Little voices, powerful gifts! There’s no junior Holy Spirit

Helen Yousaf and Keeth Bandara explains how children can prophesy and evangelise, and how to equip them to use their spiritual gifts in a healthy way, at May’s ELS.

“There’s power in our young people,” said Keeth Bandara.

“The same Spirit that’s inside you is also in them.

“We look at kids and think they’re just young, but we need to look at the Spirit behind them because he’s the same one who raised Jesus from the dead.”

Speaking at ELS, Keeth and Helen Yousaf – with their passion for prophecy and evangelism – were exploring how to recognise these gifts in children and help them to grow in them. Keeth used the Matthew 14 story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 to give some advice and here, we share five tips we picked up.

1. Recognise their potential

When Jesus told the disciples to feed the 5,000, Philip saw practical obstacles. But Andrew said to Jesus, “I’ve got a kid here. He’s got two fish and five loaves. Maybe he will be the guy who provides?”

Was there ever an Andrew in your life? asked Keeth. Someone who saw potential in you and helped pull you into something.

Be an Andrew to children so you can point them to Jesus, he encouraged.

2. Bring them to Jesus

Andrew did something simple – he took the boy to Jesus. “When you allow kids to go to Jesus there’s transformation,” said Keeth.

“As leaders of young people, our job is to point them to him.” Through this, kids will learn how to do likewise, he said. And it’s an important gift to nurture considering their unique connections with their friends and classmates.

“Let’s resource our children to bring friends to holiday clubs and Sunday school.”

3. Identify the need

In Matthew 14, the need facing Jesus was food for a hungry crowd of thousands. For you, it could be cultural, social or practical, Keeth said.

“Think about the conversations that are happening around you and what kids are dealing with. It could be around identity, poverty or mental health.”

He gave the example of his 14-year-old son who has been sharing the gospel on social media and has witnessed a hunger for faith-related content.

“He went viral with two or three videos. He was simply sharing John 3:16 and hit more than 100,000 views. His point of access to his generation is social media. For somebody else it might be gaming, drawing or something else.”

4. Set the atmosphere to meet needs

Jesus set the atmosphere for the 5,000 to be fed – getting the crowd into small groups and instructing the disciples. Church leaders need to get organised and do likewise, said Keeth.

What needs are there around you? How can you meet them? What events can you arrange for kids to bring their friends to? How will you run them?

“Ask yourself, ‘how can I set the atmosphere for a miracle?’,” Keeth said.

5. Teach kids how to use their gifts

Children have gifts but they need the wisdom of older people to steer them into using them well, Keeth said.

“We want to empower them to go to school and pray for someone or invite them to a holiday club.”

Once we identify a gift in a child, we need to teach them to give it to Jesus, he added.

“You’d say, ‘You’re really good at singing, so why don’t you write a song for Jesus?’ ‘You’re really good at art – why don’t you draw for him?’

“We take their two fish and five loaves and say, ‘Let’s give this to Jesus and see what he will do with it’.”

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.