One of my earliest church memories is of a prayer room at an Italian Pentecostal camp. I was 3 years old and nestled in my mother’s lap as she prayed. All around me, people were fervently interceding for needs. This experience deeply impressed on me the importance of prayer.

When I was 4 years old, the Holy Spirit spoke to me during a Sunday night service while my dad was preaching. It wasn’t the sermon that caught my attention. It was an illustration in my mother’s Bible depicting Jesus on the cross. In that moment, I realized Jesus died for me.

How did I know this? The church had come alongside my parents to teach me every week that Jesus loved me. We worshipped, heard stories from the Bible, and memorized Scripture. I knew the story of the Cross, and the Holy Spirit used that knowledge to speak to my young heart.

My journey of following Jesus was set in motion early by a community of believers who had established a culture of faith.

At what age are kids ready to hear and respond to the gospel? Preschool is an ideal time to establish a foundation for a lifetime of discipleship. Yet it’s easy to underestimate what young children are capable of learning and understanding.

Educators know early childhood is a period of rapid brain development. What if we got those neurons firing with preschool teaching that points kids toward Christ?

To accomplish this, we need to be sure our preschool ministries are age-appropriate, active, purposeful, and loving.

Age-Appropriate

To meet the spiritual, emotional, and intellectual needs of preschoolers, we must minister to them in age-appropriate ways.

Small children can learn that the Bible is a message from God that is 100% true. Through repetition, they can learn simple stories and even memorize phrases from Scripture.

In my church’s preschool ministry, we share from a preschool Bible with short sentences and engaging stories. We also use an organized curriculum, which helps ensure we include a range of stories from the Old and New Testaments.

We reinforce each story by telling it again in creative ways — with a homemade video or puppet presentation, for instance. The more times and ways children hear the story, the greater the impact will be.

Active

Preschoolers learn best through play and activities.

Adults learn primarily through written and spoken words. But for small kids, learning is a whole-body, sensory experience. They want to see, hear, touch, smell, and even taste the lesson.

We take turns using a beanbag slingshot as we talk about David and Goliath. We bounce fish into nets and eat fish-shaped crackers after hearing a lesson about Jesus calling His disciples. We use a parachute and stuffed animals to pretend we are in Noah’s ark. We peek into a box of twinkling Christmas lights and imagine what heaven will be like.

We find fun ways to repeat the memory verse, using different voices, rhythms and movements.

At every developmental stage, kids need loving leaders and volunteers who are willing to invest in them and make every ministry moment count.

Worship time is especially energetic. We use videos that direct attention to the meaning of the words we are singing. We stomp our feet, jump, spin, and clap our hands to express our excitement for God.

We repeat praises — such as, “God is holy,” “God is mighty,” and, “God is awesome” — until they become a regular part of the preschool worship experience. A favorite praise is, “Yeah, God!”

Songs for preschoolers must be simple, but they should also be theologically correct and worshipful.

Our worship responses include praying for the children and saying a blessing over them.

I’ve had parents tell me their children laid hands on sick family members and prayed after seeing prayer demonstrated in preschool ministries.

Purposeful

Early church experiences can plant seeds of faith that bear fruit for years to come. The key is purposeful ministry that pairs biblical stories with biblical principles.

When children build walls with blocks during a lesson about Nehemiah, they are also learning that God cares for His people. When they sing and spin in circles in response to the story of Elisha and Naaman, they are also learning that God works miracles. When they wave ribbons to celebrate that God made the world, they are also learning they have a Creator who is worthy of worship.

These are lessons that will last a lifetime.

We spend time talking about how the Holy Spirit helps us and gives us power.

We bow our heads in prayer and say, “Jesus, I love You.”

Do all of our preschoolers fully grasp the meaning of these things?

Maybe. Maybe not. But we have laid the groundwork for faith to grow in their hearts. My prayer is that in the years ahead, these children will be more responsive to the gospel because of their exposure to purposeful preschool ministry.

Loving

No one is too young to experience God’s love. Even the youngest children can respond to the gentle voices and friendly smiles of those who minister to them and talk to them about Jesus.

At every developmental stage, kids need loving leaders and volunteers who are willing to invest in them and make every ministry moment count.

Our nursery workers take time to share Bible stories with toddlers, sing to them, and say short prayers with them. They pray over tiny babies as they rock them to sleep. This is our opportunity to hold the future in our arms and bless them.

Children as young as 2 follow along in our two-hour Sunday worship experiences as we dance, sing, praise, play, talk, and engage with the theme of the day. They hear that Jesus loves them, and they express their love for Him.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me” (Matthew 19:14).

We can make it easier for children to come to Jesus by pointing the way at a young age. It begins with modeling faith at every level of our children’s ministries.

We can lead preschoolers in worship that is simple yet sincere. We can engage them in conversations and stories of faith from God’s Word, using hands-on play that relates to the stories. We can lovingly pray over children and expect the Holy Spirit to speak to their hearts.

If we truly believe the Word of God is for everyone, we should take this to heart in our nurseries, preschool classrooms, and all of our children’s ministries settings.

When preschool leaders catch the vision that faith is set in motion from the earliest years of life, we will experience the joy of watching young worshippers grow to love and serve God and His kingdom.

This article appears in the Spring 2022 edition of Influence magazine.