Exciting things are happening in BTKIDS! Elementary, as we just celebrated the graduation of the BTKIDS! UNIVERSITY Class of 2011!  Throughout the months of September and October, our 7 through 12-year-olds were systematically learning the basics of God’s plan of salvation – and how they can then explain that plan of salvation to someone else.  The children did a phenomenal job in “university,” which culminated in a high-stakes competition where students displayed how much they remembered from the past eight weeks of lessons.  Our competition winners [our “valedictorians”] then recited the full gospel in front of the Brooklyn Tabernacle congregation and did a fantastic job.  In fact, there was at least one adult who received salvation during the service as a result of the gospel being clearly explained by one of our children.  Our desire is to encourage and empower our children to understand that the Great Commission is not just a command for adults, but for everyone.  We have prayed that this series will stir the hearts of our children and give them a desire to see their friends and family members brought into a relationship with Jesus Christ!

Although the BTKIDS! Staff wrote the content for BTKIDS! UNIVERSITY – the concepts and format were loosely based on an evangelistic program called KIDS Evangelism Explosion [www.kidsee.org] that teaches children how to share their faith with others in a way that makes sense to them.  This might be a great resource for you to check out if you’re interested in teaching evangelism to children in an age-appropriate way.