TRAINING CHILDREN TO SPEAK
Part 3

Acts 1:8, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

The word “witness” is martus which means “one who knows or one who bears record to what he has seen or heard.” We can’t be a witness for the Lord unless we know what we are talking about. We must know His truth to communicate it. The English word, martyr is derived from this word because he bears witness by his death. In many countries of the word believers are martyred for witnessing to the truth. A true witness will not back down in the face of persecution.

We continue to look at more ways to prepare our children to speak.

DELVE DEAPER

When a child says, “God is the biggest God in the world!” ask another question, “Why do you think that?” or “How do you know that?” It will cause them to think a little more and give you an opportunity to add another precept of truth. Remember, this is not a lecture, just a question or two as they go their merry way. You can do this with many statements they make.

POEM NIGHTS/MEMORY VERSES

Every so often we have Poem Night with all the grandchildren. Each one has to memorize a poem and recite it to the audience of uncles, aunts, cousins and grandparents. It is good practice for speaking and they are growing more confident each time. You can do the same thing with Scripture Memory Verses. You may not have the audience on hand that we have but you could do it by gathering a few families together.

SPEECH NIGHTS

As our children were growing and especially when they got into their teen years, we frequently had Speech Nights. Sometimes they had to prepare a speech on a given subject with time to study and prepare. Other times we wrote different subjects on paper and put them in a hat. After taking a subject from the hat, the children would then have to give an impromptu three minute speech on that subject.

We also did this with the Scriptures. Sometimes they had to prepare a talk on a certain Scripture or passage; other times we would put the Scripture in the hat and they would have to give an impromptu exhortation on it.

PREACHING NIGHTS

Our children were mostly in their teens when we lived on the Gold Coast of Australia. They loved to preach in the open air mall in Surfers Paradise. To prepare for this they had practice preaching nights where our children and their friends would practice. They would preach for a few minutes and then the next one would carry on. And this is how they did it in the open air mall. One would preach and before they ran out of what to say, the next one would run out and start preaching.. They could keep going like this for an hour or more and many crowded around to hear the gospel. Rocklyn was only 13 years, and in bare feet and jeans, would gather crowds as he preached like a fiery evangelist.

SHARING AT CHURCH

Unfortunately not many young people have the opportunity to share at church. Fortunately, we do have this opportunity at our church fellowship. Firstly, we start the service with prayer, not the pastor giving one prayer, but at least half an hour of prayer where everyone is encouraged to pray. Most of the children, even down to the five year olds get up and pray—and they know how to pray! After a short message, the service is opened up to testimony and sharing the Word. We believe in the premise of 1 Corinthians 14:26, “How is it then, brethren, when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.” It is wonderful to see the young people sharing insights from the Word of God.

APOLOGETICS NIGHTS

We are now planning to start Apologetics Nights with the older grandchildren and the other young people in the fellowship. We will give them a certain subject to study. When we come together, one of the fathers will challenge them with certain aspects of truth on that subject which they will have to contend for and defend in front of everyone. This will be good training for them. I am not sure yet which subject they are starting with. However, if you would like to do something this, you could get them to defend such questions as:

Why is Jesus Christ the only way to Heaven?

Did dinosaurs really exist?

The Bible says God created the earth in six days? How does this line up with the fact that scientists say it is millions of years old?

How can you prove that there was a world-wide flood?

How can you prove the Bible is the inspired Word of God?

How do you view the land of Israel versus Replacement Theology?

If we all came from Adam, how come there are so many different races of people?

How do you explain Global Warming? Is it truth or fiction?

The above are just the beginning of questions that our children should know how to factually answer. Are we adequately training them?

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL, ABOVE RUBIES

PRAYER:

“Lord, help me be to be constantly aware that I am preparing my children to speak for you and defend the faith. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:
I am a faith-defender and I am training my children to be the same.

FURTHER STUDY:
Since beginning this series on Training our Children to Speak a most informative book came into my possession. If you have not already read it, I would encourage you to check the internet and get hold of this book—“Already Gone (Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it)” by Ken Ham & Britt Beemer.

Check the web page, www.aboverubies.org for further ideas of discussions for your Family Meal Table. Check out QUOTES FROM PRESIDENTS FOR DISCUSSION AT YOUR TABLE.

If you don’t have books on Apologetics, check out the Internet, or go to www.answersingenesis.org


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