Raise A Gospel-Sharing Kid: Gospel Mini-Series

We paint a picture of a kid sharing the gospel at a school lunch table and then get painfully practical about how a parent builds the kind of home where that response becomes normal. We trade a “good kid” goal for a Great Commission vision, then lay out habits, conversation tools, and prayer rhythms that help kids speak about Jesus with courage and care. 

• a bigger biblical vision than raising a “good” child 
• why students are strategic missionaries in their schools 
• how family culture becomes the “water” kids swim in 
• talking about friends who don’t know Jesus by name 
• praying together for specific open doors 
• debriefing faith conversations like a coach not a judge 
• modeling gospel sharing so kids can copy it 
• simple conversation starters that feel natural 
• using the GOSPEL acronym without sounding robotic 
• expecting pushback and responding without arguing 
• praying for names open doors and boldness as the foundation 

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This podcast is presented by Wayne Christian School- A Christ-centered community school whose mission is to assist parents and churches in the education of their children from a biblical worldview to impact their world for Christ. You can learn more at waynechristian.org 

Transcript

A Lunch Table Gospel Moment

Luis 0:00

Picture this your kid is at school at the lunch table and a friend leans over and says, I've been going through some stuff, my parents might be getting divorced, and I just feel like nothing matters anymore. And your kid doesn't freeze, they don't change the subject, and they don't just say, Oh man, that's rough.

Nate 0:21

Instead, they say, Hey, can I share something with you? It's actually helped me a lot. And they share the gospel clearly, confidently, in their own words at the lunch table on a regular Tuesday. That's not a fantasy. That's a kid who is equipped at home.

Luis 0:40

And that's what we're going to be talking about today. This is the final episode of our Raising Gospel Sharing Kids series, and today we are talking about how you, as a parent, turn your home into a place where that type of kid is formed.

Series Recap And The Goal

Nate 1:05

Welcome to Equipped for Impact, the podcast designed to assist Christian parents, leaders, and educators to raise up the next generation to stand firm in their faith and influence the world for Christ. We're your hosts. I'm Nate. And I'm Lewis. And we are glad you're here with us today, where we're closing out our series on raising gospel shares. Three weeks ago, we didn't even have this series on the calendar, right, Lewis? We just were talking um here at the table, trying to figure out where we were gonna go next. And I think these last three episodes might be some of the most important ones that we've recorded because they go right to the heart of what we believe this show is all about.

Luis 1:46

And if you're just joining us for the first time in this series, let's give you a quick recap of where we've been. First of all, welcome. Yes.

Nate 1:53

Welcome to the show. Equipped for Impact.

Luis 1:55

Equipped for Impact. Make sure you subscribe.

Nate 1:57

That's right. And give us a rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or Amazon Music or wherever it is that you happen to be listening to this.

Luis 2:06

So the first week we talked about how to craft and share your testimony with your child. The second episode, we looked at the Dare to Share Life in Six Words model, which is the word gospel, and how you they can use it. And then today we're gonna talk about how to send your child out and how you can build a culture in your home where it becomes natural to share the gospel.

Nate 2:36

It's just who you are, it's just what

A Bigger Vision Than “Good Kid”

Nate 2:39

you do. Yeah, and so we kind of need to start with the vision, right? Because the way you see your child determines how you raise them, right? Most Christian parents have this vision that it goes something like this, right? I want my kid to be a good person, to make good choices, to stay out of trouble. And then they they keep that good uh adjective and they throw it in there like, I want them to go to good college and get a good job, and and maybe then they're gonna help out in their church, and because they've got lots of money, because they've got a good job, they'll give to their church, whatever. And there's nothing wrong with any of those things, right? But that's not the vision the Bible gives us for the next generation.

Luis 3:20

If you're familiar with the Gospel of Matthew, you're familiar with the Bible, you're familiar with the term the Great Commission, right? It tells us to go and make disciples of all nations. And that commission, it's not just for pastors, right? It wasn't just given to people who go to seminary, but it was given to a group of ordinary men and women who had encountered the risen Christ, and it has never been taken away. He's never changed it. He's never said, All right, guys, like, good job, we're done. Right?

Nate 3:51

Mission accomplished. Mission accomplished. Do you remember that? So that was back, what was it, W Bush after the Iraq War, or still during the Iraq War, and he like landed on an aircraft carrier and they had that big sign that was like mission accomplished, and it was like premature. Do you remember that? I don't remember that. So he like landed because remember, he was a fighter pilot. So he flew and actually landed on the aircraft carrier, and then he gives this big speech. And I guess the sailors had made this mission accomplished sign. Yeah. And it was like we didn't really accomplish the mission, and it's still ongoing, but it was like a premature celebration. So it sounds like something out of the Hunger Books. The Hunger Games. No, not at all. It was real life.

