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Developing Your Children Into World Changers
by Henry Zonio
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Henry Zonio
Mar 01, 2003
In the past year, I’ve run into a lot of new adolescent faces while rushing through the halls on Wednesday evening. As I shared this observation with Jim Schultz, our youth pastor, he told me that there is a team of youth who target newcomers and help them feel welcome and connected. Jim went on to say, “One person who has really gotten into this and has invited many of her friends is Ali. She’s been really excited about getting her friends here to hear the gospel.” How do kids like Ali come to embrace the one objective (sharing Jesus with non-believers) that can only be done while we live on this earth? Over the past ten years, I have come to notice that kids, like Ali, who take an active role in the Great Commission have parents who have fostered that within them.
There are three things we can do as parents to help our children participate in the Great Commission. We need to encourage our children to intentionally form relationships with non-believers. Next, we need to create a home environment that welcomes our children’s friends whether they are Christians or not. Lastly, we need to model the Great Commission to our children in how we intentionally form relationships with non-believers.
ENCOURAGE THEM
What parent doesn’t want their child to have friends? We all pray that our child will choose friends that will be a good influence. How many of us pray, though, that our child will have friends whom he can influence for Christ?
Don’t get me wrong. It is very important for our children to be surrounded by a group of Christian friends who encourage each other and hold each other accountable for living a blameless life. However, if our children only form relationships with other Christians, then they fail to be a light to their peers in the darkness around them. We need to encourage our children to form relationships with non-believers with the express purpose of being able to share the gospel with them when the Holy Spirit gives them that opportunity.
Let your children know that Jesus was a model of this. He surrounded himself with twelve disciples whom he shared his life with. They held the same beliefs and worshipped the same God. Although he did this, Jesus was known as someone who befriended prostitutes, tax collectors, and other undesirables. He spent time to get to know a Samaritan woman who had been divorced multiple times and was living with a man out of wedlock. He protected a woman caught in the act of adultery from an angry mob and offered her forgiveness. Jesus intentionally made relationships with non-believers in order to present them with his saving grace.
CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT
As your children begin to intentionally form relationships with non-believers, it is important that you get to know these new friends. Make your home a place where your children feel free to bring their friends over. Volunteer to help out at your child’s school as a volunteer or chaperone. Host parties for your child and his friends. Be the one who drives your child and friends to extra-curricular activities. Join in a game that your child and her friends are playing.
By getting to know the non-believing friends of your child, you are accomplishing two things. First, you are being a light in the life of your child’s friend. This friend sees the love of Jesus being lived out in your whole family; it is not just an act put on by your child. Secondly, you are more able to curb any negative influence non-believing friends might have on your child.
MODEL IT
Parents quickly learn that our children listen more to what we do than what we say: our actions definitely speak louder than our words. If we want our children to actively play a part in the Great Commission, then we need to be doing it ourselves. This can be a daunting proposition. If you are anything like me, when you hear the word evangelism or witnessing you conjure up images of Bible-thumping fanatics who walk up to strangers proclaiming, “Unless you turn your life over to Jesus you’re going to hell!”
Fortunately, evangelism comes in all shapes, sizes and temperaments. All it takes to model the Great Commission to our children is intentionally forming relationships with non-believers. What do I mean by that? Contemporary society craves relationships. People want to be valued and listened to. All we have to do to be an effective evangelist is look for or create opportunities to become a friend to a non-believer. As you build relationships with non-believers, the Holy Spirit will give you opportunities to share your relationship with Christ with those non-believing friends. In doing this, you will not only come to realize that evangelism is easy, your children will be more likely to follow your example and evangelize their friends.
As parents, we have a lot to worry about. Is Rebekah eating enough? What kind of school should I send Timothy to? How can I get Jessica to finish her homework? Education, nutrition, safety…these are all important. However, our children will not be able to bring their grades or trophies with them to heaven. They can bring those friends who came to know Jesus because our children told them about Him.
Bravo, Ali for telling your non-believing friends about Jesus! Bravo, Ali’s parents for developing Ali into a World Changer! I definitely want my children to follow the Great Commission and change their world. Don’t you?
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