their child in finding biblical answers to two questions. The first is, “Do you now understand the gospel?” Discuss with the child whether he now understands that Christ took the punishment for his sins, died on the cross, and arose from the grave.

The second question is, “Right now, are you depending on Christ alone to get you into heaven?” Jesus says, “He that believes in me has everlasting life” (John 6:47). God is not concerned about the date that happened. If anyone is depending on Christ as his only way to heaven, he is a child of God regardless of the date that eternal transaction took place. A child’s trust should be in Christ alone, not in a date or action from their past.

Children: Lead Them to Christ and Learn From Them

Think about it! There is not one paragraph in the Bible on how to evangelize children! One reason may be that the message is so simple anyone can understand it; therefore, it should be presented just as simply and clearly to children. The age of the unbeliever does not change the message or its simplicity. All it means is that we take the simple message and express it in ways their age allows them to understand.

It is interesting, though, that Christ did encourage us to reach children. Christ even rebuked His own disciples when they turned children away. Luke 18:15-17 tells us, “Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to Him and said, ‘Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.’”

Two things stand out in that passage. The first is if children could not come to Christ, He would not have invited them. Jesus Christ was always a person who said what He meant and meant what He said. The fact is the gospel message is so simple even a child can understand it.

Secondly, children coming to Christ illustrate the way all of us must come. Note Christ’s words: “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child.” A child does not come to Christ bragging about his good life, church attendance, or religious efforts. You never hear a child say:

“I have done a lot of things right in my time.”

“I am not half as bad as a lot of people I know.”

“I have not missed an Easter Sunday in nine years.”

Recognizing they are sinners, children are simply and humbly willing to trust Christ alone to save them. So on behalf of Christ, encourage children to come. As they do, watch them closely. They illustrate the way all of us must come.

Signs of the Times – Church Future

As I mentioned in the site description above, DNA is best described as the basic genetic building blocks that determine who we are and ultimately what we will become. I apply this to the church - every church has building blocks that determine its current practices and its plans for the future.

Let’s not overlook or assume anything in our planning for the future of your church. First of all, pray that God will give you a passion for the future of your church and that he will guide your steps. Secondly, pray for creativity and a deeper insight into what relevant ministry looks like in your particular context. And finally, pray that God will protect you and encourage you in your challenge to lead your sheep to greener pastures (fields that are ripe for harvest - but that is another blog entry).

The thought of rocking the boat and leading your congregation to a future that goes against the status quo can be scary. In fact, I know that sounds like a daunting task. Allow me to motivate and inspire you with one of the greatest challenges for future ministry and courageous living that I have ever encountered.

The “Lion Chaser’s Manifesto” by Mark Batterson:

Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Enjoy the journey.

Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don’t let what’s wrong with you keep you from worshiping what’s right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze new trails. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don’t try to be who you’re not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away. Chase the lion.

Are you ready to “chase the lion” and boldly pursue God’s plan for your future? If so, take the next exit.

Mark Batterson, lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington DC, is one of the most influential and creative young pastors in the U.S. today. Enjoy what he calls the “Lion Chasers Manifesto”, check out his blog, and/or buy his book, “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day”.

Motorcycle Mayhem

Today, I am overwhelmed by the vast number of motorcycles I see. In the last 5 minutes, I bet I’ve seen over 5000 of them. There must be 300 motorcycles for every car on the street. At one intersection, we were surrounded by over 200 plus motorcycles within a 50 yard radius of our van.

Ladies were riding motorcycles in high heels and dresses. Men rode in suits and ties. Entire families were riding on one motorcycle with dad in the front, mom in the back, and 2 children in between them. Not one person was wearing leather, but everyone wore a helmet.

Under every helmet in this sea of motorcycles is a person; a person deeply loved by the Lord Jesus; a person needing to hear of His love and grace. God knows everyone of these people, but how many of them know Him?

