Childhood evangelism is incredibly important because the best time to reach a soul for Christ is while their young. The difficulty lies in knowing when children understand that they’re sinners, in need of a Savior. That is different for every child.
I knew a young girl named Billie who got saved at age three. She was thirteen when I met her. Her parents were missionaries to Greece, and her mother told me how they prayed with Billie at that incredibly young age because the little one “wanted to get saved.” Of course, her parents didn’t believe for a second that she was old enough to understand the Gospel. So when she was old enough, they started talking to her about her need for salvation. Her answer was always the same. “Mom, I got saved at age three. Don’t you remember? You and Dad prayed with me.” John and Linda remembered very well. But there’s no way that Billie would have remembered if it hadn’t been real to her. That child got saved at age three.
My son, Toby, asked to be saved when he was five and a half. A lot of children still aren’t able to grasp the Gospel by that age, but Toby’s salvation was genuine. After he got saved, his little sister, Jamie, started asking to be saved. We didn’t think that Jamie understood, so we put her off for awhile. She was four-years-old when Floyd finally prayed with her. And just like John and Linda, neither of us thought that she really understood. Because of that, I never told her that she got saved when she was four years old. I figured that if her conversion experience was real, she would remember it. But if she was too young to understand, as I suspected, I didn’t want her eternal destiny endangered by a false security.
Two years later, Jamie and Toby were both baptized at Tri County Baptist Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. And since we were faithful in our church attendance, and Toby had gotten saved at such a young age, I assumed that Jamie also knew the Lord as her Savior. (Bad assumption.) I could see the Holy Spirit working in the life of my son, but my daughter created problem after problem for me. And the older she got, the worse she behaved. I didn’t see God working in her life at all.
One day, after things between us had been especially tense, I took her into her room. I was ready to give her a good whipping, even though she was 14. But I didn’t. I said to her, “I’m going to ask you a question and I want you to think very hard before you answer. This is an incredibly important question.” Immediately, the fight went out of Jamie and she responded thoughtfully. “Okay, Mom.”
I said, “Jamie, think really hard. Has there ever been a time when you asked Jesus into your heart and life to be your Savior?” I knew that she asked Him into her life when she was four. But I wanted to know what she knew. Jamie thought for a moment. Then she said, “No, I’ve never done that.” I said, “Then maybe you should do it now.” Jamie and I prayed together and my daughter’s bitter and angry attitude melted into repentance. That day, she was marvelously and gloriously born again. And there’s no greater feeling in the world than knowing that your family is safe in the arms of Jesus.