Luis 4:28

Well, I know it was real life, but like it's something that they would have like I'm sure you've read the Hunger Game books, right? Yeah. So like the whole propaganda machine and like you know, catnness, you know, and so you can see Katniss flying in on a jet, right, landing, you know, and then like she holds up a sign that says mission accomplished. We won. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Nate 4:45

Like, but there's no like premature me premature celebration, like we've completed the Great Commission.

Luis 4:51

Yeah, the mission is not accomplished. No, it is not. The Great Commission is still applicable to all of us, and it applies to you and to your 14-year-old son or daughter.

Nate 5:02

Yeah, and and Dare to Share, which we use them and their gospel framework, right? If you remember that from last episode, G-O-S-P-E-L, right? God, our sins, paying everyone life. And it's kind of like the big story arc of the gospel and where God is going. And Dare to Share is a great ministry, has lots of stuff out there, but they put it this way that every student is a missionary. Not every student a pastor, not every student a professional Christian, every student in their school, in their friend group, in their neighborhood, a missionary, right? Someone who has been sent with the message of the gospel.

Luis 5:39

And this is why it matters, right? Because the research consistently shows that the vast majority of people who come to know Jesus do so before the age of 18. You are more likely to become a Christian when you are under the age of 18 than after the age of 18. And so the most receptive mission field in the world is sitting in our middle schools and in our high schools right now. And the most qualified people to reach them are not necessarily the adults in their life, but it's going to be the other students that they interact with on a daily basis. And your child has access to people that your pastor does not, that a youth worker doesn't have, and that no parent ever will. They eat at lunch with them, they sit in class with them, they know their family situations, they know oftentimes their deepest insecurities, their deepest secrets, their deepest fears.

Nate 6:38

They know how to use slang better than you and I do. Yes, absolutely. Which is not that hard. Way better. Like no cat.

Luis 6:45

And that's not a coincidence. That's that's how God has has designed it for this season in their life.

Nate 6:53

That's right. And so the the question for us as parents is are we raising our kids to see it that way? Or are we just raising them to survive school, keep their faith to themselves until they're in a safer context? And so that's that's kind of what we want to talk about today and how you can build that at home. So, Lewis, where do we start when we talk about building this culture at home?

What Your Family Culture Normalizes

Luis 7:19

You know, culture is just the word that we use for what's normal, right? Every family has one. Some families have a sports culture, everything revolves around practices, games, travel tournaments. Some families have an academic culture. It's where it's about GPA, college prep, test scores. And the question is not whether your family has a culture, but the question is what is built, what is it built around? Yeah. Like, like how are you making that culture intentionally?

Nate 7:53

Yeah, it's I've heard it explained this way, and I think credit to the Colson Center and the Breakpoint podcast about that. But they they talk about like fish swimming in water. Like, so culture is the water you swim in. Like a fish doesn't know it's wet. And so we just sometimes we don't recognize the water we're swimming in. And so we kind of need to get some of that self-awareness and realize, like you said, what what is the family culture that we've built. And then we need to be intentional, right, about building a gospel-sharing culture at home. And that doesn't mean that your house becomes like a Bible camp or a Bible college or anything like that. It just means that the gospel's woven into the normal rhythms of your family life. So we want to get practical for you guys. And and and here's four ways that you can really just go into building this type of culture in

Four Habits That Shape A Home

Nate 8:44

your family. And the first way, I think, is just to talk about lost people by name, right? It sounds simple, but it's really powerful because you start talking about real people in your child's life who don't know Jesus at the dinner table, in the car. We've talked about that before. You know, as you're praying, you say, Hey, you know, how is you know Marcus doing? Uh, I don't know if Marcus is actually an unsaved person. I'm sure there's an unsafe person named Marcus. Yes, who doesn't know Jesus. But, you know, hey, is he coming to youth group? Have you talked to him? You know, have you shared your faith? You know, maybe there's an opportunity, but as you talk about it, it just keeps them front of mind. We you and I were talking about deja vu before we hit record and how like that's just like when something's just kind of in your mind, it just comes up. And if you create that environment where you're just acknowledging there are lost people who need the gospel and you're naming them, you're more likely to see them and take advantage of those opportunities.