I am reminded of Jesus’ reaction in Matthew 9:36-38: “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were helpless like a sheep without a shepherd.” That is why I am here in Southeast Asia: to team with our indigenous partners to connect people to the Great Shepherd and let them know of His great love for them.

Signs of the Times – Church Change

Change. Yes. I said it. Change. Soon you will have to make the choice: Is my church going to change to meet the needs of a rapidly changing culture or am I content to ride off into the sunset of the status quo?

This reminds me of the story of the young pastor who accepted a position at a small church in the Southwest. He decided that prior to the very first Sunday morning service that he would prefer not to preach behind the “old school” pulpit. You see, he was used to preaching on his feet with the Bible in hand and the freedom to walk around the stage as he spoke to the congregation. What he did not realize is that the “old school” pulpit had been around as long as the church - over 50 years. He not only surprised the congregation with this change, but they surprised him with resistance to change. That was the beginning of an uphill climb for the young pastor that only lasted six months when the leaders of the church decided to find a new pastor, one content with the status quo.

Churches like this will eventually die because they will fail to pass their faith to the next generation. Well known preacher, Chuck Swindoll, has quoted Jaroslav Pelikan of Yale on more than one occasion: “Tradition is the living faith of those now dead. Traditionalism is the dead faith of those still living.” It is not that tradition is wrong it is traditionalism that is the enemy. We get so caught up in the trappings of religion that we lose site of the foundation of faith.

One of my favorite writers on church and change is Leonard Sweet, currently the E. Stanley Jones Professor of Evangelism at Drew University, Madison, NJ and a Visiting Distinguished Professor at George Fox University, Portland, Oregon. In one of Sweet’s best books, AquaChurch, I have found that he has effectively summarized the challenge church leaders face:

“To be effective in this postmodern world, church leaders need to do more than just adapt. We must transform ourselves into an “AquaChurch” - fully capable of navigating the uncharted waters that lie ahead. And we must discover the leadership arts necessary to lead our culture to the unchanging truths of the Gospel.”

Church leaders must discover how the Bible, tradition, vision, creativity, teamwork, and more relate to today’s ever-changing world so that they can effectually minister successfully to the postmodern culture without letting go of the Gospel of Jesus.

Do you have a desire to see the church be relevant in a changing culture or are you content with the status quo? Are you ready to exit from your comfort zone? Change is ahead; in fact, it is the next exit.

How Do I Model Evangelism to my Children?

Ask any Christian parent if they want their children to be concerned about lost people, and most will answer, “Yes!” To encourage our children to grow in this area, what can we do as parents to influence them? How do we model evangelism to our children?

As a family, ask “How often do we pray for the salvation of a particular lost person?” Few things impact a child more than when the consistent prayers on behalf of others are answered. If you want your children to talk to the lost about God, as a family you need to talk to God about the lost; an unbelieving neighbor, a relative or even one of their own non-Christian classmates. As God answers those prayers, the impact is beyond measure.

We can also invite those we are praying for into our homes; share a meal together, or perhaps an evening around the table playing games. By having non-Christian’s in frequently, and you announce you are having guests, you are providing an opportunity for our kids to ask an important question, “Are they a believer or a non-believer?” By having non-Christians into our homes, we are increasing the likelihood they are going to be on our children’s hearts.

You can also do business with non-Christians. Select a hairdresser who is lost, a mechanic who doesn’t know the Lord or a plumber who needs Christ. Let your children know why – so there might be opportunity for the gospel. Let them see you be a “friend of sinners”.

Look at your family devotions and choose an evangelism topic. One family Bible study topic could be, “How does God feel about lost people?” Memorize verses together such as Matthew 4:19, “Then he said to them, ‘Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men’.”

Another way to train in evangelism is to role play. Think about questions non-Christians might have and teach your children how they can respond. Most importantly teach them a method of sharing the gospel, something easy for them to recall. Remember, they are just like you – scared.

Now let them watch you in action as you witness to a lost neighbor, hand a tract to a department store employee, choose a non-Christian mechanic with the view of leading them to Christ, or turn the conversation to spiritual things as you visit with the home repairman. If the conversation about the lost does not result in conversation with the lost, few things will happen.

