Teaching Kids With Special Needs about Salvation

by Nov 20, 2013Books and Resources, Spiritual Support3 comments

Guest blogger Amy Stout shares resources she's discovered that help her daughter who experiences autism better understand salvation.

Welcome back, guest blogger Amy Stout! Amy’s here with another resource-packed post. This time, she has a basketful of resources parents can use to teach their children about salvation.

I was recently asked this question…

“I have a friend who is trying to teach her daughter about faith. She has been in church all her life and has lots of head knowledge, but the heart is not giving so easily. How can I help my friend?” While not a professional counselor, I had just experienced a scenario similar to this in my own home, so I was able to share my own living example.

Here is my reply…

Dear Friend,

The truth that comforts me when working with my daughter is that no matter how hard we try, we cannot “save” someone. God gave us free will and salvation is a gift that we each have the opportunity to accept. This is comforting because I know that God loves children and he is working very hard to draw my daughter to him.

God DOES, however, give us teachable moments.

Many times our special children are visual learners and spiritual truths are very hard for them to understand because many times they are abstract concepts. We need to give them visual pictures of spiritual truths. An example of a teachable moment…

Yesterday, I was brushing my daughter’s hair and she was starting to get grumpy. I started to talk to her. My conversation with her went something like this. “Oh Kylie, Don’t be grumpy. You need to keep your heart clean—do you know why? Because someday, when you give your heart to Jesus, He will come and live in your heart!”

I continued, “Do you know what makes your heart dirty? When we are grumpy, or unkind, or don’t share with our friends. All those things make our hearts dirty, but you know what? When Jesus comes to live in our hearts, he brings a big broom and sweeps all that dirt away and washes us clean!! You want your heart to be clean don’t you?”

broom

Broom

And on it went. I also explained to her that the more we fill our hearts with the things of Jesus (his words, talking and singing to him, obeying God’s rules), the less room there is for that icky dirt and we lose our desire to be yucky. We will WANT to be clean.

I would try to give your young friend visual images of the spiritual truths you are trying to convey. Lay it all out there but make it HER choice whether to pick them up or not. Many times when a child feels pushed into something, their natural tendency is to withdraw. We don’t “need” to push—God will do all the work. This is the beauty of salvation by faith —no effort required, just His grace fully given.

Also, sometimes it is hard to “tell” with a child who learns differently if there is heart knowledge… don’t be so sure she doesn’t have any… just continually disciple her by giving her visual pictures, object lessons and don’t push… bake together, paint together, talk about God’s creation, the attributes of God and the goodness of God, but don’t push.

The objects shown in the pictures embedded in this post would be very helpful to give a visual picture of how we “dirty” our heart and how Jesus will “clean” it. Click on the links to find out how to obtain them. I also love the following pictorial objects to explain to children who God is.

poster_small

Father’s Love Letter to His Child

These next two pictures go together. You can click and drag them to your desktop and then print them out.

Comic 1

Comic 2

Love,
Amy

What Would You Add to Amy’s Letter?

Have you found resources to explain salvation to kids with special needs? If you like, add them to Amy’s letter to her friend by sharing them in the comment box.

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By Amy Stout

Amy Stout is a wife, mother, and free-lance writer. You can visit her website at His Treasured Princess.

3 Comments

  1. Jolene

    Would someone at the church be willing to come to your house and strike up a friendship with him? Do things he likes to do and build a relationship? That could lead to your son feeling more comfortable about going to church if he knows he as a friend there. The friend could also tell him about how Jesus changed his life, which could plant a seed in your son. Jolene

  2. jerome douglas

    i have a son that have autism been trying to get him in church but no luck hes 25 yrs old i worry about his salvation i dont know if he understands what can we do for him?

  3. ruth stieff

    Good post, Amy! The great thing I’ve seen is the black and white rigid thinking style is used for good by the Lord when the Word and many of the examples you used with Kylie are given to the child over and over. There are things that just aren’t the same as typical kids. Believe me, the “touchy/feely things when we talk about the Spirit of God laying something on my heart, never has registered with Isaac but many things have. Rejoice for what does register. Thanks for this post….really good.

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Jolene Philo is a published author, speaker, wife, and mother of a son with special needs.

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