Luis 9:44

I thought you were getting ready to tell me that you were having a deja vu moment.

Nate 9:47

I did not have a deja vu moment.

Luis 9:48

Here's the second thing that you can do in your home to establish this culture is to pray for open doors together. And so we talk about making it a regular practice to pray as a family, but are you praying for for the opportunity to share the gospel? Yeah. Now, I don't mean that you pray something like be with all the missionaries around the world, but but maybe you get more specific. That would be good. You should, you should pray for that. But you should also pray that God would give your child an opportunity to talk to her friend about Jesus this week, right? And so it might look like Lord, give Emma an opportunity to talk to her friend Kyle about you this week. And when you pray specifically, a couple of things happen, right? Your child starts to expect God to move. And then secondly, when God does open the door, they they recognize it, right? You you've trained their eyes to look for it. And then the third thing is when they come home and say, Mom, something happened today, you get to celebrate with them because that's what you prayed for together.

Nate 10:56

I think I've noticed that praying for open doors, like that, and we definitely should do that, right? That's why it's on this list. But a lot of times the open doors are already there. Yeah, and just us praying for them, and like we just point number one, right? You talk about them by name, then you just see the open doors that are already there. Too often we don't need God to open doors, we just need the boldness to walk through them.

Luis 11:22

Or the or the self-awareness to see that it's an open door. That reminds me of the story of the guy that was on a deserted island. His plane crashed, he was there by himself. Yep. And so is this a true story? No. Okay. And so he prayed that God would rescue him, right? And so a helicopter flew over, and he said, they said, Hey, we're, you know, you want us to rescue you? And he was like, No, like I'm good, like, God's gonna rescue me. And so the helicopter left, and then this massive cruise ship sailed by and they were like, Hey, you know, do you need us to rescue you? And he was like, No, God's gonna rescue me. Do people actually ask, like, hey, do you need me to rescue you? I think so. In this story, they do. Okay. And so then the cruise ship leaves, right? And then finally, like, he gets like he dies on the island by himself, and then he gets to heaven, and he's like, God, why didn't you send somebody to rescue me? Or why didn't you rescue me, right? And God's like, What are you talking about? I sent you a helicopter and I sent you a cruise ship. And so he missed the opportunities that were right there in front of him.

Nate 12:25

I heard that story as there was a flood. I'm pretty sure it was like Hurricane Katrina and in New Orleans, and somebody was up on their roof, and like a boat comes by, and then you know, a bigger boat comes by, and then a helicopter comes by, and then the same thing. Like, uh I sent you a boat and a helicopter, and anyway, yeah.

Luis 12:43

And so to your point, right? We we pray for God to the opportunities are there. These doors, the opportunities are already there, and when you pray for them, you begin to see them.

Nate 12:53

Yeah, that's that's really good. So then number three is as a parent, you should debrief those gospel moments with your child, right? Regularly ask them, did you have any chances to talk about your faith this week? How did it go? When when they do, you know, whether it was great or whether it was awkward or it fizzled out or whatever, like what did they say? What was your response? You just ask these questions, again, not yes, no, and you may have to pry and get past the whatever, especially if they're a teenager, right? You're not grading them, you're coaching them, and there's a huge difference. And so a coach celebrates the attempt and and helps improve the execution. You know, if you're not evaluating them or saying that their standing in your eye changes based on how they did, but you're coaching them through that. But you've got to have the conversation.

Luis 13:42

Yeah. And then the fourth thing is that they have to see you do it, right? And this is the one that's probably gonna cost you the most because it's probably the one that matters the most, right? Yep. Your kids are not gonna do something that they don't see you do. And so they're not going to share their faith consistently if you're not sharing it. You can't outsource this to the church, you can't outsource this to the youth pastor, you can't even outsource it to some type of dare to share conference, right? Yeah. Because you have to take responsibility for it. And so when you have a gospel conversation with a neighbor, tell your kid, right? I had a chance to talk to Mr. Johnson today about faith. It was a little awkward, but I'm glad I did it. And when you share that testimony with your child, right, they are looped into it. And then when you invite someone to church, do it in front of your kid because you're not just modeling evangelism, you you're normalizing it for them. You're saying this is just what our family does.

Nate 14:41

Yeah, that's real, that's real good. So you've got those to kind of like help build the culture, but let's get even more practical and and talk about ways that you're, you know, you can give your kids some tools in these conversations.

