The gospel for children

This is an attempt to summarise the gospel for Primary aged children. I'm sure it could be better. Do give your thoughts.

We at church believe in the good news that Jesus taught: God is going to put everything in our world right, and we can share in that if we choose to be one of his children.

Jesus taught that he was God’s Son. He taught that he had been sent into the world to tell us this good news and bring us back to God. He proved this by teaching great things and performing amazing miracles. We know this is true because it is all recorded in the gospels, and from people who actually heard and saw what Jesus did.

God made everything good. But often we choose to do what’s bad. Jesus taught that this does make God angry. But God loves us, and so he is willing to forgive us if we are really sorry. When we say sorry to friends for being unkind, we show we mean it by changing. Jesus calls everyone to be sorry to God in the same way. This means asking God to forgive us and choosing to obey what Jesus taught. This is how we become one of God’s children.

Jesus promised that God will be like a perfect Father to those who do this. He will guide and care for them in a special way, and help them to do what’s good by his Holy Spirit. He will also bring them to be with him and all other Christians in a perfect world forever. Jesus called this ‘the kingdom of God.’

Jesus' greatest act was to die on a cross. He did this to take the punishment we actually deserve for the bad we do. This made everything Jesus promised possible. Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead. This proved that he is in charge of everything - even of whether people live or die. So those who follow Jesus can be sure that God really will forgive them and help them to live a new kind of life, because Jesus is in charge of these things. More than that, they can be sure that they really will go to heaven when they die.

A Christian is someone who believes that Jesus is God’s Son. This means that they believe and act on everything he said. So coming to church is very important for us, because there we learn more about what Jesus said and encourage each other to keep acting on it. We also pray to God about lots of things, especially to ask for his forgiveness and help. Most importantly, we express our love for Jesus because he came and died for us. This really is the most important thing about being a Christian. It is the reason we want to do good all the time. We love Jesus, and so we want to please him.