Salvation - Parent Conversation Guide

This is an exciting time in a kid’s life. They’re starting to ask questions about their faith. They’re wondering about God and His love for them. They may be asking a lot of questions about Jesus—questions that
you may struggle with yourself, or questions that may not have a simple answer. But that’s okay. This is a starting point for your kid to begin a life-long conversation about faith. That’s why we want you to “Start Here” with John 3:16. It lays the foundation for God’s love for us that sent Jesus to be our Savior.

“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 NIrV).

What to say …

1. GOD LOVED

  • God loved you before you were even born. He created you in His image. And He loves you right now.

  • But there is something that separates us from Him, something that keeps us from being with Him forever. It’s called sin. It’s the stuff we do wrong. Sin keeps us from living out the story that God wants for us.

  • And on our own, we can’t do any- thing about this. We need God to step in and help. But because God loved us, He made a way for all of us to live with Him forever.

    ASK . . .

    What is sin?
    Have you ever sinned? When? What is the problem with sin?

2. GOD GAVE

  • God gave the most important, valuable, and perfect thing He
    had for you. He knew that our sin would keep us from living with Him forever.

  • We’re apart from God and would stay that way, but because God loved us, He gave His son to fix that relationship. Jesus came to make a way for you to be in God’s story.

  • And Jesus gave up His life on the cross to pay for our sin. Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead! His resurrection defeated death and makes a relationship with God possible again.

    ASK . . .

    What did God give us? Why did God give this gift? What did Jesus do for us?

3. WHOEVER BELIEVES IN JESUS

  • When you receive a gift what do you do? You open it. God said you could open His gift by believing.

  • Believing simply means to trust. It’s a lot like sitting in a chair. When you sit in a chair, you put all your weight in it. You trust that it will hold you up. That’s what it’s like to believe in or to trust in this gift.

  • To open the gift that God gave you, you trust Jesus with your whole life and rest in the fact that He died and rose again for you.

    ASK . . .

    How can you take part in God’s Big Story? What does it mean to trust in something? How do you know God loves you?

What not to say …

1. “INVITE JESUS IN YOUR HEART ...”

For kids, the phrase “inviting Jesus into my heart” can be confusing. They’re such concrete thinkers
that it can worry them to think that someone is living inside their actual heart.

2. “YOU HAVE TO PRAY LIKE THIS ...”

Kids are going to express their faith with how they understand it at their age. Don’t get hung up on the “right words” but rather the heart with which they pray.

3. MADE UP ANSWERS

Don’t make up answers to questions you don’t know yourself. “I don’t know” is a legitimate answer to questions your kid has about faith. There’s so much that we don’t understand about how God works and how the Holy Spirit enters our life. And that’s okay.