Simple Starters For Real Conversations

Nate 14:54

So we've already told you the gospel acronym, right? And hopefully you and your child, you know them, right? G-O-S-P-E-L, you can walk through it, all of those things. So now let's talk about what it actually looks like to use that in real conversations because there's a difference between, you know, knowing the framework and knowing how to actually use it in a conversation. So we we sort of already hit on this last week, but but Lewis, how can we kind of get the conversation going with the gospel framework?

Luis 15:24

Well, I think it starts with helping our kids not get stuck before they begin, right? Yep. They know the gospel, they know their friends need to hear it, but they have no idea how to get from what are you doing this weekend to can I share something important with you? Yeah, and so let me share with you some some conversation starters that your child can use, especially if they're a teenager, right? So one of those questions is do you ever think about God? Like, do you have a faith background? That's it. It's not confrontational, but it's genuinely curious, and it opens a door that the other person can walk through or step back from. Either response is useful information. And then the second question is when a friend is struggling, or maybe they have a problem at home and maybe they have a fear or a loss, you your child can say, Hey, my faith has actually helped me a lot with stuff like that. Can I share something with you? And that doesn't come across as weird, but it comes across as caring. And then the third one is a direct approach, and it works oftentimes more than you think. It's something like, hey, I've been learning about my faith a lot lately, and I actually have this simple way I explain what I believe. Would you be willing to hear it? It only takes like two minutes. And that opens up a conversation that most people are gonna say yes to.

Nate 16:49

Yeah, that's that's really good. And you want to make sure that you you're teaching your child to use the gospel acronym naturally. You kind of already hit on this with that that first question of what do you think about God, or do you ever think about God, right? But Dare to Share talks about ask, admire, admit, right? Ask them what they believe, admire, right? If they've got faith or if they're thinking deeply, or if they're, you know, just curious, admire that. There's always, even if you're talking to someone who's like a Jehovah's Witness or a Mormon, whatever, you there's something to admire about their morals or their ethics or something like that. You can admire that or their commitment, right? And then you admit what God has done for you. And that's where this kind of opens up naturally for you to roll through this gospel acronym. So you're not gonna have your kid just recite the script, you know, God created us to be with him, but our sins separate us from God. Sins cannot be removed by good deeds. So paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again, and everyone who believes in him will have eternal life, and life with Jesus starts now and lasts forever. You don't really roll through that. That is good, but it's kind of robotic. And rehearsed, right? And rehearsed. And right, it doesn't sound natural. So do natural, right? You just say, hey, you know, your friend's struggling, and it's like, you know, that's that's true because sin has wrecked our world, right? And our sin separate us from God. That's a natural flow into the oh, and then you can move on in the conversation from there. You don't have to just, you know, dive in and do something very robotic and rehearsed. You just go through that entire gospel acronym wherever the on-ramp happens in a conversational, natural way, and your kid, your kid can do that that

Responding To Pushback With Calm

Nate 18:36

too. And so you have to also teach them to expect pushback. Oh, yeah. Because you're not gonna like start off and it's just gonna be a natural, let me flow through this, and your friends are just gonna be like, Yeah, two thumbs up. Yeah, there's gonna be some pushback.

Luis 18:49

And then especially if you're in an environment where there's anger or antagonism towards the faith, right? And so teach your child not to fear pushback, teach them to expect it because the gospel is offensive to the natural mind. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1.18 that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. And that's not the failure of the messenger, that's just the nature of the message. And so your child needs to be prepared how to respond to pushback. Like their friend might say, I don't believe in God. And so teach your child to respond to that naturally. That's fair. Can can I ask what would it take for you to believe? Like what would have to be true? Yeah. Because then that question changes it from a debate to to a conversation. And uh, when a friend might respond and say, There are too many hypocrites in the church, you hear that a lot, right? Yeah, and so then teaching your child to naturally say, Yeah, that's true. Yeah, I get that, right? Yeah, uh, I'm not asking you to trust the church, I'm I'm telling you about Jesus, and and those are two different things. And when a friend says, I'm not ready, then your child can just respond, that's okay. I'm not trying to pressure you. I just wanted you to know because this is important to me, and that's it, right? Leave it there and and let them learn that they're gonna face pushback and it's natural.

Nate 20:19

They just need to be faithful. That's right. And the goal of the conversation is never to win the argument, it's it's to faithfully share the message and leave the door open, and you can remind them, right? They're planting seeds, but it's God that brings the growth. So, so how do we, Lewis? Let's just kind of like wrap this up. Like what is it that we can do practically even right now? Like, there's there's all this training we feel like we need to do with our kids, but what can what can we do to get started right now?

