Creative Ways to Share the Gospel With Your Grandchildren

Written by Dr. Joannie DeBrito, Family Support Specialist

In recent years, there has been a lot of focus on how people learn. We all learn in different ways, applying what we learn to grow, be well, serve others, be productive, manage and enjoy our lives, as well as cope with the hurts and sorrows we experience.

As grandparents, telling our grandchildren about the gospel needs to happen in a variety of ways, utilizing how each one best learns information. The desire is that each grandchild can grasp and integrate the information so a relationship with Jesus Christ can be the motivating central part of their lives.

It’s hard to know how each grandchild will learn, so it’s important to teach about Jesus in several ways, taking into consideration the personal and generational contexts of the child’s life.

Understanding How Children and Teens Learn About Faith

After spending decades talking with mostly younger people who appeared to have a deep and abiding faith in Christ, I’ve learned that prayer, Scripture, fellowship, and serving others have been especially important to their development.

However, HOW they practiced these disciplines—and as a result grew in their faith—has varied widely and is often described as different from the way their parents and grandparents lived out their faith.

While we, as grandparents and to some extent, our children, may have learned via memorizing prayers and Scripture, attending organized events at church, and serving in ministries supported by the church, grandchildren from early childhood to young adulthood are now more apt to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ through engagement and participation. 

Faith That Looks Different for a New Generation

They seek in-person and online resources and communities to ask for prayer and pray for others. They look for opportunities to learn, first-hand, how the truth of Scripture can be understood and applied to their lives. They seek knowledge and answers to their questions about Jesus through conversations with peers and trusted adults, looking for experiences that allow them to put their faith into action as well as see the results of serving others.

Authenticity is very important to our grandchildren, particularly those who are in Generation Z and Generation Alpha, covering the ages from birth to 28. They are hypersensitive to hypocrisy, so when they see the gospel taught in a formulaic way, they tend to reject it. For example, if they’re taught to say this prayer or quote this passage in a certain situation and everything will be fine, they may find instead that there are no easy answers to life’s complex issues. There is a place for prayer and Scripture, however.

Pray First – Preparing Your Heart to Share the Gospel

Telling your grandchildren about the gospel begins before you talk with them. Take the time to prayerfully consider how you can pray for them and then pray.

Pray for God’s protection over them, and for wisdom and discernment from the Holy Spirit to know how to teach them about Jesus Christ. Find Scripture passages that address their unique needs and pray those as intercessory prayers for them.

Observe how they learn and talk with others, and consider ways to engage all their senses when presenting the gospel to them. 

Engage Their Senses and Curiosity  

For young children, listening to worship music and reading gospel stories to them may ignite their interest. As they get older, they may want to act out the stories, write their own, or read the Bible or other faith-based stories to you. Let them smell and taste the foods that might have been at a meal in Jesus’ time. Most children like to be creative, so giving them paper and crayons, a felt board, or other items to portray a gospel character or story can be a fun learning activity.

Refer to Scripture, but be thoughtful about using age-appropriate language and be intentional about making sure that the timing is right. Frequently quoting Scripture as a person’s preferred method of communication often leaves children (and adults) feeling unheard or “preached at”, something that is likely to interfere with building strong relationships between grandparents and their grandchildren. 

While I frequently stress the need for adults to help children limit their time on devices, some limited time to engage with stories that teach about the gospel of Jesus Christ can be helpful. For example, Focus on the Family’s award-winning radio drama program, Adventures in Odyssey, features many programs with interesting characters and compelling stories that help children understand how gospel principles can be practiced in their everyday lives. As grandparents, you might want to listen along with your grandchildren so you can ask some thought-provoking questions related to the story after your grandchild is done listening to it. 

Help Them Live Out Their Faith Through Service

Their need to engage and participate can be fulfilled through serving others. Jesus was a servant, and we are called to further his ministry through service to our fellow man. Children who are old enough to help can put service into action by participating in activities that provide needed assistance and support first to families (often including grandparents), then to church and community-based programs, and later, through domestic or international mission trips.

If you are a grandparent who is serving in various capacities, invite your grandchildren to join you when it is appropriate for their age to do so. Talk with them about how serving affects you and what you have learned about yourself and your faith when serving.

I find joy in caring for other people and often feel more grateful for what I have. Additionally, I am grateful for not having to endure some of the hardships that I witness in the people I am serving. I learn so much from talking with those I serve. Often, I feel as if they have served me more than I have served them, leading me to consider it a privilege to have met them.

Younger people are more apt to tithe to organizations that provide support for underserved people as opposed to their local church. Encourage their generosity while also helping them to understand the importance of involvement in and support of their church. 

Walk With Them Through Life’s Hard Questions

Finally, as children move into adolescence and beyond, their life experiences often bring them face to face with the realities of life that they may have been protected from when younger.

How do they reconcile the concept of a loving God and a gracious Savior with the pain they see and feel in the world? What can they do to have an impact on some of that pain? How do they put their trust in Jesus when a pastor they loved who brought them to the Lord has been found to have stolen money from the church and been unfaithful to his wife? These are questions that they want to discuss with trusted adults.

It’s no secret that as kids get older, they often have conflicts with their parents that may take several years to get ironed out, often coming as they mature. Therefore, they may be more interested in exploring the answers to these questions with their grandparents than their parents. This is where their need for engagement and participation can be used to have meaningful conversations, where the goal is less about providing answers for them and more about fostering an interest in regularly studying the gospel to gain a better understanding of these complex issues.

Grandparents can also help cousins connect. A friend of mine who is a technologically savvy grandmother recently helped her high school and college-age grandchildren form a chat group online where they connect regularly to discuss their faith and the challenges they face as young Christians.

Conclusion

Grandparents, your discipleship of your grandchildren begins with sharing the gospel with them. I encourage you to do that in many different and creative ways. Remember that sharing the gospel for a faith decision is critical. Then, help them explore and confront how they will live out that gospel in this world.