Matthew’s Story: “Baby Steps”
By Lindsey Yarboro, Field Missionary, Child Evangelism Fellowship of Broome County
In the first 7 weeks of Good News Club leading up to Christmas break, Matthew was one of those children that needed to be in Good News Club but was certainly not a joy to have there. It started out that Matthew just seemed easily influenced by other disobedient children. But as weeks passed, it seemed like he was getting worse! He would talk back to me, openly disobey me, occasionally exchange swear words with his sister, and was just plain disrespectful.
However, when we resumed club after Christmas, he seemed different. He was sitting quietly and was actually engaged in the club. Three weeks into the new semester, Matthew responded to the invitation and came back to talk to me about believing in Jesus as his Savior. He told me that though his family went to church, the kids just spend the whole time playing and didn’t get to learn about God. Matthew actually seemed downcast as he explained this which showed me that he had a true desire to learn more about God. I gave him instructions on how he could read the Bible and learn more about God through the Good News Kids website for kids. Now that Matthew has started his relationship with the Lord, I hope that he will read his Bible, pray, and do other things to learn more about God.
This is not a story of a miraculous U-turn I witnessed in Matthew’s life, but of gradual change that I have started to see and hope continues. Matthew’s story is a reminder to me of just how important teaching kids how to grow in their faith really is. Change is a process, not only for adults, but also for children. Even Paul referred to adults as being infants in Christ at first. Whether it’s an adult or child, we all start off just taking baby steps when we first believe in Jesus. But both adults and children will be stuck as spiritual infants unless they are helped to take steps towards having “solid food.”
It’s tempting, and certainly easier, just to let the kids in our churches and ministry play for a majority or even the whole time they have with us. And while it’s important for them to have fun, it is imperative that we share the gospel with them and then help them move out of the baby steps phase of their Christian walk. We should tell kids Bible stories and tell them about God and Jesus, but we must apply those stories to their lives so they know how to live for Christ.
There are other children like Matthew in our schools, neighborhoods, and churches that are hungry to be taught practical Christian growth so they can move on from taking baby steps. That’s why one of the goals of the ministries of CEF is to not only reach the unsaved child with the gospel but to reach those saved children with growth applications. You can reach children like Matthew and make a difference in their lives when you give to or volunteer with CEF. Partnering with this ministry is a great way to raise up a future generation of believers.