Implement these ideas and watch what occurs. You will know you have impacted your child forever whenever she runs into the house one day and says, “Mom, guess what I saw dad do at the store? He spoke to this man about Christ and he was really interested in what dad was telling him about Jesus. They are going to have coffee tomorrow.”

Leadership Journal Article – “Is the Gospel Too Small?” II

In case you missed part one of my response to the Leadership Journal article by Tim Keel that suggests that the gospel today is too small - here are some highlights:

• The most important quote, the main idea of Mr. Keel’s article: “In a modern world, we tend to reduce the complexity and diversity of the Scriptures to simple systems…”
• Keel continues, “And the gospel itself gets reduced to a simplified framework of a few easily memorized steps.”
• I want to make my argument as clear and simple as the gospel. Check out Paul’s explanation of the gospel in I Corinthians 15:1-8
• Is our gospel too small? I would say most of the time it is too large. Either someone clouds the issue by using “churchy” language such as, “give your heart to Jesus”
• I would argue that if we are going to be consistent and clear in our presentation of the gospel that we should be prepared with a basic method that we can use to present the gospel.
• Knowing how you are going to present the gospel, you can relax, enjoy the conversation, turn it to spiritual things, and clearly explain the gospel.

Now let’ s continue the interaction with Mr. Keel’s article. He continues his argument for the gospel having a broader scope than the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. “Where might the Holy Spirit be forcing his people to reckon with the scope of God’s work in the world, to once again consider the nature and scope of the gospel?” He continues, “There is no aspect of our lives outside the scope of God’s salvation and purposes. Salvation is not just then and there, it is also here and now.”

I would argue that the gospel is not about what we do; rather, it is simply about what Jesus has done. Ephesians 2:8-9 says it best, “8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast.” We must be careful to see salvation as trust in Christ alone and not Christ plus anything else.

In the final section of Mr. Keel’s article he suggests that the gospel is about more than Christ and his role as redeemer. According to Keel, “It is obviously true and good news that Jesus and his life and work function redemptively. But when we reduce Jesus to redeemer only, we miss another essential element of our faith: that Jesus is also creator.” It seems his motivation here is that in a time that so many people are searching and exploring spirituality that the gospel as Jesus as Redeemer only is too narrow to answer the questions that seekers may have. If the Holy Spirit uses one’s search for understanding of creation or the Trinity as a means to open their eyes and ears to the gospel of grace that is great. But let’s not confuse Trinitarianism with Soteriology. I have no problem when Trinitarian explanations become a bit complex, but let’s keep the gospel clear and simple.

Keel is wrestling with cultural relevance and I respect that; however, I believe that Keel is trying to be relevant to the point that he is changing the gospel. The Bible is 66 books, whereas the gospel can be summed up in 10 words: Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead.
He is changing not only the method, but the message as well. I think it is fair to say that Mr. Keel has performed an eisegesis of the gospel. We must be committed to a clear and simple gospel that is based upon sound doctrine and a careful handling of Scripture. That is the motivation behind my response to Mr. Keel.

What are your thoughts on Mr. Keel’s article? Remember to read the entire article and even check out Part I of my response to Tim Keel’s Leadership Journal Article, “An Efficient Gospel?”

A Scene Out of the Book of Acts

I recently returned from Southeast Asia, training and equipping native missionaries for personal evangelism. The posts that follow detail some of my thoughts and experiences along the way:

A scene out of the book of Acts…

I feel like I had been transported to Ephesus, one of the major cities Paul visited as described in Acts 19. On the city square, there are several small temples full of man-made idols. People are lying prostrate before them, praying intently for blessings and the forgiveness of their sins. Merchants are all around, selling opportunities for people to have sins forgiven. Several of them had giant cages full of birds. To have your sins forgiven, you needed to buy a bird and then set it free along the river. The birds did not travel very far and gathered to roost on the edge of the temple roof and surrounding buildings. After a while, the merchants would lure the birds back with food and trap them for resale. It appeared to be a very profitable enterprise for the merchants. Many people stood in line waiting to buy their bird.

