The children in the Bible class sang a song they had just learned. The words rang out, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel."
Jennifer raised her hand and asked, "Teacher Matt, what does Gospel mean?"
"Thank you for asking that question, Jennifer," said Teacher Matt. "Maybe some of you other children are wondering the same thing. Gospel means Good News. And the Good News is that Jesus forgives sins.
"Do you remember that in our story today Philip preached to the man from the country of Ethiopia? The man had been reading from the Old Testament part of our Bible. He was reading about Jesus but he didn't know that. He needed someone to help him understand what he was reading. So God sent Philip to help the man and teach him that Jesus was God's Son. That day Jesus forgave the man's sins and he became a Christian. The man was very thankful that Philip obeyed God. Philip had been a missionary for God."
Then Teacher Matt told the children that a special person had come to visit their department. The lady was Teacher Anne, and she was a missionary. She was going to tell them about people in a faraway country.
"Hello, boys and girls," said Teacher Anne. "I want to tell you about a country called Korea."
Jennifer and the other children sat on the edge of their seats as Teacher Anne started telling about her travels in Korea. She said she had gone there to tell the people about Jesus. She told about how little children walked for miles with their parents just to hear the Good News of Jesus and His love.
Oh, it would be wonderful to be a missionary, Jennifer thought. She loved Jesus very much. And she wanted others to know and love Him too. She could hardly wait until she would be big enough.
Just then she heard Teacher Anne telling the children that God had a special job for each one of them to do. They could all be missionaries right now!
"Right now?" asked Jennifer.
"Yes!" answered Teacher Anne. "You can be a missionary by telling your school friends and your neighbors the Good News. Tell them that Jesus loves them and that He can forgive their sins. People all over the world need to hear the Gospel. That means even the people who live in your very own city.
"It doesn't matter how big or small you are, or where you live. What counts is that you are willing to follow Jesus anywhere and tell others about Him."
Through this story of how Philip used God's power to witness to others, we want your child to learn that even young children can tell their friends about Jesus. The value of doing this can easily be visualized for your child.
Draw a simple diagram on a sheet of paper, beginning with a small circle at the top. Write your child's name inside the circle. Draw two more circles just below that circle, then draw a line from each of them to the top circle. Ask your child to suggest two people he might be able to tell about Jesus. Write their names in the two circles. Next, draw two more circles below each of the new circles, connecting them with lines also. Talk about these two people telling others the Good News they have heard. Write, in the new boxes, the names of others that these people might tell about Jesus. Continue to draw circles, until your paper is filled with people's names. When this is done, talk about how exciting it is to see the Good News of Jesus' love spreading throughout the world. How happy we are each time we use God's power to tell someone about Jesus.
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