Home > Work > Come Ye Children: Practical Help Telling Children about Jesus
1 " Christian children mainly need to be taught the doctrines, precepts, and life of the gospel; they require divine truth to be put before them clearly and forcibly. Why should the higher doctrines, the doctrines of grace, be kept back from them? These doctrines are not merely structural bones; or if they are, they are full of marrow and covered with fatness. If there is any doctrine too difficult for a child, the fault is the teacher’s conception of it rather than the child’s ability to receive it, provided the child is really converted to God. Our responsibility is to make doctrine simple; this is a main part of our work. Teach the little ones the whole truth and nothing but the truth, for instruction is the great desire of the child’s nature. "
― Charles Haddon Spurgeon , Come Ye Children: Practical Help Telling Children about Jesus
2 " Youth is susceptible to evil doctrine. Whether we teach young Christians truth or not, the devil will be sure to teach them error. They will hear of it somehow, even if they are watched by the most careful guardians. The only way to keep chaff out of the child's little measure is to fill it brimful with good wheat. Oh, that the Spirit of God may help us to do this! "
3 " The opinion that children cannot receive the whole truth of the gospel is a great mistake, for their childlikeness is a help rather than a hindrance; older people must become as little children before they can enter the kingdom. Lay a good foundation for the children, and don’t let Sunday school work be dishonored or done in a careless manner. Let the children know the Holy Scriptures and let the Scriptures be consulted rather than any human book. "
4 " I cannot say why it is, but I know that some are old when they are young, and some are very green when they are old; some are wise when we’d expect them to be otherwise, and others are very foolish when we might expect them to have ended their silliness. Don’t talk of a child’s inability to repent! I have known a child to weep herself to sleep by the month under a crushing sense of sin. "
5 " Let us recognize the true value of children, and then we won’t keep them back, but we shall be eager to lead them to Jesus at once. "
6 " We cannot feed lambs, or sheep either, unless we are fed ourselves. It is right to teach a great part of the Lord’s Day, but a teacher is not wise who fails to hear the gospel preached and get a meal for his own soul. First be fed, and then feed. "
7 " If a man is straying away from God, every step he takes increases his distance from Him. But if his face is toward the Lord, he might only be capable of a child’s tottering step, but he is still moving nearer and nearer every moment. "
8 " the best preparation for teaching Christ’s lambs is love – love for Jesus and for them. We cannot be priests on their behalf unless like Aaron we wear their names upon our breasts. We must love or we cannot bless. Teaching is poor work when love is gone; it is like a smith working without a tire hammer or a builder without mortar. A shepherd who does not love his sheep is a hireling and not a shepherd; he will flee in the time of danger and leave his flock to the wolf. Where there is no love, there will be no life; living lambs are not to be fed by dead men. "
9 " Getting children to meet in the morning and the afternoon is a waste of their steps and ours if we do not set before them soul-saving, soul-sustaining truth. Feed the lambs; we need not make music for them or put garlands around their necks, but we need to feed them. "
10 " If there is any doctrine too difficult for a child, the fault is the teacher’s conception of it rather than the child’s ability to receive it, provided the child is really converted to God. Our responsibility is to make doctrine simple; this is a main part of our work. Teach the little ones the whole truth and nothing but the truth, for instruction is the great desire of the child’s nature. "
11 " If there be any doctrine too difficult for a child, it is rather the fault of the teacher's conception of it than of the child's power to receive it, provided that child be really converted to God. It is ours to make doctrine simple; this is to be a main part of our work. "
12 " Anything we do to hinder a dear child from coming to Jesus greatly displeases our dear Lord. He cries to us, "Stand off. Let them alone. Let them come to Me, and forbid them not. "
