How Do We Disciple Children?
Helping children and families take first steps of faith is my passion. I long to see families and kids walk with Jesus every day—not just on Sundays. For years I have taught in children’s ministry and led women’s discipleship groups, and again and again I’ve found myself searching for practical tools to help families keep growing spiritually at home.
We have access to so many resources today, but I kept thinking, Where is the tool that’s specifically designed for kids, that truly meets them where they are?
That question became the starting point for Walking With Jesus.
Discipleship Is More Than Lessons
Discipleship is so much more than Bible studies, small groups, and workbooks. It is a lifestyle we must embrace.
Books and lessons are helpful, but information alone doesn’t produce transformation. We can’t just hear instruction; we must live it in front of our kids, day after day. Our children need to see what it looks like to follow Jesus in real life—through our words, our choices, our schedules, and our priorities.
That’s why Deuteronomy 6:5–7 is so important for families:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house,
and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” (ESV)
Discipleship is woven into the everyday—mealtimes, car rides, bedtime routines, and everything in between.
Building a Plan to Disciple Kids
At our church, I began creating a ministry plan so that we were not just “doing church,” we were intentionally discipling children from the nursery through sixth grade. I wanted practical tools that families could use daily at home, and then the church could reinforce them weekly.
We developed a complete plan for:
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Teaching nursery through 6th grade
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Celebrating new life with Welcome Little One for new births and baby dedications
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Guiding questions about salvation and baptism using Baptism: For Kids and Parents
Both of these are part of the Next Steps Collection by D6 Family Ministry, and they help us be intentional about the spiritual milestones in a child’s life.
As I worked through this ministry plan, I started creating simple pages for our church kids—things they could read, answer, and do to spark their spiritual growth. Those early pages eventually grew into Walking With Jesus, written for elementary-aged children.
My heart for this book was to create a practical and engaging resource that would walk children and families through foundational truths of the Christian life—things like:
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Salvation
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Prayer
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Giving
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Scripture memory
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Church membership
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God’s Word
Each chapter includes short lessons, discussion questions, and simple activities designed for kids and easy for families to use together.
Engaging Kids with All Their Senses
When I teach, I try to engage as many senses as possible. A typical lesson in our children’s ministry might include:
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Reading the Bible passage or lesson
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Acting out part of the story
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Answering questions together
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Singing songs that reinforce the truth
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Watching a short video
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Doing a hands-on activity or craft
I tried to bring a multi-sensory, practical approach into the pages of Walking With Jesus, while staying anchored in sound biblical teaching.
Here’s a short excerpt from Chapter 2, “Talking to God – Prayer”:
“We cannot do a very good job telling our friends and family about how to have a relationship with God if we are not growing and walking with Him daily. One of the ways we can grow is by praying. What is prayer? It is simply talking to God.
You may wonder, how can we talk to God when we cannot see Him or hear His voice? Just because we cannot see God does not mean He cannot hear us or see us.
Here are three really big words for you to learn. They help us understand why we can pray. The first word is omnipresent (OM-ni-pres-ent), which means God is everywhere. Second, God is omniscient (om-NI-scient) or all-knowing. God knows, hears, and sees everything, all the time. The last word is omnipotent (om-NI-po-tent), which means God has unlimited power.
Read these verses in your Bible with your family: Ephesians 5:20, John 14:16, 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18, Philippians 4:6–7, James 5:16, and Matthew 6:7–13. What do these verses tell you?”
My hope is that as kids read, discuss, and interact with these lessons, they don’t just learn about God—they learn how to walk with Him.
Our Role in Discipling the Next Generation
It is my prayer that Walking With Jesus becomes a valuable tool for helping your children and grandchildren, the kids in your church, and the students in your classroom or small group grow in faith as they learn what it means to walk daily with the Lord. My deepest hope is that this resource helps them develop a resilient faith that lasts a lifetime—and that they become disciples who make more disciples.
Our role is not to have all the answers. Our role is to be faithful:
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Faithful to teach the next generation how to walk with Jesus
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Faithful to show them how to study the Bible on their own
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Faithful to spend time together in God’s Word as a family
We are called to be a Deuteronomy 6 family—loving God most of all and diligently teaching our families.
The best time for children to realize their need for a Savior—and to learn how to walk with Jesus—is now.
“The best time for children to realize their need for a Savior and how to walk with Jesus is now!”
—Walking With Jesus
If you’re looking for a place to start discipling the children in your life, you don’t have to do it perfectly. Take one step. Open God’s Word together. Pray out loud together. Talk about what you’re learning. Use tools that help you—whether that’s Walking With Jesus or another resource the Lord provides.
One faithful step of obedience at a time—that’s how we disciple children.
