How to Give a Salvation Invitation to Kids

The magician was really great. The kids were so excited. He shared the gospel and invited to kids to come forward. I looked up, and the four boys I had brought with me were all heading for the front. One of them was my own son. He had already been saved. Was he lacking assurance? Or had he been too young to understand what he was doing when he went forward at age five?

On the way home the boys informed me that they had all gone forward just so they could see that “really cool guy” (the magician). They were disappointed when he wasn’t back in the counseling room. They just had to “sit there with that lady who was reading to them out of a little bitty book.”

So much for my excitement! After dealing with numerous other experiences of this nature involving children and salvation, I have become more convinced than ever that we adults must be exceedingly careful about how we handle salvation invitations with children. We can manipulate a bunch of children to come forward, and we can read to them out of a little bitty book, even getting them to repeat some words. Too bad this doesn’t save them. Could this be why so many of our “Christian” young people are falling away from the church? I believe it is. They were never saved in the first place. And it’s not their fault—it’s ours.

That being said, I would like to share with you the way that I give a salvation invitation to a group of children. First of all, I don’t overdo it. I may give two invitations at the most during a week-long VBS. We need to trust the Holy Spirit to draw out those who are ready. I don’t want any child to make a “decision” under pressure.

I prepare the kids at the beginning of the week for the fact that there is going to be an opportunity to become a Christian during the week. Then on the day that I am going to give the invitation, I prepare them for it at the beginning of the story. I say something like, “Today we are going to learn about a lame man who Jesus healed. But Jesus also did something more important than that. He forgave his sins. And you will have a chance for Jesus to forgive your sins, too, at the end of our story time.” That way the child is mentally prepared for the invitation when it happens.

I try to make a smooth transition into the invitation from the story. Let’s use our lame man story and show how to transition into a salvation message:

Maybe you feel hopeless like that lame man. If you have never asked Jesus to forgive your sins like Jesus forgave the lame man’s sins, then you need to do that. Jesus died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins. But we have to ask Jesus to forgive us. We have to turn away from sin and turn to God. We need to make Him the master of our lives and give Him the right to change us. When you do that, your spirit becomes alive and you are a child of God. So you can do that right here and now.

I would like all of you to close your eyes and bow your heads. Nobody should be looking around. If you would like to ask Jesus to be your Savior and to come into your life and forgive you of your sins, simply raise your head and look up at me. If you want to turn away from sin and turn to God, Jesus will come into your life. He will change you, and give you a new spirit. If you want to become a Christian today, look up at me.

At this point I say, “Those of you looking up at me, I would like for you to stay behind for just a minute after everybody leaves. I have a little book I would like to give you, and I’d like to talk to you for a minute.” If children have people waiting on them, or are riding buses, you may have to follow up with home visits or contacts by phone, mail, or e-mail. Just be sure you follow up! But don’t keep them for a long time after class.

The advantage of this method is that it is totally silent. Nobody gets a lot of attention by doing it, so that automatically eliminates the children who come forward for attention. Kids are not tempted to join in what I call “herd behavior” because they can’t tell who has lifted heads and who hasn’t. I have used this method with great success in many groups of children.