My daughter has asked me to read The Story of King Jesus a few dozen times since we got our first copy. She can’t read yet, but she already knows most of it by heart.
These days, my book doesn’t make the bedtime rotation quite as often as it used to, but it still shows up every now and then. Except now, I barely read any of it to her.
She’s the one telling me the story.
(Yes, she is hamming it up for the camera.)
What if our kids knew the story of Jesus so well, they were the ones telling it to us? Imagine how it might change our approach to spiritual formation if even 4-year-olds knew the complete story—not just the fragmented, piecemeal, “pray this prayer so you can go to heaven when you die” version.
We have a tendency to oversimplify the gospel, reducing it to “four spiritual laws” or a handful of verses from Romans, because we’re worried our kids can’t handle any more than that.
I think we’re wrong.
I think our kids are up for the whole story. I think they’re up for more than we realize.
They’re so up for it, in fact, that pretty soon they’ll be the ones telling the story to us—way better than we ever thought possible.
Ben Irwin 
“Hence a child’s vision and they will be able to see further than us!” It’s great that you are showing her greatness at an early age because she will be so used to it by adulthood, it would be the norm!!!!
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I like the thought of our kids being able to see further than us…
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Dear Ben,
Your daughter is delightful! So precious to see how our little ones learn how to read by repetition. Just love the way she embodies the story. As I have written you before, I do wonder why you are perpetuating the image of God as male. Jann Aldredge-Clanton tells the story of her three year old daughter, whom they were raising with inclusive language about God at home. One day Jann referred to God as she and her daughter corrected her and insisted that God was a he, ending with the statements: “God is a he. God is a word for boys,” Words matter – and the reference to God as a he matters. How would boys/men feel if all references to God was she? We all say God is neither male nor female, but that is not how we pass on the story.
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I’d just like to pass on another way to help spread the gospel and it’s simply this:-
Include a link to an online gospel tract (e.g. http://www.freecartoontract.com/animation) as part of your email signature.
An email signature is a piece of customizable HTML or text that most email applications will allow you to add to all your outgoing emails. For example, it commonly contains name and contact details – but it could also (of course) contain a link to a gospel tract.
For example, it might say something like, “p.s. you might like this gospel cartoon …” or “p.s. have you seen this?”.
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