Sharing the Light of The world

35 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. 36 While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them. What is wrong with our children's church programs? I have seen an article going around on this topic and I would like to comment on it. I have enjoyed teaching children's Bible clubs for years. These past several years that we have had our own small church to be leaders of God's Truth in...I have learned more than ever. We have a small group and we are very focused on our own ministry and meeting the needs and praying for our people and ministering , fellowshipping, the daily grind. Sometimes it seems like we aren't doing much when we read of great things happening elsewhere. But, when we stop to really evaluate, God is doing a work and many times we don't see the miracles in the mundane things of life. Back to our children. The article I read was about how our perspective on the Bible stories is what is destroying our children. I see the point. The point is that we tell the stories as though we need to be good as The men and women of the Bible were good. But we should be showing that God loved these men in spite of their sin and they did good because God loved them. I get that. However, I would contend that God loves us all and woos us all to Himself. So, still, we have a problem because not all of our Sunday school children Grow up to love and serve God. So,what is the answer? The truth is we cannot make the message penetrate the heart. Each person is responsible before God for their own soul. Each child must have a desire to be born again as Nichodemus as in John 3. We can not make the message plainer than God does in His Word, we should,not try our own crafty methods to make the children see it. It has to come when they personally want a relationship with Christ. It is a personal desire and it is individual. It is a realization in each heart of their own need for God in His or her life. We can't mistake a child's desire to please us, the teachers, for salvation. Some children naturally want to please and will follow anything an adult shows them. This is not salvation. Others will questions and show great resistance and one day finally give in toTruth..this is sometimes the most obvious evidence of salvation. The fact is, like the above verse says, once the student has Jesus the light turns on and our job as teacher is to feed and direct the sheep who are willing to follow Christ. Our desire should not be to mold the message to make the children understand, we should be teaching children to realize their God loves them and they need Him for guidance in their lives. Jesus is their salvation. Not just for heaven but for an abundant life. Basically we should trust God' s word that it is the power that God says it is. We need to read it to the children. We need to trust His Words. We don't need to re word it. Just tell it. Trust it. Pray for it to reach the heart and the seed will reach the heart. Christianity is not a method, a program, a profession, but it is the power of God in a life. Nothing can explain how a new life is actually begun physically. We know the scientific process but the life itself is given by God and as many babies have been born we are marveled by the miracle of life. So it is spiritually. We can analyze our message, change our music and our programs and fix our Sunday school lessons, but the truth is....the miracle of the new birth is just that, a miracle.The difference is the hearer has a choice to accept the Truth or reject it. Our job is to share God's Truth. I think that is where we are lacking. Just getting back to reading Gods actual words and trusting Him to work His miracle in a life. I believe it's right to want to do the best job possible to teach children. But we need to realize that our greatest power is in God and His words. Not in our own methods and our own desires. We must share God's truth and trust in His power. Sometimes we have to stop and realize that the reason we are not effective is that we have tried too hard in our own power. We have shared our own words and we have not prayed for God to do His work in spite of us. When we hear of crowds coming to Christ...is it because of the messenger? Or is it the Holy Spirit working ? Is it because of the way the message is delivered? Or is it because the hearers are ready and anxious and accepting Truth? Our goal should be to share God's truth and trust God's work to be done. If we win people our way, we need to be careful to point them to Christ and His Truth not our own message or plan.