"'Mommy, could we say Uncle Jesus?' my four-year-old Timothy once asked." "Of course you can," I responded. I was thankful that Jesus was becoming more personal to my son--as real as his uncle.1 God has a time table for human development--physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Consider the parable of the growing seed. "First the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head" (Mark 4:28, NIV). Erik Erikson says "Trust born of care is, in fact, the touchstone of the actuality of a given religion."2 Ellen White writes "As soon as a child can love and trust his mother, then can he love and trust Jesus as the Friend of his mother."3 The first step in leading a child to Christ, then, is to provide a caring environment. All children have a capacity for faith. The idea of God fascinates children. They are natural born "true believers." "The minds of the little ones may be taught to turn to Jesus as the flower turns its opening petals to the sun."4

Children love stories. My mother was a great story teller. We looked forward to Sabbath afternoon story time. The sandpile in the back yard was our favorite place for stories. Mother would simulate the Sea of Galilee using a piece of glass surrounded by sand. We had fun making little boats and moving them across the "lake" and planting "trees." Bedtime was also story time. We remembered the lesson of purity from the story of Joseph, obedience and helpfulness from the story of Samuel. "Their minds should be filled with stories of the life of the Lord, and their imaginations encouraged in picturing the glories of the world to come."5

It is very important to adapt to the mind of the child. The preconceptual child takes things literally. Often, we think children understand what we have taught them but we later may find that they learned something quite different. A Bible school teacher told the story of the fall of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. He then asked the children to draw a picture of the story. "A 5-year-old produced a picture of a car with a man sitting in the driver's seat and a man and a woman in the back seat. The teacher asked Sally to tell about her picture. 'Well, it is just like you said in your story, God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden.'"6

Learning to pray is a giant step in coming to Christ. My first memories of prayer was kneeling by the bed with my mother. First, I repeated words after her. Later, she encouraged me to "talk to Jesus as to a friend." She taught me to bring my errors and mistakes to Jesus and ask for His forgiveness.

Conversion is an important goal. "Children of eight, ten, or twelve years are old enough to be addressed on the subject of personal religion. Do not teach your children with reference to some future period when they shall be old enough to repent and believe the truth. If properly instructed, very young children may have correct views of their state as sinners and of the way of salvation through Christ."7 Clifford Ingle says, "It is highly doubtful that many children below the age of nine can express or have experienced despair for sin as radical separation from God. It is a mistake to set an arbitrary age for conversion. ...God's Spirit does work with the individual in conversion. These considerations make it impossible to set an arbitrary age of accountability."8

Ellen White tells the story of her conversion at 12 years of age. (Please read this story in Testimonies, Vol. 1, pp. 14-17.) Ellen responded to a call for sinners to come forward and confess Christ. But she failed to experience the joy of salvation because "there was in my heart a feeling that I could never become worthy to be called a child of God." She spent many long hours of darkness in prayer and tears. The next summer she attended a Methodist camp meeting. She said "I was fully resolved to seek the Lord in earnest there, and obtain, if possible, the pardon of my sins." The speaker counseled those who were wavering to fully surrender themselves to God and accept His mercy. "I now began to see my way more clearly, and the darkness began to pass away. I earnestly sought the pardon of my sins, and strove to give myself entirely to the Lord.... Suddenly my burden left me, and my heart was light."

Certainly, parents and teachers should "watch and discern upon whom the Spirit of God is moving, and cooperate with the angels of God in winning souls for Christ."9 It is thrilling to be present at the physical birth of a baby. How much more thrilling to assist your own child in finding his way to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and experience conversion.

1 Adapted from Augusta Olaore, Parent Talk, May/June 1997.

2 Erik Erikson, Childhood and Society, p. 250.

3 Ellen White, Child Guidance, p. 486.

4 Ibid, p. 487.

5 Ibid, p. 488.

6 Adapted from Charles H. Betz, How to Teach the Bible With Power, p. 43.

7 White, p. 490, 491.

8 Clifford Ingle, Children and Conversion, p. 95.

9White, Counsels on Sabbath School Work, p. 11.