KANSAS CITY – Children often ask direct questions that go to the heart of the Christian faith: “How do you know God is real?” “Is the Bible a fairy tale?” “How do you know Christianity is true?”
Hanna Sims, a member of Red Bridge Baptist Church in Kansas City, and a member of the Missouri Baptist Apologetics Network, has been teaching God’s Word to kids and teens for almost 15 years and has heard these questions on a regular basis.
Hanna Sims
“Many of them can give ‘church answers,’” she says, “but they don’t truly believe the Bible is actual history or absolute truth, and consequently they disbelieve and walk away from the truth as adults.”
Often, the adult Christians to which these children look for answers are uncomfortable or unequipped to answer their questions. As a result, more than 60 percent of young people raised in church walk away from Christianity after high school, notes Sims.
“Sometimes, people think you have until high school to cement a child’s faith,” says Sims. “They think doubts about the Christian faith begin in college, in the work place, or after a young adult leaves home. However, 40 percent of young people that walk away from Christianity say they had their first doubts about God, Christianity, and the Bible in middle school or earlier.”
Pollster George Barna says a child’s worldview is set by age 13. If the faith of young people does not endure into adulthood, that might mean it’s not being cemented in them as children, even though they are raised in Christian families and regularly attend church.
That’s why Sims partnered with noted Christian apologist Frank Turek to write a new curriculum for elementary kids: “Yes, God Is Real!”
“The main purpose of ‘Yes, God is Real!’ is to help kids have confidence that Christianity is true by studying different types of evidence that affirms Christianity is a belief system based on facts, not opinions,” says Sims. The evidence is presented in a way that’s fun, memorable, and relatable for elementary age kids.
Another goal is for kids to begin to learn how to answer objections to Christianity so they won’t get swept away in the culture of confusion.
The curriculum features 12 lessons that provide evidence for why Christianity is true. Children learn the answers to five key questions: How can you know that truth exists? Is God real? Are miracles possible? Is the New Testament trustworthy? Is Jesus God the Savior?
Hands-on activities also are provided, as well as an accompanying student workbook with key-point cards. “Yes, God Is Real!” may be used with homeschoolers, churches, Christian schools, or during family devotion time.
The curriculum is based on the popular adult book, “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist,” by Turek and Norman Geisler.
Sims says her prayer is that God will use this curriculum to help kids know Christianity is true so they believe in Jesus—God the Savior; grow in their confidence of the truths of Scripture; and defend/share the truth with those around them.
More information about this curriculum is found at Sims’ website: networkerstec.com/curriculum.html. The student and teacher workbooks also may be purchased there. In addition, there’s a free downloadable “cheat sheet” of “The Five-Point Case for Christianity,” a summary page of what the children learn in the curriculum.
Sims also has created an online course for teens and adults that covers much of the same material, which may be found at networkerstec.com/footing-before-foundation.html.
Sims is available to give live or online presentations of this material for kids, teens, or adults. The purpose of her ministry, NETworkers TEC, is to provide the body of Christ with a network of resources, and to assist them in their biblical ministry to the next generation.