Have fun, yes! Make it energy-packed, appealing, and engaging, yes! However, ensure that you have a clear conscience, knowing you have laid a strong, age-appropriate Gospel foundation for the young people with whom you have been working.

Consider this scenario: you are new to the neighbourhood, and as you jog, you notice smoke billowing from an upstairs window of a home. You don’t want to disturb your neighbours or make them anxious. But you do feel a certain responsibility to stop and at least start a conversation that could eventually come around to mentioning the puffs of smoke. However, that’s not where you want to start the conversation. So, you gently knock on the door:

“Good morning – it’s a great day to be on the planet! I was admiring your dandelion-free lawn while jogging. It looks awesome. You must be a bit of a horticulturist – the way you have those flowers and shrubs arranged. It all looks like something out of the Chelsea Garden Grass and Weed magazine. Now, this is just an aside: let me ask you, dear neighbour, if a jogger was in the neighbourhood and she got a few whiffs of smoke, what should she do: a) put on a mask, b) ignore it, or c) find the source? And to take it a step further, once the source was identified, how should she respond: a) hope the wind changes direction; b) alert the homeowner; or c) pray for heavy rain?”

The absurdity and irresponsibility are obvious.

When we work with youth from the community, let’s be crystal clear about the issues at hand. We have their ear for such a short period of time. Don’t beat around the bush. Don’t give them some wimpy material about how to be a good person — friendly, polite, kind, gentle and anger-free.

Often, the themes and curriculum of “purchased” summer kids’ programs are very weak in Gospel truth and bland when it comes to the essentials of the Christian faith. If you want to instill good “Christian” living values as a secondary objective, that’s fine – but never lose sight of the primary objective of making them ‘wise unto salvation.’ Too many of the prepackaged, so-called ‘outreach’ programs for youth are so vague that the basics of the Gospel can hardly be detected.

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth…” Ecclesiastes 12:1

You know those who taught you, and you know that from infancy, you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 3:14-15

Getting children to memorize the Beatitudes or 1 Corinthians 13 on love when they haven’t yet memorized the classic Gospel verses of the Bible is borderline irresponsible! If you happen to think there’s nothing wrong with that approach, you might also see nothing wrong with the jogger’s approach above.

It’s not Christian-living material that children from the community need – they need the truths related to the Gospel.

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Weave the basic elements of the Gospel into all your activities. Analyze the content of the songs you teach them. Could they get saved through these lyrics ten years from now when they are coming home from a nightclub? Sure, there has to be the ‘fast and fun’ component to the choruses, but choose songs that blend sound Gospel doctrine with youthful lyrics, action and tempo.

When you are asking questions and doing quizzes, seize every opportunity to nail down something about their need and God’s remedy. Testing their auditory learning and retention skills is fine.  “Did Noah build a bridge, boat or bicycle?” However, try to formulate some questions that reinforce key biblical truths related to the story. Purposefully design every minute of your 60-minute program. In light of eternity, every minute counts. Impress them with the beautiful Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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If you’re teaching the lesson, make sure you can identify two or three critical Gospel truths that you want to impress on their young minds throughout your story or lesson. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to write down precisely the truths you want to emphasize and instill in their minds as they listen. Ask the Lord to give you help to get those points clearly across to the kids, beyond just the mere ‘facts’ of your story or the entertainment of your object lesson.

Always ask yourself: could the child get saved through the lesson I’ll be sending them home with today? If Amanda’s bike collides with a truck – and I’m the last one to have told her a story from the Bible – did I make it clear? That verse which I had the class memorize the last time she attended – what aspect of Gospel truth did it cover?

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As you gear up for an exciting season of children’s work – remember you are engaged in youth evangelism. Children are impressionable, inquisitive and often innocent in their thinking. We have a small window of opportunity to influence their lives for good and for God. All too quickly, they leave those tender years behind them and move out into the mainstream of adult thinking. Showing them love and joy, gaining their trust, winning their hearts, planting the seed and saturating their minds with the Scriptures should be our focused and fervent exercise.