Kids are natural evangelists, they tell everything! Cultivate this love of sharing by teaching your kids about evangelism. By showing them how they can share their faith effectively, you will encourage their spirit and bring glory to God. Resist the urge to over teach with three month courses and seminars. Keep the gospel message powerful but simple. Incorporate some of these practical ideas backpack evangelism ideas into your curriculum and inspire your kids to build God’s kingdom.
I love backpack evangelism. A helper and I came up with this concept. We wanted to teach kids how to share the gospel with school friends using common school supplies. We thought this idea would be beneficial to our kids, especially in a school setting were they spend so much time. We started with an average looking backpack. Next, we filled it with items that any student would carry like books, pencils, paper and a calculator. I used the filled backpack as an object lesson every Sunday for a month. Each Sunday, I had a child pick one item from the backpack. I demonstrated how they could use each item to explain to friends how much God loved them.
- Sheets of paper: I drew an X or some words like “lie” and “steal” on a piece of paper. I held a blank sheet of paper up to the kids. I explained that this is how God wants to make our souls, clean. Then I held the other paper up. I pointed to the words and said, “When we make wrong choices, we end up writing on our souls.” I wadded up the written paper and tossed it away. Next, I hold up the clean sheet. I say, “God gives me a clean sheet of paper, a clean soul, every time I repent.”
- Books: I hold up the books and say, “These books can get heavy after carrying them around all day, right?” Kids will agree with me here. Then I say, “Life can get heavy sometimes too, right?” Kids agree again and some will share about how heavy life gets. I say, “Did you know that Jesus promised to make life lighter? When you invite him into your heart, he carries life for us!”
- Pencils: I hold up the unsharpened pencils and let everyone look at them. I ask kids questions like, “Can we write our homework with these pencils?” Kids will say no. Then I say, “What do we need to do write our homework?” Kids will say “Sharpen them!” I say, “Did you know that when you live without Jesus you are like this unsharpened pencil? God can’t write anything nice on our lives when we remain unsharpened. Who wants to be a sharpened pencil for God?”
- Calculator: I use a really large calculator for this object lesson. I hold up the calculator and show the number 0. I say, “When we start our lives we start with 0’s but pretty soon a few numbers get added. Every time we fib, or cheat, or cuss or steal we add numbers.” I tap away multiplying and adding numbers to the final amount. I hold up a huge number like 142,756 or whatever I end up with. I say, “Wow! It’s not zero anymore. I made that many mistakes. Did you know I can get to zero again?” Kids will say yes. Then I say, “Just be pressing the C button, I can get back to zero. Would you like your soul to get back to zero? All you have to do is press the C button and ask Christ to forgive you!”
These backpack ideas make it easy for kids to share their faith with their peers on the bus, on the walk home or wherever the opportunity arrives. It’s time to mobilize God’s army of evangelist by empowering our kids with his gospel message.
Purchase Mimi’s latest Christian teaching parable for kids “The Young Boy and the Great Mountain” or visit her blog at Encouragement for Christians.