What a heartbreaking scene - people trusting in birds and man-made statues to relieve them of their guilt and connect them with a higher being and/or purpose. So futile. So hopeless.

(On the main square in a major city)

I am thankful to have the opportunity to partner with native missionaries in this country and around the world, equipping them to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. There is nothing to buy, Jesus paid it all. There is nothing to do but trust in Him and His finished work on the cross. Thank you, Lord, for allowing us to share the light of your grace, even in one of the darkest regions of the world.

Leadership Journal Article – “Is the Gospel Too Small?”

In a recent article in Leadership Journal (a publication of Christianity Today) pastor Tim Keel asks the question, “Is our gospel too small?” Allow me to interact with this article for a moment. Feel free to click here to open the article in a new tab or window. Stay with me…

First of all, let me give you the most important quote, the main idea of Mr. Keel’s article:
“In a modern world, we tend to reduce the complexity and diversity of the Scriptures to simple systems, even when our systems flatten the diversity and integrity of the biblical witness.” In other words, he is saying that modernity is to blame for what he considers to be a narrow definition or even oversimplification of the gospel. Keel continues, “And the gospel itself gets reduced to a simplified framework of a few easily memorized steps.”

In response to Mr. Keel, I want to make my argument as clear and simple as the gospel. Check out Paul’s explanation of the gospel in I Corinthians 15:1-8:

1Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also…”

Paul used four verbs to define the gospel in this passage. Christ died. He was buried. He rose again. He was seen. Based upon this passage we can define the gospel by which we are saved in just 10 words: Christ died for our sins and rose form the dead. That is the gospel - clear and simple.

Is our gospel too small? I would say most of the time it is too large.

Either someone clouds the issue by using “churchy” language such as, “give your heart to Jesus” or “give your life to God”. That is not what the New Testament asks non-Christians to do. Another phrase, “pray to receive Christ”, has some serious theological problems. See Dr. Larry Moyer’s article, “Is the Sinner’s Prayer Essential for Salvation” for more on those issues, including lively comments from 43 pastors and church leaders.

Mr. Keel also discusses his concern with the gospel when it is “reduced to a simplified framework of a few easily memorized steps.” I would argue that if we are going to be consistent and clear in our presentation of the gospel that we should be prepared with a basic method that we can use to present the gospel. Why? Because the method will help make you more confident in talking to others about the Lord. Knowing how you are going to present the gospel, you can relax, enjoy the conversation, turn it to spiritual things, and clearly explain the gospel. Watch the video at Evangelism.net for an easy method of sharing the gospel called the Bad News/Good News method.

In fact, go ahead and check out the video and other content at Evangelism.net and I will continue my thoughts on the article, “An Efficient Gospel?” by Tim Keel tomorrow.

Equipping Indigenous Believers to Share the Gospel

One of most efficient ways to communicate the gospel in other countries is to encourage and equip indigenous believers to share the message. EvanTell offers clear and simple tools and training to these indigenous believers throughout the world who already know the language and culture of their regions.

One of the ways we do this is through our You Can Tell It! seminar. Through our network of certified YCTI! instructors, EvanTell equips believers around the world to reach the lost in their own countries and beyond. Because of their clarity and simplicity, our materials for outreach and training have proven effective throughout the world in a variety of languages and settings.

In a recent trip to Cambodia, one of our certified instructors brought back this testimony from a local minister who attended the training:
“After finishing the “You Can Tell It!” seminar on personal evangelism, I shared Christ with three non-believers the very same day. When I asked them if they wanted to trust Christ, all three said yes. With this best result, I became more bold and continued to share Christ with another man and his daughter and two sisters. All of them trusted Christ as their Savior. So with this simple material and the Lord’s power, I will continue sharing Christ to those who are lost in my village after I return. Praise God, Amen.”

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