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AT THE MOVIES

HEY
PARENTS AND GUARDIANS

Parenting can be the greatest joy and the most intimidating role—all at once. After all, you are the biggest influence in your child’s life. We want to partner with you to help your child as we pursue the way of Jesus.

How to talk to your child about Salvation:

Conversations

Have conversations without expectations.

Conversations

We often want to present salvation to kids as a nicely packaged box of information, hoping they’ll listen to it and pray right away. Sometimes we even pressure them to do something they don’t understand or because everyone else is doing it. Let your children ask their questions and provide your answers without demanding a commitment in return. Be willing to have short and frequent conversations with no expectation of time or response. Share scriptures to help answer their questions and give them time to think and process on their own.

Holy Spirit

Rely on the Holy Spirit to do the work:

Holy Spirit

This is the most important point because none of the other steps matter without it. It’s important to remember that the only one who can save your child is God, and the only one who can draw them to salvation is the Holy Spirit. Any amount of human coercion or pressure to “do” something to receive salvation will rarely result in authenticity or spiritual fruit. As difficult as it may be, ask God to help you allow the Holy Spirit to lead you and to draw your child to salvation in HIS timing.

Questions

Ask open-ended questions:

Questions

Imagine you sit down with a child to talk about what they want to be when they grow up, hoping they’ll become a pilot. You show them pictures of cool planes and pilots dressed in uniforms. You tell inspirational and cool stories about pilots. Then you ask, “Do you want to commit right now to being a pilot one day?” You could probably convince just about any child to say yes to that. But when they get older and the novelty wears off, they may realize they don’t actually want to be a pilot after all. When we present salvation this way to kids, we get similar results. Rather than giving a promising sales pitch that demands an immediate response, ask them questions like “What do you think sin is?” “Who do you think Jesus was?” “Why do you think Jesus had to die?” Open-ended questions like these will help you gauge their understanding and sincerity. Continue to share Scripture with them and let God work in their heart.

ABC'S OF SALVATION

A

ADMIT YOU HAVE MADE MISTAKES AND ASK FOR FORGIVENESS.

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. ROMANS 3:23

B

BELIEVE THAT JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS AND ROSE AGAIN FOR YOU.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son. Anyone who believes in Him will not die but will have eternal life. JOHN 3:16

C

CONFESS AND COMMIT YOURSELF TO JESUS.

If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ROMANS 10:9

SAMPLE SALVATION PRAYER

Is a child ready to accept Christ as their Savior? Below is a simple salvation prayer to have them repeat after you.

Lord Jesus, I want to know you personally. I’m sorry for going my own way. Please forgive me for all of my sins. Thank you for dying on the cross and giving me eternal life. I want to follow you as my Lord and Savior. Please come into my life by the power of your Holy Spirit, and make me the person you want me to be. Amen

After they’ve prayed this with you, make sure to celebrate the huge decision they just made! To explain the child’s decision to follow Jesus further, reassure them that they now have eternal life, all their sins are forgiven, they can have a personal relationship with Jesus, and God will never ever leave them.

BAPTISM

If your child has made a decision to follow Jesus, we celebrate that all-important decision with you! If you would like to learn more about how your child can be baptized at CityHope, you can learn more about that on our baptism page.

Register for Baptism Class

HOW TO PRAY WITH YOUR CHILD DAILY:

P

Praise

Praise God for who He is and what He has done in your life.

R

Repent

Repent by asking for forgiveness for the things you’ve done wrong.

A

Ask

Ask God for guidance for your life.

Y

Yield

Yield to what God has to say. Stop and listen. Be still.

HOW TO HAVE COMMUNION WITH YOUR KIDS:

Observing communion, or partaking of bread and juice in remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice, is a beautiful ordinance that can be observed in gatherings at church and in the home. As you consider allowing your kids to participate in communion at home, here are some suggestions that might be helpful.

  1. Decide if you feel your children are ready to participate in communion.
    We recommend that children have a basic and clear understanding of the gospel before taking communion. Waiting until a child has a clear understanding of the gospel can likely add to the significance of their experience with communion when the time is right.
  2. Bring your Bible and ask them to use theirs, as well.
  3. Use a plate and cups to set out bread and juice.
    Consider using any type of bread or crackers and juice that is best for your family. Grape juice is often used because of its reddish color. The bread or crackers represent Christ’s body that was broken for us, and the juice represents His blood that was poured out.
  4. Take turns reading the Bible. Some passages to consider include:
    • Isaiah 53
    • John 19
    • 1 Corinthians 11:28
    • 1 Corinthians 15:3-8
    • Ephesians 2:1-10
    • Philippians 2:1-11
  5. Privately examine your hearts.
    • Confess sin and thank God for His forgiveness
  6. Take the bread or crackers and the juice.
    • Pass out the bread or crackers and read 1 Corinthians 11:23-24
    • Pass out the juice and read 1 Corinthians 11:25-26
  7. Sing a song.
      • In Matthew 26:30, we read that the apostles sang a hymn after they took that first communion with Jesus.

RESOURCES FOR YOUR CHILD:

Apps:

  • Bible App for Kids – This is an interactive way for kids to engage in the Bible digitally.
  • Minno- Uplifting, faith-filled stories that teach kids about God.

Bibles:

  • Jesus Storybook Bible
  • The Hands-on Bible 
  • The Adventure Bible

Books:

  • Now What? For Kids Salvation
  • Soaring through the Bible by Skip Heitzig
KIDCITY DEVOTIONAL

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