Prayer That Fuels Gospel Boldness

Luis 20:52

Well, the most important thing that I think we need to say about this whole thing is that it starts with prayer, right? Prayer is the foundation that is under all of it. Because everything we've said over the course of these three episodes the testimony, the gospel acronym, these conversation starters, the culture you're building at home, all of these rest on the foundation of prayer. And if we forget that, then we've turned evangelism into a technique instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to work in and through us. You actually shared a story, I think it was the first episode, about when you were in New York City and you were doing some open street evangelism, right? And how you there was like some sales techniques that you were taught and then you ran into like a salesperson. Right. Yeah. And so if if we're not careful, right, we turn evangelism, we turn gospel sharing into that, right? A mechanical process that you follow that is not undergirded by prayer.

Nate 21:54

Yeah, that's right. And and even the apostle Paul, right, think the greatest evangelist in all of church history. Literally, an apostle commissioned by Jesus Himself in Colossians 4 asked the believers at the church at Colossae to pray that God would open a door for the gospel for him. He knew what he was doing. He had the training literally from Jesus himself. And and he had suffered and had a proven track record of persevering in the midst of persecution, but he still knew that God needed to open that door and help him through it. And so if Paul needed to pray, so do you.

Luis 22:33

Yeah, because Paul was definitely one of those trained the trainers, right? Like he had been trained by the trainer. Yep. That's exactly right. And then he was training others, right? And so you might be wondering, okay, what does this look like as a prayer framework? And so what I would encourage to do is pray for the names. Pray for specific people in your child's life who you know need Jesus. Say their names out loud in your family prayers. When you pray for someone by name, they they stop being this abstract idea and they become a person that you are believing God will save. And pray for the open door, right? Ask God specifically to give your child an opportunity. And then pray for boldness. Acts 4 29, after Peter and John were threatened and released, the church gathered and prayed, not for safety, but they prayed for boldness, right? Lord, grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness. And that's the prayer, right? Don't don't pray that your child is protected from awkward conversations, but pray that God would give your child the courage to have them.

Nate 23:39

Yeah, that's right. And and you, as a parent, the most powerful thing you can do for your child is pray for them. And and specifically in this area, praying for them to step out and trust God as they do what we've all been commanded to do, right? That's not a general prayer, right? Bless, you know, little Susie. It's it's specific, right? You're praying for them by name, for their friends, for their specific fears. As you debrief those conversations, you've got more material you can pray for for your child and those specific opportunities. And you may never know what those prayers do, but God does. So, Lewis, we've gone through three episodes on this gospel series, right? About testimony, the gospel framework, and launching our kids out. So, as we close out this kind of mini-series and this episode today, what do you want to leave our parents

Final Charge And Next Steps

Nate 24:36

with?

Luis 24:36

Well, we've been doing this for three episodes now, right? Let me go back to something that we said in the first episode that really it's like the thread that runs through everything. And you are not just a parent, you are a walking, breathing piece of apologetics living inside your own home. Your story is evidence, your life is testimony, and your faithfulness is the loudest sermon that your child is ever going to hear. And so, over these three weeks, we've asked you to do three things. We've asked you to write your testimony and share it with your child. We've we've asked you to learn the gospel acronym and to teach it to them. And now we're asking you to build a home where gospel sharing is what you do, where lost people are prayed for by name, where open doors are celebrated, where your kids feel equipped and not just informed. And so there's a lot that we've given you. And I would encourage you to go back and listen to these episodes again so that you feel confident in it. And it's important that you understand that the generation that is sitting in your home right now has the potential to be one of the most gospel bold generations that this church has ever seen. Um, and that doesn't happen by accident, it happens in a home like yours with parents like you who decide to be intentional, who decide that they want to raise a world changer who is willing to work and share the gospel. And parent, you can do this, right? God has equipped you for exactly this, and we are encouraging you to go and do it.

Nate 26:17

Yep, that's exactly right. So, so that's it for this raising gospel shares series. And I just want to thank you guys for going through this with us. And if this series has helped you, please share it with another parent who needs to hear this. We make this resource equipped for impact. It's for you guys because we love the church and we love parents and we want to see parents equipped to disciple their children. And and like we said before, leave us a review, share it, you know, whatever. We'd love to hear about that. And we'll be back next week uh for a special Father's Day episode. Because, fathers, this one's specifically for you coming up soon. Um, but until then, keep leading the next generation to stand firm in their faith and influence the world for Christ.